I have mailwasher that lets me know what is there B4 it downloads from server and the option to mark "friends" and check spam for deletion if need to do so. Get very little spam. I have gmail and like it better to open in OE as I can write back just as though it was OE but with gmail address etc. I just opened another web mail account called Windows Live Mail that is an excellent program excepting all your other mail accounts too so you can open, read, and answer all from one place. Urlee Here is a link that might be useful: Windows Live Mail

the easiest way to do it is to have them send the file to you but change the .exe to .gif or .jpg or some format that will be allowed through then when you receive it just change the extension back to .exe. That works a lot of the time but not all of the time. And of course always before opening any exe file right click on it and choose to run a virus scan on that file. Best way to do it is to have them put it on an online mail bin then you can go in and retrieve it, these are usually a one time usage type thing. I will provide a link to one, there are many out there for free. http://www.mailbigfile.com/how-it-works/ is another. Here is a link that might be useful: sendthisfile

Hi, snidely, I appreciate the continued food for thought re: my Windows user account password situation. :-) :-) OTOH, I'm not sure your comments reflect the conventional wisdom (at least in the online articles I've been reading, as I try to keep an open mind about these things): 1. Just because "anyone wishing entry can easily enter" doesn't mean one should make it easy for the attackers. "Anyone wishing entry can easily enter" your home and/or car as well. Are you saying you yourself, therefore, never lock your car doors or the door and windows of your home ? Are you saying your email account password is "password" ? Most people say, "Make it as hard as possible for the hackers to get at your information." I tend to agree. 2. You're right -- I don't back up my phone conversations. But not backing up emails goes against just about everything I've ever read on basic email safety/security. We all have emails that we would surely not miss if they were gone for good. Apparently, none of yours is very important. You may be one of those "read and delete" types of email readers. That's fine. (In fact, that's the way I am with my RSS feeds.) But... many other people have important information in email messages, in saved online files, etc. That's why such online services as Google, Hotmail/Skydrive, etc. have such large storage to begin with, no ?.... So that people can keep things they want/need to keep. And the email companies themselves back up your email as a precaution and advise users to do the same (via forwarding to second account, using offline client, etc.). 3. I'm not so much concerned about someone getting by Aunt Helen's email address as I am someone hacking into my account and using my email address to send something to her (virus, porn, phishing email, etc.). If my contacts see a message coming from me (or presumably so), they're more likely to open it. That could spell trouble. Again, it's a matter of basic precautions against stuff we don't want to deal with. And that's another reason why I'm moving in the direction of having all my contacts/emails offline.... so that anyone getting into my online webmail account/interface will find nothing there to work with: no contact addresses, no emails stored, no online files, etc. Everything will be offline and backed up further on CD. 4. I'm not so sure the myriads of people who have had their email accounts compromised, emails deleted, contacts bombarded with spam, porn, virus-laden emails, etc. -- and many of whom have written about the nightmare of trying to recover the account -- and the emails) -- would call it all a "slight inconvenience." Again, Mat Honan's recent experience is frightening, and so are the stories of many others. Anyway, I truly appreciate your perspective. I always want to hear the different sides of an issue so I know I'm not missing an 'angle' on whatever I'm thinking about. :-) Btw.... how did you know I have an Aunt Helen ? ;-)

whew lots of questions LOL lets see if I can answer some of them. As to the linux live cd you can get them free from a site online or order them from some sites that charged just a couple dollars for them to pay their cost. Linux itself is free. You can also download it and burn the iso file to a cd your self for free but that is not something a novice will want to do. Once you have a linux live cd you can put it in the cd drawer of our pc, then reboot the pc, the pc will then be running from the linux cd instead of from your windows operating system. So anything you do while online will not touch your windows at all so you can not get infections if you happen to go to an infected website. Linux is very secure there are not many infections for linux. The cd contains the firefox browser so you can open that and surf to where ever it is you want to go, game sites, etc. Then when you want to go back to using your windows you just reboot the pc and pull out the cd before it restarts so that it boots back to Windows. Another place to get linux cds is at bookstores that sell magazines most linux magazines have free linux cd in the magazine. Usually it is Ubuntu. here is where you can order a free kubuntu cd Requesting CDs from ShipIt here is where you can order a free ubuntu cd Requesting an Ubuntu CD I would get both. Ok as to scanning email, that would depend on what email client you use for email. do you Outlook Express, or some type of webmail like yahoo or hotmail? Most webmail clients have their on virus scanner that scans the email before it gets to your inbox. If you use Outlook or Outlook express you should have your Antivirus program on your pc set up so that it scans all of your email. If you get something in email that you want to download and save to your computer, go ahead and download it but before you open it right click on it and from the menu select scan with your antivirus program that will scan that individual file to see if it is clean before you open it. About the event viewer, that is in Control Panel, administrative tools, event viewer. In there you have several options to view, System, Applications, Security. To see when your pc has been logged onto and by whom you can look at the security section then on any line in there you can double click on it and it will open up an info box giving you details and codes about that event. If your pc was not turned on there should be no log on event for that time period. If the pc was not connected to the internet at that time there could not have been any type of breech it has to be connected for any log on events to happen other than your personal log ons. When you turn on the pc it begins recording that step by step in those various logs you can see where each thing starts up and does it's check procedure. So each time you turn on the pc and log in there will be an event for that. Now for someone other than you that does not have the pc in their possession and they manage to log into your pc(hack) that would happen when there is an active internet connection. That can happen if somehow they have been able to get a program on your pc that allows them access, if you do not have a firewall on and protecting you and are not behind a router it can also happen by what is called brute force where they use a password cracker software to break your admin password then gain access to your pc. I can not tell you anything about the event you may have seen since I have no idea what it said but if you had the pc locked in your car there really is no way anyone could have logged on to it that I know of. I think that is all of them. Anyone else feel free to jump in and add on.