I did an antivirus/firewall complete scan on my laptop & it took over 24 hours and still wasn't finished. Over 2 million items were from "Windows Installer". Obviously there is a problem.

I use NORTON Security antivirus/firewall provided by my internet provider AT&T. This problem began after I installed the firewall & has slowed down computer speed tremendously. It takes a long time to boot up, get into a word document, etc. I even upgraded from broadband to high speed & it is still slow.

Last year I got a computer tune-up and added memory. It HELPED alot, but this problem happened about 4 months after the tuneup & right after ADDING the firewall.

Where could all of these "Windows Installer" files come from and how can I SAFELY remove them?

AT&T & Microsoft won't even talk about this without charging a fee first. AT&T wouldn't even tell me how to disable the firewall to see if it would correct itself.

Please note that I am not very computer literate, so any advice should be explained in detail.

Many thanks for any help.
jmt