I had some issues with AVG causing problems so I haven't used it, but I have Spybot Search & Destroy running. Of course, I also have a friend with A+ Certification who can help if anything does get through. He's more up-to-date on stuff than I am-- of course, he's over 10 years younger than I am so he grew up with more tech stuff than I did.
havasu, I believe there may still be a few HP laptops for sale that have Win7. Their website seems to only list Intel chip ones, which drives the price up. AMD chips are much less expensive and the motherboards for them are also less expensive, so it lowers the price quite a bit.
As much as I despite Walmart, sometimes they actually have decent laptops. Avoid Dell and E-machines. I've heard people complain about Toshibas but I've never used one. I've had good luck with HPs. The only problem I really had was when we ordered a desktop with a better graphics card that required a 400W power supply and they only put a 250W one in (they didn't have an option to put a larger one in and that was the standard usage one and some "genius" didn't think about that).
If anyone does decide to shop at Walmart for a laptop, don't trust what the displays say about their processors. I've seen them mislabel things and/or put misinformation on the specs. So if the computer is on, Run dxdiag to look and see if it says it has the right stuff. Keep in mind that the built-in video memory borrows from the actual processor/RAM and is not the capacity.
Actually, I advise always running dxdiag on any potential purchase laptop or desktop at a store and seeing the specs and such. Opening it may also give you at least a small indication of how fast the machine operates. From dxdiag you can also test the video and sound performance.