Hi jannaz, Two helpers have asked you about Service Pack 3 and for good reason. Without Service Pack 3 installed on Windows XP you will not be getting automatic updates installed as they are issued. Using a computer without these updates is quite a security risk. Lets verify you have Service Pack 3 installed. Please find the My Computer icon on the desktop, can't find it there, click Start and in the start menu look for My Computer once found, right click on it when it opens choose properties. It should say windows XP SERVICE PACK 3 under System. What does yours say?

>>>> "Well I will offer my weak ideas. I never worry about what a virus or Trojan is..." Me neither..... But then I run only Debian or a Slackware based Linux distributions on PCs here since early 2003....I do run an outgoing firewall though, though not much more than that "security"-wise, and I never ever run as "root". I have been online full time 24/7 for as long as 8 months non-stop running as many as 19 programs and 4 or 5 browsers with 20-something windows & 123 tabs open simultaneously----and other than the very occasional browser hang-up....never an issue, and not a reboot or a defrag or a registry anything, ever..... The link may be of some interest to you, or not. It is one of the preferred by noobies distributions, and it offers more to learn/do than any of the MSFT high dollar-ties you into MSFT formats forever-operating system. Though I have given out a few copies of VectorLinux ( http://www.vectorlinux.com/ ) or my personal fave SimplyMepis ( http://www.mepis.org/ ) or my other personal fave...Knoppix!!! ( http://www.knoppix.com/ )... Knoppix, never ever leave home w/o it...I take a Knoppix CD everywhere with me, there's one in the glove-box right now even...... But what the heck, eh? The most modern, safe, and secure, and very definately superior and it's, lemme see, oh yeah....free A much better deal much more secure than any MSFT OS and software that you can buy, which BTW you can not under any circumstances even put an MSFT OS you BOUGHT & PAID FOR on any except the >>>one PC What the heck... it's free, it's easy.... and it's damn sure secure......If it's good enough for the National Security Agency to base its own systems and software on, you reckon maybe it's good enough for you too? Oh yeah.... and the SecurityEnhancedLinux packages are so secure that the NSA has released, and released for free too, all the SEL code and software into the public domain, and released it all free of charge too...something that all yer friends in Redmond were hoping would have never happened.... Hope you found this somewhat useful..... Oh yeah, and if you like a particular distribution, you can even make 1,000,000 copies and give them all away, should that be your desire. More and more distro's are even including software so that you can "customize" a distro to your liking and then make a million copies of your newly modified OS, and give away the resulting OS/software package, with your name on it even if that's what you want to do with it........You should give Redmond a call and ask about doing that with an MSFT issued OS... And now, it's off to the woods with Sasha and Duke....the big dogs!!! HAGD!!! Here is a link that might be useful: A more secure solution...

AVG7.5.52 on a Win 98 system in the garage. An old reliable O/S and AV combination. Unfortunately the AVG version will apparently be expiring. AVG 8.0.138 on a Vista system (On vacation so I think that's what it is. Regardless the most current version.) Other than the useless Link Scanner which I have disabled, everything has been working well. Avast on a Win2000 laptop. Works fine except the updating is slower. I really see no difference between it and AVG except for the presentation. I guess when you compare the two it is like whether you drive a Ford or a Chevrolet. If your system and your current AV are working properly I would just stand by until the end of the year nears. A lot can happen to both products, both positive and negative, in 5 1/2 months. DA

Avast and AVG are both excellent free programs. However AVG now offer 3 different freebies, which are you running? They offer the anti virus program that has been around for years. Now they also offer an anti spyware program, it's icon has the letter S in the middle. Then they offer the anti Rootkit program When I use an anti virus program I always leave it at the default settings except for adjusting the scan time to 3 a.m. rather than 8 a.m. and never have any problems. Have you altered the settings at all? If you are only running Avast for protection you should seriously consider getting more for anti spyware and malware. Unlike an anti virus where you should only run one at a time you should consider at least 2 of these programs. Here are a few free ones, there are others probably equally as good. Spywareblaster Spybot Search and Destroy SUPERAntispyware BOClean AVG anti spyware I would suggest staying away from AdAware2007 as it seems overbloated compared to the old AdAwareSE which will cease to get updates effective January 1st as I understand it. You might consider a couple of free online scans to see what uninvited guests are running on your computer. There are many, here are a few. Bitdefender Housecall aka Trend Micro Symantec Panda eTrust Ewido Fsecure I belive they all remove things with a fee, the first 2 definitely do.