I am using McAfee for my virus protection. As far as I know, it is doing a good job. My protection is automatically updated. My computer seems to be running pretty good except this drop down menu problem. I appreciate the suggestions about updating to IE8. Have they worked out most of the bugs? When you download it....will it download over the IE6 that I am using now? I really appreciate all the help and suggestions. Thanks for all your help. Larry

the very best way is to do exactly what you are doing and ask, that way you can get replies from those who have tried it and like it also if there were any problems or glitches, you can also check other support forums for problems listed with a specific update. I do that prior to doing any of my windows updates, I check the forums for comments and if there are problems I wait till I know they have been resolved. As far as IE8 goes there are some conflict problems with certain programs which is why it is a very good idea to read up on it and if you are running those programs be prepared prior to install. I go to google and google IE8 Conflicts and find a wealth of info. Since every system is different there never is a guarantee that any one program will work the same way it does on any other system, so we do have to take chances sometimes and just dive in with fingers crossed.

I would not do the one through windows update and go online with out the protection especially since you said you had a problem with it when doing it that way before. The stand alone file you simply select to download it to your pc, to like your desktop or where ever you choose, then once you have the internet connection disabled and have your security programs off then go to where you downloaded that file to and double click it to begin the install of it. Yes you can remove IE8 through add remove before you do sp3 and it will go back to IE6, then as soon as you are back online (with your security programs back on) from the install of sp3 go immediately to your windows updates site and get any other updates and you should be offered IE8. the guidelines link Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Installation Guidelines where to download the stand alone sp3 file from, click the download button and save to your pc, ignore any info there saying it is for IT professionals and not for single pc, this is the only download and is the one everyone uses when not doing it through windows updates. Windows XP Service Pack 3 as to foxit reader, it is a much better choice than Adobe but you do have to make sure it is always updated to the latest version because it also has been targeted by the bad guys. Opening pdf files online has always been a bad habit that is not something new but now more are hitting it with some bad exploits. So whether or not you choose to continue opening them online would be up to you. Since you have foxit now have you removed the Adobe Pdf reader? if not you do still need to keep it updated because having any program on the pc that has not been updated can be a security risk.

All's well that ends well. I thought v6.0 was the first version compliant with the federal anti-trust law suit agreement that IE could be removed sucessfully from Windows. Again dusting off an old brain cell or two, wasn't it at this time the creation of the Microsoft update site came into existence as an alternative to the on-board Windows update utility configured through IE? This of course being done so users could update Windows without being mandated to retain IE. DA