Have you considered using something like
OpenSUSE in place of windows?
I say this because, chances are, if your laptop has a virus that you've found, it probably has dozens, if not hundreds on it that you haven't. In short, your laptop is probably well and truly hosed, requiring a full reinstall from scratch anyway.
If you insist on keeping Windows, what I would suggest is at least two anti virus scanners, and two malware killers running at any given time, that might seem like overkill, but in truth, the situation is so bad that if you aren't running armoured up to the hilt with this stuff, then expect to have your system hosed again, windows is an easy target, also, don't forget a good firewall.
Panda do a pretty good firewall/AV suite that you might want to look into. I will say this, do not use Norton, ever, in any circumstance, it is shit.
AVG is a pretty good anti virus system, and when used together with Panda will stop *most* viruses in their tracks.
Malware (popups, worms etc) however might not be picked up, so to compliment the AV software, I suggest,
PC Doctor and
Adaware. Some of these programs are free, some cost. The question you have to ask yourself is this: Is your work, and any personal information on your computer worth protecting well? If you answer yes to that, but still want to stick with windows, get the above programs, it really is that simple.
To compliment the above, I would also recomend replacing Internet Explorer with either the
Opera or
Firefox web browsers, both are free, and both are a damned sight more secure then IE6. In place of Outlook express, I would have to say at the moment the best all round replacement on windows is
Thunderbird.
Best of luck with the laptop.
