Should i upgrade to 7 over security concerns?

[JonJ678]

The missus' laptop, on xp, has been infected by something that prevents her doing anything except buy an antivirus program. Im looking to prevent this reoccuring.

Windows was up to date, avast probably wasnt, no firewall. She was running as administrator.

I dont know enough about windows to reliably remove whatever has accumulated, so ill copy her data off and reformat. My choices are then to put xp or 7 back on.

She doesnt want 7, as it looks different. I dont want to buy a licence for 7.

So, is xp + kaspersky still secure enough to stay up for a year or so without reinstalls? Or is it now unsupported to the extent that this is not an option?

 

[JonJ678]

Very useful replies, thank you. I didnt realise admin vs user made much difference under xp.

Im going with xp, as user, and will bother to image the finished install this time.

Im interested in the statement that no malware can infect a securely set up windows install. Can you provide evidence of this? I'm working on a home server running *nix, and the range of vulnerabilities is considerable. I cannot see how microsoft can have achieved this.

 

[JonJ678]

Interesting though this discussion is, you're all sidestepping the problem im trying to solve here.

My computer is very unlikely to be infected for various reasons. Mostly related to my willingness to spend great lengths of time finding out how computers work. I daresay the same is true of most people on this forum.

However most of us know people who are less paranoid. My dear lady will connect to any network that will let her search google, and maintains an unencrypted passwords.doc file for good measure.

Any thoughts on keeping a computer secure in spite of the user?