I know Im grabing at straws here, but after doing a serach through the program folder (finding no norton or other antivirus software) I did a search on the C drive and D (backup) drive and the only thing that came up was a windows comand script on the C drive under NIS C:\System.sav\util Does that mean anything to anyone?
I did use the Norton unistaller that comes with the program when I uninstaled it from my control panel in the first place, so do I really need to download an uninstaller still? I will, but wanted you to have that info too incase I didnt need to.
<snip>
Unfortunately the Norton add remove programs uninstall is about as much use as a chocolate ashtray as these forums are littered with the topics related to what the normal uninstall left behind and causes conflicts with the new security software you later try to install.
So yes you really do need to download the other uninstall tool, that is why we suggest it in the first place.
update - I think there may be a problem downloading stuff! 
I just tried to download Yahoo Instant messager and it froze on the download as well.... so, any advice on how I get around this one? I probably already have a virus in trying to download avast and norton uninstall tool - hah. MAN, I hope not!!!
If you aren't using a download manager I would suggest you try one as that can resume dropped/failed downloads. I have been using Orbit downloader for some years and no problems (
http://www.orbitdownloader.com/), of course you have to be able to download that first (chicken and egg), but it isn't a big download, about 2.5MB.
