for virus scanners, i recommend avira's antivir; it's free but don't let that fool you, it's actually one of the best scanners available with the better ones beating it only by speed on scans but antivir still scans at decent speeds and the better ones require money.
this post probably sounds like an automated advertisement but it's not, it's a manually typed advertisement the only reason i advocate it is because i've done secondary research and came to the conclusion that this program isn't just giving you the best bang for your buck but it's just the best one available!
Thanks I will check that out. I currently use AVG. For spyware detection I use adaware and spybot. They have helped me several times.