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Sorry to read of your problem, Kate. When I read your post for the first time yesterday, I wondered whether your system might be suffering from the effects of the virus infection.

If it's not too late, before reinstalling Windows, you might like to have a look at the Blaster Removal Tool at:
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.blaster.worm...
If you feel brave enough, you might avoid having to reinstall Windows. The worst you can do is crash everything and have to start over, which is what you are contemplating anyway! (So do a back-up first)

Another good way to crash your system is to keep a progam running while you install Norton AntiVirus. I know; I've done it :) Now I close down everything including especially Norton AutoProtect and my daughter's MSN Messenger. I even use Start/Run to run Setup.exe rather than use Windows Explorer to locate the downloaded file.

I don't know how XP deals with downloading, but the browser you use should not make any difference. A download manager can be useful if you are using a modem, as it can cope with interruptions, disconnections etc. NetAnts is small, reliable and free If you don't mind the ads. http://www.netants.com/en/

Good luck!

Phil