here is one more tool to control uninvited 'stuff' from messing about on your machine : SSM- System Safety Monitor

I have used it for 5-6 months now, and it doesn't need to do much, because the OTHER programs I use prevent most crap from being installed...but SSM tells you when programs you did not expect are trying to run...and how they are being started. The site hints that they will begin to charge for the program soon...I dunno, but it is free for the moment.

copied from that website: (which may be slow)

"System Safety Monitor (SSM) is an application-firewalling tool (it is not a "firewall" in traditional understanding, so there shouldn't be any conflicts with your network firewalls). SSM controls which programs are running on your computer and what they are doing. For example, SSM can prevent so called "DLL Injection". Also, SSM will notify you whenever a program you want to start was modified. In addition, SSM can constantly check your registry and alert you, when an important modification was made.

Features
# Allows you to control which programs and applications can be opened on your computer. Alerts you whenever a program, you want to run was modified.
# Allows you to control calls to some OS functions which is used in "DLL Injection" and Keystroke logging utilities (keyboard spies).
# Allows you to control driver installation (including non-traditional ways exploited in malicious drivers - rootkits)
# Allows you to control low-level activity such as accessing "\Device\PhysicalMemory" object
# Prevents unauthorized code-injection activity, so no application will be allowed to use another legitimate one for malicious activity.
# Allows you to control which programs are allowed to start other, and wich cannot be started by others. For example, you may allow your browser to be started only by Explorer.exe but not by any other untrusted application.
# Offers a choice of two modes - User and Administrator. In Administrator mode you can set your preferences to control programs. Access to this mode can be protected with an encrypted password to prevent anyone changing your settings. In User mode no changes can be made to your settings.
# Supervises changes to important registry keys when installing new programs.
# Will block or alert on any attempt to change guarded registry keys.
# Allows you to control which programs run at system startup.
# Maintains a list of running applications and allows you to terminate any application immediately.
# Have a services-guard module which monitors installed system services in NT and notifies you when new services are added
# Also monitors (also in real time) start menu and startup ini-files sections; Internet Explorer settings (including BrowserHelperObjects)
# Allows you to block specific windows (including websites) from opening.
# Can be set to run automatically on system startup.