I need some advice on how to use floppy disks on my new computer.?

My old comp had a floppy drive whereas my new laptop doesnt have one. I want to buy an external floppy drive to retrieve some pictures from floppys. Last time when I was doing that on my old comp many of the files prompted it had virus. Firstly how on earth did I get virus on my floppys I dont know, did this happen I stored them away for long? Now I want to know if its safe to run those floppys on my laptop? I have Norton anti virus protection and running windows XP. Is there a way I can remove virus before opening pictures? Please advise me if I should take the risk.

I need some advice on how to use floppy disks on my new computer.?virus protection

Okay, first get one of those external floppy drives, I don't know how much Walmart is charging (gah... Walmart, I hate Walmart), anyway you can get them from Newegg for as little as $20, http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis... now once you have the drive plugged in, don't transfer anything yet, scan the files on the drive with Norton (right click on the drive and you may have the option ''scan files with Norton'', I have this option with AVG. Once it either confirms the existence of a virus it may be able to remove it, there is always the possibility that it cannot clean the virus from the drive. If it can, or there is no virus then go ahead and bring the files over. Might I also suggest that you pick up a 2GB flash drive (as long as you're at Newegg) for $38 after rebates, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as... and replace all those floppies and such.