Thanks Kosh/Enicomb. You appear to have saved me fifty quid!

If you are looking for a paid service then Sainsburys are knocking out Kaspersky 2012 3 user version for £15, best bargain I've seen for a while.

That does seem like a good deal. Though I'm never looking to pay for something if I don't have to! Will the set up Kosh and Enicomb recommended do a similar job?

Yeah.

Microsoft Security Essentials is the only Microsoft product whose name accurately describes what it actually is.

My laptop CD/DVD drive is knackered. Its an Asus k52f series (I think?). It won't read discs and makes a funny noise when any disc goes in it, I reckon someone has actually snapped a piece from within the tray (basically its not a software problem).

Wondered if anyone knew what region I'd expect to pay to get this fixed?

Does the drive come out of the machine? It is usually just one or two screws holding it in, if so you can DIY, plenty of sellers on eBay for replacements.

I just had a Blue Screen of Death about 30 mins ago and am wondering if there is a chance it could happen again ? Everything came back seemingly fine.

Yes, every chance. Best back up your stash now, just in case.

My laptop is less than three years old though. Just ran backup. Thanks.

Try and get the BSOD details if it happens again, right click on my computer, choose properties, click advance tab, click settings in startup and recovery box, uncheck automatically restart. That will allow you to grab the details.

It could have just overheated but the hard drive or RAM could be failing, could be anything really until you grab the info.

It would be good if it had just overheated but as I said before it's seemingly OK at the moment and I did turn it off a few times and all was fine. Thanks for the instructions on looking it up as when it first came up I didn't know where and what to look at.

Ordered a drive for £14 off eBay, hopefully it'll work. Just have to strip the machine down to replace it.