Routers are pretty good firewalls but for an added closed door, most people turn on the computer firewall too. fwiw.. I've configured many computers for family and friends without firewalls,,, so a couple of days were certainly no problems. One computer here Was online 24/7 for years that ran lan server duty. mail, DNS, Time, WWW server, etc... no firewall, no problems ever. It got junk mail on its mail account name that was never ever used online. Computer was only used by guests and me occassionly for browser duty when I screw up and need a driver or something.

Thanks, Raven. I'm sure he's behind on lots of stuff. Early in 2009, I had him change his update settings to notify him of updates, but not automatically download. That was to hold off on sp1 (at a time when I think I read here that folks were having trouble with it - but I didn't follow that topic, so didn't realize sp1 had become a good idea and that sp2 followed). We also set it that way bc. his computer was automatically updating and then rebooting when he was in the middle of doing other things. So this was to allow him to time his own downloads and installations. But he just never thought of it - and I didn't think I needed to keep track for him. I do keep track of his Avast, superantispyware, malwarebyte and spywareblaster. Every now and then when he's done surfing I have him leave out the laptop and go ahead and update and scan. I'll have to keep track of more than that, obviously. I got foxit reader on my ancient laptop in my office and love it. It takes so little room and does what I need quickly. Do you like pdf-xchange viewer more than foxit reader? Or does he need to use firefox to use foxit reader? I installed firefox for him - and set up tabs with the places he likes to go (did that in the summer) - but he hasn't used it. He's a bit resistant to tech changes. He balked when I got Tivo's - although he loves it now. He's a musician - and I got him Protools so he could record the music he wrote. That was over 1 1/2 years ago - and he hasn't learned it yet - he's barely scratched the surface. Last spring he bought an Imac bc. it was better for recording music. And now he's finally setting up his den and equipment. I'm hoping he'll actually learn the software this year. I'll take care of the rest for him so the only learning curve he has is Protools (certainly the most challenging of them all). But I digress. I'll check his other updates and run Secunia - I'm pretty sure I already put that on his computer last year. Thanks. Lynn.

owbist, Thanks, it was just me being stupid, not reading what was before my eyes. Yes, Microsoft's Windows Security Manager did show a firewall was on, and it was/is Zonealarm. I didn't expect MS to be so open as to say some FW other than theirs was active. I'm at a meeting and grumbled to my neighbor at the table, he looked over and said: "it says Zone Alarm is on".

I would recommend Spyware Terminator. It integrates the ClamAV antivirus program and scans for both spyware and viruses. Spyware Terminator has realtime protection. Here are a couple of links. http://www.spywareterminator.com/app/features.aspx http://www.snapfiles.com/get/spywareterminator.html I have been running the program for some time and have never had a problem. Regards.