No one should ever be connecting to the web without some AV program installed and current. Doing so will just mean you spend all your time fixing infections instead of enjoying the web.

It is necessary to distinguish between viruses, spyware, and adware. They are different things, and require different treatment.

Your first step should always be to make sure you get the viruses. You can usually do this by visiting the website of any reputable AV provider and letting the site scan your machine.

"Programs" that take over machine functions may be payload carried by a virus to get it on your machine, but often are not, themselves, considered to be "viral." You may be the victim of a malicious virus, but more likely you've encountered malicious spyware or adware. Download, or if necessary have a friend download for you, the installation for Spybot (preferred) or AdAware (pretty good too). Install and run them and they may be able to remove the corruption.

It takes both a good Anti Virus program, and a good antispyware program to keep your machine clean, if you're unlucky enough to visit places where you can be infected (by a virus) or just affected (by spyware).

If the AV and Spyware scans don't fix the problem, you are probably facing "major surgery" on your system, and much more specific information will be needed. A local expert who can "hands-on" inspect your machine is more likely to be effective than trying to follow suggestions here.

John