zone alarm is definitely much better than the firewall that comes with xp, as said it only stops traffic one direction, zone alarm free is just fine. after you have completely removed Norton then either Avast or AVG are the usual 2 free ones of choice, with some of the problems with the new AVG 8 many have gone with Avast instead. All computers should have spywareblaster on them and kept updated, it does not take any resources, also good by the same company and also free is spyware guard. Both by javacool. javacool software and for a very good free spyware protection/scanner you can get superantispyware. superantispyware Avast there on the left you will see topics for installation and how to use the registration number. Anytime you want to know which software you can trust and which is recommended by the tech forums you can check the top lists at Gizmo's tech support site. All categories are covered. Gizmo's top lists

I am wondering if this could be a run away log file. when you have a problem with hard drive space disappearing, look for a gigantic file. In Windows XP, open Windows Explorer (click Start, All Programs, Accessories, Windows Explorer). Click Search and All Files and Folders. Enter *.* in the file name. Tell it to search My Computer. Select Specify Size and pick At Least in the first box. Enter 1000000 in the second box. Click Search. We are looking for any really large files if you find something get the info on where it is and what it is. Also do this, click start, control panel, administrative tools, event viewer, there you will see 3 options double click on them one at a time and see if you have any warnings if you see anything unusual just double click on that entry and it will open a box with info and what the code is. In the security especially look closely for signs of any one other than you logging into your system. While in control panel open user accounts and look to see if you see any new or additional user accounts listed in there. do you have a firewall on your pc? if not at the very least get the windows one turned on but I would advise going and getting one of the free ones, and setting it up, just in case someone has gained access to your system. work with that program xinorbis it will tell you exactly where the big files are that is what it is for so you can see exactly what is taking up that space. It will make pie charts and lists and tell you a lot of info. Another thing to check is how much space are you allowing system restore to use? you can adjust the amount you let it have. Start, control panel, double click system click the system restore tab then settings if the slider is all the way on max move it down a bit hit apply ok, that might show you have some space back check and see. And just in case you have not done this already on your browsers clear all the cache, temp internet files, cookies, history, offline content, every thing. If you need directions just tell us. Go to your trash bin and make sure it is completely empty. do you have any type of peer to peer sharing programs on your pc? like sharing music of videos? If so lock them down and/ or get rid of them. Have you installed itunes by any chance and loaded music? sometimes it can duplicate files. you can download a free program called belarc advisor which will scan your pc and give you a list of everything that is on your pc, but it also has a function that will tell you if your hard drive is healthy or if may be failing, that would be something worth checking. I am just wracking my brain for things that could be causing this. But I tell ya I would be thinking of trying a system restore point prior to that date that you said it pointed to and see what happens before you no longer have the option to go back there. As I said if it does not help you can just turn right back around and tell it to undo it. To be doubly sure have it create a restore point right before you do the go back. Do that before you make any changes to your system restore like moving the slider to use less space, would not want to lose the restore point you needed. I will keep thinking on it as I am sure others are too.

Compress Old Files doesn't delete any files from the drive. It compresses files that Windows hasn't accessed for a specified period of time. I have 2,597,426. You can check everything in disk cleanup, won't hurt anything. You've got more serious problems with the "No IDE fixed drive present" It means the computer is not seeing a hard drive. If you can ever get it to boot again, open My Computer, right click Local Disk (C:) / Properties, click the Tools Tab, under error checking/check now, put a check in both boxes and start. Hopefully that might fix something. To me it sounds like the hard drive has died or the ide ribbon has come loose from the hd.

Tom, To reassure you that a DUN connection is OK with AVG: I am a rural America resident on an antique DUN with a download speed of 5kb/sec. (Laughing is now allowed) I use AVG on this Vista system and Avast on a Win98 system out in the garage. Updating is not a concern with either application. They are rarely over perhaps 200kb unless I have been negligent as I do them manually. There is a time once in a while when application upgrades are released and the download takes a while; perhaps 15-20 minutes. As far as downloading the application itself, any time I have something of size I do it first thing on a Sunday morning. Even before shower and coffee. By the time the rest of the world is up I am finished. Patience is a virtue. :) DA All in all I have to say no problem.