I have a Compaq computer which is almost 2 years old... anyways it keeps freezing, I get pop-ups when I'm online and it is really slow. I called several local computer repair companys and they say it is probably a virus or spyware. But they want to charge 95$ or more to fix it. Can anyone tell me if this is probably what it is? And if so, is there something I can do myself? I am pretty advanced when it comes to computers ;) (I guess just not that advanced lol) so I feel I could probably do it if I know what I have to look for and do. Please if anyone can help me out! I will try anything. THANKS IN ADVANCE! :)

Sounds like spyware. Go on line and download a good anti-spyware program. You should be able to run a lot faster but you'll have to clean out your machine a lot as the anti-spyware does not "block" spyware from creeping into your machine. You have to keep cleaning out the little buggers almost on a daily basis. There are a few free anti-spywares available on the MajorGeeks.com site that I've found works for me. Also try Filehippo.com for more.

P.S. if it was a virus you'd know it as most times they make your system crash and you can't get back in to fix it or sometimes even boot up!

If your good with computers back up any useful files and reformat if its as bad as you say, that's probably what this computer company will end up doing anyway, charging you 100 bucks to reformat it.

If you want to try an anti virus or anti spyware, avg.com has a free version of both programs you can download

There's a free trial version of PrivacyKeyboard, you may use it, if there is a keylogger, for example, it will be blocked and you will see where it is located. Though of course backing up and reformating sounds reliable.

From this post, it sounds like you need to do some maintenance.

Time to do some serious maintenance on your machine:

Here's my usual C&P for cases like this:


When was the last time you did some serious maintenance on your system ?

System maintenance includes:
Defrag
FULL patching
Virus scanning
Spyware scanning
removal of rubish files

Defrag is an inbuilt function in XP.
Open My Computer > Right click C: > Tools Tab and its there.

To make sure everything is running fine run both anti virus and anti spyware apps in normal AND safe modes. (make sure that they are updated first ! ;)) (AVG (http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1) is good and free AV)
(A couple of good removal tools are Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/) and Adaware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/))

ALso an on line virus and spyware scanner is Trend Housecall (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/)

Just a note: actively running two AV's on one machine can cause problems.
So if you are thinking about it make sure your current one is disabled first.
Same thing applies to online scanners as well.

Removal of junk files is easy with CCleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com) a free app that does exactly what

If all this fails then a repair install may be in order:

Here's (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx) the official Micro$oft way of doing it,
and Here's (http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=138) one with screen shots.

Basically this installs windows over the top of your current setup.
So you don't loose any information you already have.

This lot should resolve your issue.