I do not think you will need to reinstall windows if your BSOD problem is related to one of your software applications, which you have installed. However, if it is caused by malware, then you may or may not have to reinstall Windows. The experts here at VDR can help you with that.

Right now, I think that the cause is most likely either Norton or Maple Story. If your father is making the decisions about AV, then maybe you need to get him to come to VDR and do a search on Norton problems and another search on McAfee. There are over 80,000 registered members here and probably 90% of the regular posters say Nyet, Nyet to both McAfee and Norton. There are many other AV software, which do a good job and play nice with other programs. The problem with all Symnatec programs is that they do not follow development standards and frequently take shortcuts, which cause users many problems. Then when you call Symantec's tech support, they are worthless. As a result of these and other issues, I do not allow any Symantec product on any of my computers. This is also what I recommend to my clients, associates, friends and family.

If your father will not let you uninstall Norton, then you might consider uninstalling Maple Story to see if the BSOD disappears. I know that you like the game but there is always the possibility that this problem could become so severe that you have to do an f-disk and reinstall everything. I have you have your XP CD available and the CDs for all of the software. You might start collecting them together, just in case this becomes necessary.

Some how I think you will eventually be successful in persuading your father that Norton and McAfee are crash systems, which are better at creating problems than protecting your computer from malware.

Do run a Panda online scan. I spent 9 months evaluating AV software before I decided on Panda because Norton made me so nervous. In 2002, it was typically only doing updates once or twice a week, where Panda made updates multiple times during the day.

Run the other freeware to see what they discover as well. If you discover something that cannot be removed, then VDR has HijackThis experts here at VDR, who will work with you step by step. VDR even has a special area for members to post their hijackthis logs but hopefully, the resolution of your problem will not require that.

You do need to validate at least on a weekly basis that your sytem is clean.

Please keep us posted on your progress.

Cheers,

Linda