i need help with an off-brand laptop

i'm having a bit of the "personal confuser" blues. to which i would like to ask a few questions. i have an off-brand laptop that uses the travelstar hard drive. mdl. ic25n02atcs04-0, it has a twenty gig capacity and only a 4200 rpm speed. the interface is ata-ide and has a form factor 2.5".

i installed AntiVir software and ran it. it identified seven viruses but, was only able to eliminate one. there is nothing worth saving on the hard drive. my first question is this. can i reformat the hard drive and reinstall windows? then reinstall the cd software? including Zonelabs Zone Alarm Suite.

also, is it possible to install a new hard drive that's 2 or three times the capacity and also has a 5400 rpm? using the original hard drive with a usb adapter for storing other things such as pictures. or more importantly back ups of programs that are installed in the laptop.

 

go for it.
the age of the bios on the motherboard will determine the size of the harddrive you can use without an overlay program.

i would download and try the free avg antivirus. it nails everything.

go to google.com
type in avg.