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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Michael Morris" data-source="post: 2111611" data-attributes="member: 87">I strongly recommend against anyone using hijack this unless you really know what you're doing. It's a powerful program in that it lets you see all the common keys spyware tends to use, but it doesn't let you know what they are for.  It is very easy with highjack this to kill a critical system process and bring the system down.There's a variety of antispyware programs out there.  There's no reason not to use multiple ones.  I recommend Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad Aware, and Spyware Blaster. I've also heard good things about Micro$oft's new anti spyware program which is, for the moment, free.Migrating to Linux is another possible solution but not for the faint of heart. Consider using a dual boot configuration and playing with it first. Linux doesn't have as wide a software library as Windows and it will take you awhile to get used to it's idiosyncracies. Once you learn it though, it is 1000 times more secure (and securable) than winbloze.Less drastic is to make sure you are running XP service pack 2 and install Mozilla Firefox 1.0.1.  Scan your system for viruses (if the spyware is coming back up you probably have those) and be prepared to get rid of any freeware programs like Kazaa or the like which are bundled with spyware.</blockquote>