The best computer advice I ever got came from Swytch, when I asked for help in dealing with a virus that had infected my laptop. Not only did it solve my immediate problem, her advice has proven itself right many times over in the last year and a half. Here it is in a nutshell...
You need 3 things in your computer toolkit:
1). Avg (you already have that)
2). Spybot Search & Destroy (download it here:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/ )
3). CCleaner (download it here:
http://www.ccleaner.com/download )
Both are free. Spybot will most likely find and remove the virus you have (and perhaps some you don't even know you have yet). CCleaner will help keep your computer "cleaned up" and running smoothly. I especially like the registry cleaner in it.
Download Spybot first, get the virus(es) out, and then download CCleaner and run it. Keep both programs on your computer when you're done... they only run when activated and should both be used regularly to help prevent future problems.
Here's the link to the thread where Swytch helped me with the particular virus I had, she gave me some tips to using Spybot that may or may not be needed in your case, but are good to know either way:
http://she-geeks.com/forum/windows-b43/running-ff-but-getting-ie-windowspopups/Good luck, and please let me know how it works for you!
