grandmas....I will not let country of origin make my decision, but I do still believe in buying made in the USA if possible, and that's hard, but another subject. I too am a "Grandma" and not that computer savy. That is the reason for my two posts about virus scans. I was looking for other peoples ideas and experiences, since mine are so few and I feel I am not qualified to make a good decision based on my knowledge alone (which is little). I probably will go with Avast from the comments posted. I do want something that updates daily. Maybe you could tell me of your experiences with MSE since you are trying it on one of your computers and have Avast on the other. I only have one computer and it's all I need, it's a Gateway and I will have to look at the box to see where it is made. I know my old Gateway was made in America, not sure about this new one, well 1 year old. I'm just trying to get as much info as possible before the 12th, when I have to decide. I have looked at websites that compare virus scans but that can be confusing. I want real answers from real people, it makes more sense to an old Grandma like me. LOL Thanks everyone for your help, I appreciate it so much. It's nice to have a forum to ask for help.

What is the advantage of the up-grade? 1 Protection against phishing has been improved. 2 Improved product activation. In Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 product activation, license purchasing and migration is too easy. 3 Protection against unknown threats has been improved with the help of System Watcher. 4 Improved removal of incompatible applications during installation. Incompatible software detection is performed based on a list of incompatible applications. 5 Protection against unknown threats has been improved 6 Improved compatibility of Kaspersky URL Advisor from Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 with web browsers. The following web borwsers are fully-compatible with Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012: Internet Explorer version 6, 7, 8 and 9; Mozilla FireFox version 3.x and 4.x; Google Chrome version 7.x, 8.x, 9.x and 10.x. 7 File security detection. A function to define the file security before starting work with it has been added. For example, if you downloaded a file from the Internet and you doubt its security, check its reputation in Kaspersky Security Network. 8 Technologies of rootkit detection (rootkit is a program designed to hide the fact of system infection) have been significantly improved. The impact of the application on the system performance has been optimized for the most common online user scenarios: watching movies (including high-resolution (HDTV)), listening to the radio, searching and browsing websites, making calls via VoIP (Skype and etc.), online games and etc. 9 The applications efficiency has been improved and its impact on the computers performance significantly reduced. Intellectual system of updates downloading has been implemented. This system allows to download databases for the enabled application components, thus minimizing the volume of the downloaded updates and the time needed for download. 10 Touch-screen support is added. 11 The function to view tasks execution has been implemented within Task Manager. The function allows you to define how the system resources are consumed and review the status of executed tasks, thus optimizing computer resources. Kaspersky Desktop Gadget has been significantly enhanced (for Windows Vista/7 only). The list of additional actions, whose response can be configured from the gadget, is increased. The added actions include update start, virtual keyboard, list of problems and etc. 12 The interface of Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 has been considerably re-designed: The main application window now displays all necessary information on your computers protection status, the active defense components, the up-to-dateness of the anti-virus databases, and the license period. Browsing of Kaspersky Lab news has become more convenient. The news provides information about events in the company, special auctions and discounts. Statistics of Kaspersky Security Network activity is now available from the main application window. This feature allows to see how effective the "Cloud" technologies function and how secure your computer is protected. See here------>http://support.kaspersky.com/kav2012/buy?qid=208284856 And here------>http://www.kaspersky.com/upgrade

bbstx, I have been using the free version of iObit uninstaller on all my family's, friends and my own computers for the past 2 years now that everybody has changed to 64 bit systems. It has proved 100% safe and reliable and has what they call a "Powerful Scan" option that searches for all the hidden files and settings that Windows uninstaller leaves behind as troublesome orphans. It runs the manufacturer's uninstaller first and then runs "Powerful Scan". (Do not reboot when the manufacturers uninstaller finishes, let "Powerful Scan" complete first.) Most of my work with iObit has been removing unwanted programs on brand new Windows 7 computers and includes Norton, Adobe Reader, MS Office's trial, games and unwanted utilities. In my experience, as people eagerly boot up their new computers to see if they work, they cannot resist the invitation to check for updates before installing their preferred AV. For the user's safety, this automatically triggers the pre-loaded trial Antivirus program, and hence the need to use the AV manufacturer's specific removal tool. The same applies with MS Office trials. So far, iObit uninstaller has always proved 100% trouble free in completing the tasks even after the trial programs have been run. I always run CCleaner afterwards and it confirms that very few orphans are left behind - some of which would probably have been removed if I remembered to reboot before running CCleaner. I previously used Revo uninstaller when running 32 bit computers but Revo lost the plot when things switched to 64 bit. Initially Revo did not tell users that their program did not remove 64 bit orphans. That was the time when many long time users justifiably switched to iObit. Here is a link that might be useful: iObit Uninstaller from majorgeeks

I don't know how it is on a Mac, but on a PC I have found it for the three browsers I use: Firefox, Chrome, and Opera. I also installed it for Firefox on an Android tablet, and it works there too. I think there are less options on the tablet though. Very few use Opera, so I will elaborate on the others. In my Firefox and Chrome on the PC all the way in the upper right below the close window button there is a button that looks like three horizontal lines. Click that to see more menus. In Firefox you want to select "Add-ons" then search for add-ons. In Chrome select "More Tools", then "Extensions", then go to get more extensions. Search for "Stylish" made by userstyles.org, the logo is a white S with color blocks behind it. Install it. Then on your browser toolbar there will be a button with an S on it. When you are on a website that you want to see if there are any styles for, just click it to find styles for that site. You can pick a style and install it which just means copying some stylesheet text to your computer that is applied just when you visit that site. You can use the button in the toolbar to toggle the style on and off, and even use multiple styles on the same site. I made one to change color and font, and another to experiment with layout, but have both enabled at the same time. You can update or remove the styles and the add-on at any time. Anyone can create and submit a style to the site, and you can always change the style after it is on your computer too if you know a little css code. I just found a good color selector that gives you the color codes to use either for handcoding or entering into the form at userstyles before downloading the styles with options. I made my default style with grey because it was easier on my eyes, but it is very blah. The other ones are dressier. http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_colorpicker.asp Probably more than you want to know, but I thought it would be helpful for anyone not familiar with installing add-ons. Stylish has been helpful to me. At first I tried just darkening my screen to avoid the eye strain, but that just made all the pictures too dark to see.