I recommend going to Ninite.com and getting an installer from them which will automatically install a set of software which you choose. It's a great time saver. I don't know what you plan to do with pictures and music, but a lot of people like Picasa for pictures because of it's organizing ability and easy enhancement features. For music management, I'm very fond of Windows media player (not "center"). If this is a fairly new computer, I would recommend restoring it by cd or recovery partition. If you want card games, search for recommendations, to make sure that you get a reputable program. Always avoid freeware/shareware if possible, I've found them to be the most common malware carriers. I'm not sure why you avoid using a Microsoft account (and what services, and what you avoid it for), but the only reason I see for avoiding it is if you care a lot about your privacy. For that, I don't think Google is any better. Perhaps you meant that you'd rather not do everything in Internet Explorer, for that I wouldn't blame you, though the modern version is pretty safe.

Sincerely,
Jacob Smith

> "I have only had this laptop a few weeks and I am wondering if it might be neccessary to do a factory reset and start over, this time being a bit more careful when I download."
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