albert- If your wife used Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel, it has removed most, but not all, of McAfee. (If she did something else, like only deleted the shortcut for McAfee, it's still there). You can go to the link posted above for the McAfee Uninstaller, download it, and run it to remove everything. I believe it works even if you have already done a partial removal, but not sure. At any rate it won't screw anything up to try it. Also, I've never seen McAfee automatically bill for a subsciption renewal without your consent. I suspect one of you clicked on a button somewhere - like in an email to you from McAfee, or in an update notice as the program approached the anniversary date - and that you agreed to renew your subscription, and probably had to enter your credit card info for the subscription. Lastly, reassure me that you are running some other kind of antivirus software on your computer.

Thanks for the replies. Yes, Raven I want to avoid using the Norton trial and get Avast on the new laptop before I go online. I re-downloaded Avast again, to a flashdrive using my XP machine. I was able to move it onto the Vista hard drive Downloads folder. But as before, it would not install. First window shows the default language - english. Next window - There was an error while completing the setup process. View setup log. I googled the main error line from the setup log, didn't find my exact problem, but found a few posts - all Avast related and also relating to various internet connections. So maybe once I get my wireless router hooked up tomorrow (cross fingers) this will install. I don't understand why that would matter, but what do I know! My XP computer is ATT DSL wired, which I am making wireless since I now have the laptop. That in itself is/will be a real learning experience. And I will definitely check out some of the tutorials. I think I will like Vista, just feeling a little inept at the moment.

Why not try an online scan with McAfee, Symantec, Bitdefender or one of the many others out there offering a free scan. Supernatispyware would be a usefull alternative too. Sometimes it is an advantage having Trojans found and removed, it gives the user confidence that their security choices are working. It often also heightens awareness so greater attention is paid to maintaining a clean machine.

Owbist, than you for the valuable suggestions you have given me in the past. You wondered why I do manual updates rather than automatic. I remember only too well the "old days" when updates often caused problems after installation. I learned it was better to check here first before updating. Someone here usually knew about the problem (probably learned the hard way!) which gave me the chance to wait until the problem was solved. Since I turn the PC on only about once a week, manual updates work fine. Incidently, in case there are any more "Nervous Nellies" like me who are concerned about inadvertantly getting Avast's paid version, there is an option given about three steps into the update. And I kept my eyes open for that other stuff Avast wanted to install that you warned about. Thanks to all who offered suggestions. Cheers, J .