mcaffe antivirus??

Your main mistake is installing anti virus software in the first place!!!!, I haven't used virus software in my life, and i have been working with computers since I was born. Firewalls slow down your internet connection too. But if you want to install it, it should be on the dell system tools software CD-room. :\       you should of called dell before reformatting!1!! all you need to do is get free virus scans from the macafee website, but you dont need software running on your pc

My advise would YES run antivirus and at least use the windows firewall.  If you are not a person that works with computers for a career, and you're just a person who wants it to work, then I advise you to certainly use antivirus...maybe a lightweight one such as Kaspersky.  The other writer may be right if you run Linux or OSX, but is certainly tainted by personal experience when it comes to Windows which is a big target for folks to attack.  Most people would agree that you need real time protection.  It would be very foolish of you to leave your ports open by not running a firewall.  Some of us may have hardware routers which offer some protection, but notice when others advise to to ride "bareback" they're not going to be there when you're infected/compromised, nor do they tell you how to lock down your system or protect yourself.

Anyway, you probably had the TRIAL VERSION of McCrappy CrashingVirus which Dell does NOT include on it's packing CDs.  To get the CD you needed to buy the actual verison, and not the 90 day trial.  You now may need to buy your own or go to www.grisoft.com and download free AVG if it's still available.

So, the moral is, use antivirus and at least the windows firewall.  If you use AOL they will offer a free firewall, and their email is fairly well screened. (as windows firewall does not work with AOL.  I question the motivation of anyone who uses windows, which is largely full of holes, and insists on not using antivirus and firewall with concerns over performance--especially on todays 1 gillion gigahertz, 5 billion MB ram machines that there are here.  I notice minimal performance degradation.  If anything, it's worth it.