Hi OCD,
Ok, I did that and followed all the other steps included in your post, including adding NoScript to mozilla and installing the OnlineArmor firewall.
But, new problem. When I restarted my computer, its display was messed up (squashed and large pixels like in the safety mode). I changed the resolution and it looked back to normal, except Aero wasn't working. Now the windows headings are opaque like they were in older versions of windows. I tried troubleshooting it, but got the following message:
"The current video card may support Aero with a driver that is compliant with the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM). Contact the manufacturer of your computer or video card for a WDDM-compatible driver."
I checked device manager and I have 2 display adapters: Intel and NVIDIA. I downloaded the updated driver from Intel and ran it, but got an error message saying its not supported by my system. When I restarted my computer, nothing changed and I got the same troubleshooting message. It's a small detail but it's seriously driving me nuts. Can you help?
Sorry to throw an extra problem into the mix.