Does Jeff know how to use Hijack this?
other free tools too-
http://free.antivirus.com/us/#cleanup-and-prevention

and how to check the task manager to see if any suspicious programs are running?
some of them are very hard to totally remove.
I usually google any program name to check if I'm not sure on what it is.

It seems that the antivirus program that you are using is not working very well for you..
I used Zone Alarm extreme when we had windows on our computers and very rarely had any problems..
http://www.zonealarm.com/software/extreme-security/
wow the price went up, but you can try the trial to see how you like it.
I had it for many years and as a returning customer you get discounted prices..
I really got tired of the hassles & things that did not get caught when using "free" anti virus programs so it was worth it to me to pay $40 a year ( back then it covered 3 pc too)

I tested / tried all the major anti virus suites long ago and liked zone alarm the best of all. but the others might be better now..
most trials are 30 days so you can rotate testing them and there are 10 major ones to cycle thru...
just be sure to totally remove the old one before adding the new one to test..
In the past Norton has been boggy and very hard to remove, I don't know if that is the same now or not..so i would read about it before trying that one..

Links to the top 2015 AV products ( you can click each product to go to their website on most of these)

http://internet-security-suite-revie...enreviews.com/
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369749,00.asp
http://www.consumersearch.com/intern...urity-software