Hi kk,

I do not recommend SpyHunter if that is the product by enigma. See the rating here: https://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/www.enigmasoftware.com

Avast is an anti-virus. If you are going to keep McAfee, you do not need Avast.

As far as I know Threatfire, while designed to work along with an anti-virus, relies on behavioral analysis. It identifies malware based on how the invader acts on your PC. You could be looking at some false positives there. From what I've read, I've not been impressed with its disinfection rate. 

That leaves MBAM.  I suggest Malwarebytes Pro. However, because of its realtime protection, you may have to add some of McAfee's files to MBAM's ignore list if they are picked up as "unwanted". Some people have no problem running McAfee and MBAM side-by-side, and others have had issues. You may want to research that at McAfee's and MBAM's forums.

Thank you to both of you for your great advice.  I have removed spyhunter and avast.  I will keep Malwarebytes and upgrade it to pro.  I've bookmarked the links provided for safe computing to read through.  Is creating a "guest" account on my computer and using that instead of the administrators account what you mean by "standard user account"?

My computer is running Vista.  I had no idea about the user types and did the #2 option of creating a new administrator acct. and then downgraded my existing admin acct. to a standard user.  I did lose some desktop icons afterwards but I'm not sure which ones as yet.  I will figure that out and recreate them as I go along and need them.  I did see another account called: asp.net machine account   Not sure what that is but it's also set up as a standard account.  I'll leave that alone unless it's something that I really need to delete.  

I had no idea about the differences of the user account types and now understand why it adds an additional safety net.  I learn something new every day and I'm so glad. :)   Thank you so much for your advice and help.