ok, thanks guys. I just rescanned and it worked this time and only took about 55 minutes. Dunno what was going on before . When I scan I tick off everything that can possibly be scanned, my documents, my computer, different drives, etc.
Avast is the only virus protection I've had on this computer so am clueless what the problem may have been.
Didn't know I could " repair" the installation after removing though. This computer is XP, is that option available after I remove ? Am assuming once you remove you indeed would have to reinstall ?!