Computer being used as a zombie.

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Seconding Malwarebytes Antimalware as a very handy tool. I have used it to remove spyware from people's computers in the past. Sometimes you have to go into Safe mode to get it to work right, and sometimes you would need to download it on another computer and change the name of the file to even get it to copy onto the infected system. But once you get it going, it can be very helpful, as a start.

Another free program that I have had good experience with in the past is Spybot search and destroy from link. Keep it updated and run a scan at least weekly; plus, its resident Teatimer process should act as a helpful supplemental antispyware program. It saved me from the only time I almost got a virus (note the almost), back on XP, from some hijacked blog. Windows 7 program change confirmation window seems to have a similar feature, though, so I'm not sure if it's quite so helpful with Windows 7, but at least the manual scanner could help.

Another good general precaution is to never run your system as an administrator; give yourself a regular user account and use that. A couple of other handy tools are Process explorer (what processes are running now? where do they come from?) from link and TCPview (what connections are going on right now with the computer? what type are they?) from link The author of these last 2 software programs is an expert in writing Windows diagnostic software.