Good tech help forums

Etelmik

My computer can't use Steam at all and I can't use certain games without doing it in OpenGL or safe mode.

Firefox crashes ALL the time. Chrome doesn't. Internet Explorer very occasionally will redirect me to a parked web page when I type in a huge URL (fake example: cnn.com takes you to a parked page, then hitting cnn again takes you to CNN). It is this thing that makes me think I got something.

I've run AdAware but nothing really showed. I don't know what it is, for I have downloaded very few things besides WoW patches and World of Goo and automatic Windows Updates.

I know there are tech forums out there where people suggest tons of stuff; what are some favorites? (I know PA has one but it's not the kind I'm really thinking of).

Cold Fusion

I would say check out Anand Tech and Hard OCP.

http://forums.anandtech.com/

http://www.hardforum.com/

vonPoonBurGer

This forum right here is often pretty good for troubleshooting help.

Regarding your current problem, most people I talk to seem to say that AdAware and Spybot S&D are both so last year, and the stuff made by MalwareBytes is currently the bees' knees. Give their Anti-Malware tool a try, see how it goes. It's free to use for scanning, but you have to pay if you want the background protection module.