GWT,
Sorry to hear your pc is puking. No need to ditch it.
Personally, I wouldn't worry about your cookies. I trash the contents of my cookies folder regularly. And I wouldn't copy them over, because a lot of the sniffer and tracking programs look for the existence of their cookies as entrees back onto your system.
You should not have to trash your system either. Just get a good virus software, like McAfee, follow its directions for cleaning up an infected system and you should be back on track.
You do need to keep your browser fully updated. There are these not-so-nice BHO (browser help objects) that now can get in and make your life miserable if you do not keep yourself up to date.
Make sure your settings in your browser are set to ask you each time something wants to download something. And do a "Google" search on the item before you allow it. You can learn a lot very quickly that way.
My personal experience is that pop-up blockers aren't really that great and downloading one is a crapshoot. You might just invite back what you got rid of.
And my personal preference is for running Win 98. I have until 2006 or a little later and I am hanging on. It works great for my needs and 90% of all business models still rely on '98. So I am in good company. I'll migrate at gunpoint, but not before.
