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Sorry for the slow response...I was picking up family at the airport and then had college last night.
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Ok...for an antivirus program I recommend either Microsoft Security Essentials (which your friend told you about) or Avast. I have personally used both and they are both very good antivirus programs and are free as well.As it turned out Norton was totally unreliable since getting the virus, what would be the best anti-virus/anti-malware/firewall to have so that this doesn't happen to me again? My friend who did the chkdsk told me MSE is a good one...?
Now for firewall programs. I feel that if you are using a wireless router than the Windows firewall is just fine to use (I do this myself). If you are not using a wireless router, than I would use either Online Armor Free or
Agnitum Outpost Firewall Free.
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If you need help formatting your system you can either post a new topic in the Windows Forum here or you can follow the instructions here.
