Thank You Azinoh, shaboom, ravencajun, minnie and damccoy. Your information is very much appreciated. Minnie you asked me this question. not to steal the thread thirdfrt but what is your opinion on Bazooka? I've had that for centuries it seems TIA To be honest with you I am unfamiliar with the software Bazooka but, I did look it up to see what program you were talking about. I have never used Bazooka and so I am unable to give you an opinion on it. Sorry. Maybe there is someone here that is more knowledgeable about the program that can give you an opinion on it. not to steal the thread thirdfrt Minnie, I don't feel like you stole the thread at all, unfortunately I was not able to answer your question and anyone who is knowledgeable about Bazooka is more than welcome to answer your question on this thread, I don't mind at all. For those of you who mentioned Malwarebytes, Superantispyware and Spyware Blaster, I have them on this OS. I have had Spyware Blaster for quite awhile now and I downloaded the other two last year. I am very pleased with these programs and appreciate the help that was given to me so that I could download them. I use to have AdAware when it was a good program and thought I would take the chance with the current AdAware and I have become very disappointed with it. You are right it is not the same and that is why I want to remove it. I have given my son the links for the programs that you have recomended and for the removal of AdAware. It just seemed odd that we were both experiencing the same problem with our firewalls and like I said that was the only thing that we had in common on our computers. My sister and Nephew both had problems and they uninstalled AdAware and their computers started working correctly. About Irfanview, I think I will remove the old one rather than write over it and start fresh. I don't need anymore conflicts. One last thing I downloaded Auslogics and was surprised how well it did. My computer was really starting to act up and at first I didn't think I was going to be able to run a check disk. I messed with it and finally got it to work and after I ran the check disk I used the Auslogics Disk Defrag and my computer came back to life so to speak. "Smiles" Well I think I have covered everything, again thanks to all who responded to this thread. You have been very helpful and I sure do appreciate the help. thirdfrt!!!

Many thanks Zep: I unchecked "Clear history when FF closes" and that seems to have fixed it. I had looked under Options before I wrote, but thought I had always had the "Clear history..." choice selected. Apparently not, although how it was changed I don't know - I'm the only computer user in the house. - June

Terry, I looked around in bios - entered several places but never found "Wake on Lan..." It's a little scary in there! :) RC, I checked for scheduled tasks and found nothing listed that named any software on my computer. I wasn't that concerned about Vista waking up as I was that someone had broken through my security. It doesn't sound like anyone thinks that has happened, so I'm greatly relieved. Thank you. Zep, my computer automatically goes to sleep if I don't do it manually. I never know the best procedure to follow - shut the pc down or keep it on all the time! Thanks, everyone. I appreciate your help.

Agree just leave AVAST for now since you have it on and it is running well you are good there with an active Antivirus program. What I suggest people do with Avast is to set up the scanner in screen saver, go to your screen saver settings area and select Avast screensaver from the list, in Advanced you can select which screen saver to have it use while Avast scans. Save your settings then anytime your pc goes to screen saver it will start scanning, when it is interrupted it stops then starts where it left off the last time etc, works great. As Zep said AVAST is constantly scanning so you really don't have to do scans like you do with others. I would go with the windows firewall it is a decent firewall. But if you want to use zone alarm since you have it that is fine but you do have to turn off the windows one like zep gave directions for. You have the same programs I use, malwarebytes, superantispyware, spywareblaster, update weekly and do scans. That first AVAST scan does take a long time to run and yes windows 7 is a large program so you will have a lot of files to scan. You are applying a very good layered protection on your pc. Just remember to also use the secunia software inspector to keep all programs updated too.