At this point it looks like I am stuck with Norton for another year but is there a free program out there that acts like SpySweeper so I don’t have to renew the latter?
I use Spybot and AdAware (free version) for spyware protection.
By the way, you can run a free virus scan from Trend:
www.housecall.trendmicro.com/
I do it about once a month.
As others mention, run the Spybot every few weeks or so.
No need to buy a spyware program.