Copying files and viruses
 

Ok I was thinking of copying all my hard drive material onto a new HDD, but I'm fairly certain there is a virus somewhere. Whats the likelihood the virus/spyware/whatever has infected one of my legit programs?

That's really one of the broader questions you could ask...

Is the new HDD with an OS or is just for storage? If it's a new OS install, just play double safe... pass a bunch of Antivirus on the old HDD, then pass the best Anti Virus you have on the new one, then, just transfer. Should be safe

I dont think the antiviruse will help, after all it didn't catch it the first time

Which antimalware programs are we talking about?

You'll have to give more details about the virus. How do you know there's a virus if you didn't scan it out?

I use AVG

well I dont think its a virus persay. But computer is running even slower now. and whenever I start-up I get a window saying "Windows genuine update instalation wizard" or something like that asking me to instal it

...

That is not a virus. That is Microsoft trying to confirm your copy of Windows is legitimate. If you did not pirate Windows, you might as well install it. As for your computer running slower: that's what happens to computers. If your antivirus didn't pick it up, it's probably not a virus. There are some online scans that you can use for confirmation.

...I dont know, technically it was legit, but I have long since surpassed the number of installations

Then install it at your own peril. Regardless, it is not a virus.

Microsoft really doesn't seem to care about how many times you install it. Seriously, I've installed the same copy of XP about 10 times; I just call them up, get a new key, bing bang boom.

Computers slow down over time, partly from stuff in the start-up slowing down booting, maybe from poor cooling, fragmented harddrive, poor swap file size, etc.