Hi Joyce,

Congratulations on your new toy. You'll have an adjustment period to work 
through.
Yes ,SP1 is out for Win7.

You were wise to make an immediate backup, but preferably do another one 
after
you have gotten rid of ,what is normally referred to as,  "crapware".
Many new computers can have a bunch of trial versions including even 
Microsoft Office 1010.
Get rid of all this stuff before you go any further, then make another 
backup.
For a quick check what's on your computer try  eg Belarc Advisor. 
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
or SIW  http://www.gtopala.com/siw-download.html  Pick the (freeware) 
stand-alone version if you don't want to install it.

The fact that you got a nag screen for Norton AV ,proves that it is 
installed and possibly running.
To uninstall it properly ,you'll need to stop it first.
You can try to stop some of its services in Taskmanager, but many can't be 
stopped that way.
You'll need to go to Services and find the Norton ones.Try to stop them 
there.
If they can't be stopped ,just disable them. On the next reboot they won't 
run.
Then uninstall using the special uninstaller from Symantec for the version 
that is installed.
You can also try Revo Uninstaller. be careful to follow the instructions 
with regards to only ticking bolded items.

BTW, these instructions above apply to all AV programs.Obviously ,instead of 
Symantec/Norton you substitute the
relevant company name.
Don't just uninstall via Add/Remove. the uninstall may either not be 
successful or leave all kinds of residue.

Hopefully ,you got a Win7 installation DVD or at least a Restore CD/DVD

When using WiFi ,be careful to properly protect your connection with special 
password and protocol

If that is your preference, Firefox and Thunderbird are fine.
For AV , M$ Security Essentials or Avast or Avira.

Good luck, you've got some "work" ahead of you.

Peter E.

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Joyce A"
Sent: Thursday, 26 May, 2011 10:23 AM
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [PCSOFT] New computer

Toshiba Satellite Laptop, Model L675 running Windows 7 (not sure of the
Service Pack, or even if there is one?).  It has a telephone modem which
will make it useful both at home and away.  Just initialized it, making
a system backup as I type along on this old desktop.

The second thing I got on the new computer was a nag screen wanting me
to subscribe to Norton Antivirus, and I don't want to.  I went looking
in "Computer" for the Control Panel so I could take it out, and I
couldn't find anything remotely resembling the Control Panel I know and
like in Windows XP.

Once I have that system backup made, I will take the Toshiba to the
library and access their Wi-Fi connection for the first use.  I want to
put Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird on it, along with either
Microsoft Security Essentials or perhaps Avast "free."  (Does anyone
know of any better antivirus than these two?)

I'm sure there are other things I will want to add/delete from the new
computer -- I just need to learn my way around the file structure, which
is 'wayyy different from what I'm used to!

Joyce in southeast Ohio

 

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