I had spy ware doctor on my computer but now it won't open up but a little eindow pops up and all it is it has a button that says "send bug report" and I can't get out of it and I can't hit that button. I can't use spyware doctor. And my computer keeps messing up really bad.
I need to know of something free that I can use to protect it from viruses.
I'm afraid I will download something that will just cause more viruses. And I can't get the spyware doctor thing to work at all.

Spyware Doctors is NOT protection against viruses, but as the name suggests spyware.

Now it sounds like you need to do some maintenance.

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.

I defragmented it like a few days ago and I do it quite often. Sometimes I can't even do that though because my computer is so screwed up and no one will take it in to get it fixed and I can't do anything about it.

Read the whole post rather than just the bits you like and it will help.

I read the whole thing and when I click on those links my computer won't go to them... so I typed them in myself and the ones I've been to so far, when I click the "download" it never does anything.

I'm surprised I can even come here. It's not letting me do anything

Go to SAFE MODE with networking -- run a scan with one of these programs

BitDefender Online Scanner - Free Online Virus Scan (http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html)

The home of Spybot-S&D! (http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html)

Trend Micro HouseCall - Free Online Virus and Spyware Scan - Trend Micro USA (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/)

Also use this program to get rid of junk

Download CCleaner 2.04.543 - filehippo.com (http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/)

Download Latest Version Of Ccleaner and run it