Ok, need some tools eh?

Free virus scanner that kicks much ass: AVG FREE edition
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

I Highly suggest AVG free as I have been running it now for one year. IT is easy to run and hs one small updater that is on a customisable scheduler. I was testing AVG vs Norton - and AVG wins in every area. Norton sucks now - no big suprise.
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For spyware there is only one king: Spybot S & D
For some kicks, read the Eula
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

This awsome (and free!!) utility will anihalate most spyware if you keep it updated. It is not perfect but easily the better of whats out there (Free or paid).
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For browser hijacks - that is when you get annoying popups and such - HijakThis makes editing the regestry easy. Only do this if you know what you are doing. It can mess yor system up good!! Feel free to post your hijakthis log to any forum really (there are a ton of hijakthis forums). There are tons of people who can tell you what keys should go. or email unbipper@yahoo.com (no spam)
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.htm
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For a great browsing experience get firefox.
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/download.html

A great secure browser that is not owned by microsoft - and there for rocks. Besides that fact - it allows tabbed browsing, very css friendly and w3c standard compliant. Meaning you will see the web the way it should be. (No css hacks for web programmers yay! Firefox has a host of features i think you would like.

I hope all of this helps you in your fight against the internet

Bipper - never a white hat