Windows Defender at http://www.microsoft.com/ is a good way to remove spyware. Do a google search for Adaware and SpyBot and see what comes up; they also do a good job. All of these solutions don't require paying anything, and are not spyware themselves (some "anti-spyware" programs really are spyware).
If you have anti-virus software, don't forget to go to your System Properties by right clicking My Computer, and turn off System Restore before you check for viruses and reboot your computer. Otherwise, your computer could get infected again.
Hope you get your computer problems fixed....