I can't do anything right

I can't seem to clean up my computer. I can't find any viruses but I seem to be making mistakes every time I update or download software. My computer is really really slow (I have 512RAM; windows XP; celeron) and I thought I had viruses trojans and stuff so I did some scans. Norton picked up nothing, same with SPYBOT. I downloaded AVG and ran that and it didn't pick up anything. Maybe that was my first mistake because I didn't disable NORTON to run the other program. I have since removed AVG - why? because I paid for norton so I find it difficult to throw it away.

The STOP-sign software from your program picked up a bunch of cookies. I cleaned them with CCleaner from your website. Now norton utilities doesn't work anymore. I'm currently uninstalling norton internet security and I'm getting fatal message errors just to uninstall and then reinstall. Still the computer is like a slug. I just found in the control panel that windows firewall was turned off. I obviously don't know what I'm doing. Does anyone know what am I doing wrong?

 

My first advice: DON'T BE AFRAID TO PART WITH NORTON!

Rule of thumb: Any software you pay for, you can find something better for free. Norton requires a SUBSCRIPTION! You have to KEEP paying for it to maintain its functionality.

While norton will work in ideal circumstances, it is such a major AV app that it is highly targeted by virus writers, and can be disabled fairly easily without you knowing. Its happened to some of my clients.

Also, having more than one full blown AV installed on your system at one time is a no-no. I wouldn't be surprised if you had lingering problems from when you had both installed.

I highly recommend that you follow the instruction in this link. This contains a list of software tweaks you can use to improve the performance of your system. I strongly urge you to pay particular attention to the instructions in the malware removal section. In fact, I would do that first, before following the other steps. Sounds like you've got the bugs bad. This will ensure your system is clean, and set you up with an excellent, redundant, FREE defense against spyware and viruses. Trust me, if you follow these exactly, you won't ever want to touch Norton ever again.

 

Mada Milty is right. I had two months left on my Norton when I switched to AVG free edition. I will never use norton again.

Also, don't be afraid to make mistakes(as long as you back up the important stuff). That's how you learn. I screw up stuff all the time and come here to get bailed out.

Don't get too stressed about it and have fun with it.

 

Oh thanks you guys. I do want to dump norton and install avg. First I uninstalled avg and installed stopsign. That's when the real problems started. I knew that you shouldn't have 2 av programs at once but I thought it depended on which av's you were using.

Anyway, that stupidity aside, when I tried to uninstall norton, I used the control panel and clicked "remove program" and it wouldn't complete the job - I got these error messages:
"Install Failed" I just disabled norton internet security. I'm trying again
Will I have to do this manually?

For the "issues" section of ccleaner, I have not seen that yet.

I'm not usually this clueless, as I've cleaned viruses and hijackers manually in the past. But I've had a pretty clean computer for some time now and lately I've been having trouble - every time I update windows, norton, or itunes or install new software other programs don't work properly and I'm out of touch.