Timely, Dale. Thanks.
Glad to hear that the crisis was averted.
Care to divulge the "name brand" virus program - just so that us other bloggers don't run afoul of potential problems.
I've come to the conclusion that the name-brands are more trouble than they're worth; firstly, all the freakin' hassle they put you through for registration, updating, paying subscriptions, paying more subscriptions, etc. and secondly, the very fact that they *are* the name-brands means that the hackers are working their little socks off to get around their features.
I've gone the route of downloading a couple of free programmes, as well as running Windows Defender (which, frankly, I expect to be as much use as a colender for protection, but it came with the software and every little helps, right?)
I think layers are the way to go: use whatever is on your PC that came with it, plus get a couple of anti-spyware/malware/virus programmes running as well. One alone, I've found, won't hack it: I've had problems.
The one I'm currently running is the AVG Free 9.0 version. Touch wood, it's keeping me covered so far, and for the grand price of nuthin', it's a definite bargain 
Larry:
It was McAfee. Worked fine for a couple of years, started to break down over the past few months, and was absolutely worthless in the face of two separate attacks over the past week.
Fuinseoig:
AVG has a very good reputation as well as an unbeatable price.
I also found that McAfee worked well, but after a while, but it really doesn't have quite the same effectiveness it once did. I'm actually blanking on what I use at home, but it's worked well so far.
I would recommend against using too many programs. Maybe it was just my computer, but having three anti virus programs made the computer run even slower.
As I said Dale, for exactly €0.00, I'm happy
McAfee - pshaw! Don't talk to me about that! Got it as the antivirus included in the software package when I first bought this PC and it drove me so nuts I uninstalled it and preferred to venture unprotected into the wilds of teh interwebs, because dealing with the viruses was less blinkin' hassle.
In its defence, I guess it was good starting out but, like I said, the hackers are all over it to punch through it and it's never impressed me.
Nor Norton, which my brother had, and which I found equally annoying.
Yes, I am a picky, ungrateful person 
AVG is very good. I'd also recommend Spyware Blaster and Lavasoft's Adaware
As far as a great utility tool to clean up the stuff that keeps your PC running as fast as molasses, I can't say enough good things about CCleaner. Get it. Love it.
BTW, all of the above are free to download, but it's always nice to drop some donations for the folks programming and updating them!
Standard tools in my toolkit: Malwarbytes Antimalware, Spybot S&D, HijackThis. For protecting a home system, Avast or AVG. For business use, I liked Trend when I set it up at work (unfortunately, the decision was taken away from me after a year, and we went back to Symantec.)
Paul, the problem you had was that you had too many active protection programs running. They sit there scanning each other and cause all sorts of trouble. And they also fight for the right to be the first to scan files. (Most let you specify programs that can run without being scanned, so I suppose you could configure McAfee to not scan Norton, and Norton not to scan McAfee...but that requires knowing what the actual scan engine executable is. And the problem with both scanning the same file still exists.)
So the best way to go is to have one active virus scanner and a few passive ones. Have the passive ones set to scan at different times, or do those manually. E.g., install AVG and configure it to run all the time (realtime protection, or whatever they call it), and then have Malwarebytes installed to be run manually.
One definitely needs multiple layers of protection, since I've never seen one program find and clean all viruses.
Of course, the best solution is to be careful about what websites one goes to and to not open attachments unless you know what it is. It's better to not be exposed to HiV than to hope that your immune system is up to the challenge...so too with computer viruses. Have the antivirus systems in place, but try to reduce exposure as much as possible.
Commenting by HaloScan
