Need help cleaning up my PC

I’m having some real issues with my PC lately. It feels like random junk just installs itself every single day. Yesterday it was some random thing I can't even remember, and today it was some YouTube Downloader along with a few other pieces of crap.
I managed to get rid of an AVG PIN or maybe Tune, though getting that out was a massive headache too.

It’s been running super slow the last few days. Maybe it’s my fault because I uninstalled Avira—which actually did its job perfectly fine—and installed Comodo instead, which then dragged in GeekBuddy and Chromodo (a browser) with it.
The antivirus itself won't even start sometimes when I boot up Windows. Its repair tool says everything is totally fine, but if it doesn't launch, I have to start it manually.

There's this little gadget sitting on the side of my screen that always says "SECURE,"🤔 but I still keep getting all sorts of garbage popping up on my desktop.

A few more things: when I try to go through the Uninstallation process for these unwanted programs using CCleaner, absolutely nothing happens. Same thing when I try using the Control Panel.
Also, ESET Smart Security keeps popping up; I uninstalled it at least two years ago, but that icon just appears for a second and then vanishes.

I can't figure out how to stop Skype from launching automatically whenever I boot Windows. I always have to manually close it. Are you guys sure you want... YES, I know, it's annoying, but I do need Skype once in a while.

Reinstalling Windows isn't really an option for me since I have tons of important docs, photos, porn, music, and movies stored on here... plus, I don't even have an installation CD.
On the flip side, I have two hard drives. One has another set of Windows on it (a clean install), but it's a weaker setup—just Windows 7 on both.

I mostly use this computer for browsing, AutoCAD, and playing games occasionally.

It's pretty sluggish, even though it's running an Intel Pentium Dual-Core 3.2 GHz.

What are your tips or recommendations? For antivirus, cleaning software, or just fixing this mess? If it's not too much trouble, could you put together a list of programs I should actually be using, especially for security?

vividdriver22 said:...Uninstalling Windows isn't really an option,...

It looks like your Windows installation is just a mess—it's obvious junk has piled up from various installs over time. I'm not sure what specific advice you're looking for, but honestly, a clean reinstall of Windows would probably be the best use of your time.

But if you really want to waste time on this;
Make sure you only have one antivirus installed at a time. Having multiple ones will just cause them to fight each other and kill your machine's performance. If you can't manually remove Chromodo, maybe try rolling back to a system restore point from before you installed it, then install something else (like Avira, AVG, or Avast).

To handle a complete Uninstallation, you should use Revo Uninstaller http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_..._download.html

As for Skype, it probably needs some kind of registry tweak—though, who knows what your registry looks like after messing around with CCleaner.

What are your specs? Maybe the performance issues are because some part of your hardware is just lagging behind.

Well, if that's the case, I might try to work around it by moving my essential files over to my other hard drive so I don't have to download everything all over again. Does anyone know if there's a way to just reinstall what's already there?

Here are my specs:

CPU: Intel Pentium Dual-Core 3.2 GHz
Motherboard: Asrock G41 S3 something...
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 4650 1GB
RAM: 4GB
HDD #1: Samsung 500 GB
#2: Seagate 120 GB

I'm not really sure about the power supply, but I do know the optical drive is an LG.

vividdriver22 said:If that's the case, I might try to piece together a workaround—maybe move whatever I actually need over to another hard drive so I don't have to deal with downloading everything all over again. Does anyone know if there's a way to just perform a reinstall of what's already there?

Here’s my current setup:

CPU: Intel Pentium Dual-Core 3.2 GHz
Motherboard: Asrock G41 S3... something like that.
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 4650 1GB
RAM: 4GB
Hard Drive #1: Samsung 500 GB
#2 : Seagate 120 GB

I haven't a clue about the power supply—all I know for sure is that the optical drive is an LG.

Make sure you move all your photos, music, documents, and anything else important over to an external hard drive or burn them onto a DVD first. I wasn't entirely sure what you meant by the reinstall part—do you mean you're going to pop in the Windows DVD, boot from it, wipe the entire hard drive, and then run a completely fresh installation of Windows?

Look, I know my way around a Windows installation—I've done this plenty of times before. The only hiccup is that I don't have a physical disc lying around, so I'll need to grab an ISO from a torrent site. Honestly, though, I don't mind doing that at all.
On top of that, I actually have a 32-bit version of Windows 7 sitting on another drive, so while I'm sorting this one out, I could always just boot into that instead.