http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/support.mspx And, Windows Vista is an operating system made by Microsoft which contains a built in malware protection tool called Windows Defender, which can also be downloaded and run as a stand alone service for Windows XP. Windows Defender is a part of the Vista operating system, so it cannot be removed without risking total failure of the operating system. Hence, for Vista users, Defender should be disabled if it's services are not needed. In Windows XP, the stand alone install of Defender can be uninstalled normally. http://www.ehow.com/how_4881875_uninstall-windows-defender-manually.html

Thanks, Zep and Raven. I had a hard time finding the free ZA download, but managed to avoid the other stuff in the end. Oh, yeah, and I can see that ZA is going to take some getting used to. Lots of things in Program Control that I don't know what to do about, though when I can find time to go through all the tutorials Raven gave a link to, I hope I will begin to understand. But meanwhile: (1) Will Firefox need to be "allowed" under "Server"? If I don't allow it, what might I miss out on? (2) Should I allow Sys32\svchost under both Access and Server? I have no idea what it was allowed previously, though presumably access was allowed. (3) Under Firewall>Advanced, I find "Disable Win Firewall," which I assume is good, now that I have ZA, but what is "Filter traffic over 1394"? No idea at all what 1394 is or what checking this box might do. Only these two boxes were already checked. I will leave them checked until I hear to the contrary by one of you. All help along this line is appreciated!

I found the following very interesting article written by 'imdoody' here:- It really does not matter what antivirus is used, but have it. Even more importantly, be smart when using the web and internet. Here are some very good steps that will prevent almost all Maleware/viruses (The crazy thing is, it's not a program; Its You, the end user!) 1. Don't look at Adult Material (aka Pr0n) on the internet. 2. Don't download kazaa, bear share, limewire, etc, etc.... buy your music for real. You end up spending more money paying "geekpatrol" (trying not to use real names) to fix all the viruses you received because your 13 yr old daughter was trying to download the latest Avril Lavreign song on limewire. 3. Stay away from anything free (i.e. "try this free for 2 weeks, cancel anytime, free acie berry diet pills... the list goes on..." some free stuff is good, like MS security essentials....) 4. Don't click on untrusted "Sponsored adds" or download email attachments from untrusted senders. (UPS, facebook, or ebay will not send an attachment to update your password, or track a package.... EVER!) 5. Facebook is great for catching up with old friends, or staying in touch with new ones. But stay away from all the ads and BS games. 6. Don't click on pop ups or windows that say things like "1200 viruses found click here to clean!" (Wait, how did they find 1200 viruses and when did I start a scan? OH I don't remember installing AntiVirus 2010!!!! ("alt+F4" is your friend it will close fake pop ups like these.) you may loose what you are looking at but it is worth it. 7. DO google search companies that you are unsure about followed by "Consumer reports" or "BBB" (Better Business Bureau) 8. DO use intra site searching when using google. Example: you are searching for Microsoft security essentials, if you put "site: microsoft.com" after your search keywords it will search through Microsofts site first and display those results before any other sites. 9. DO right click and select "Copy shortcut" for any unusual looking links and paste it into notepad, the displayed text for a link can be deceiving... http://www.ebay.com is much different from http://www.ebay.oedl.eds.something.com, websites are ready backwards starting with the .com then the primary domain, this example would be ebay. and.. 10. DO WATCH your kids internet and computer use.... No you are not snooping, or creeping, or invading privacy... you are being a good parent. I cannot stress this enough! The internet can be a dangerous place; I know, I've been there.... Look into http://www.opendns.com for keyword filtering, restricting websites, and many other free options. I hope this helps a bit, as I have been in the IT field for quite a few years I have seen all the different types of users, and one thing they all have in common is that they don't understand the technology. But with a couple easy to remember tips it is easy to stay away from viruses and maleware. one more, search: "uninstall software site: microsoft.com" and "removed Tool bars site: microsoft.com" get rid of un-needed programs and excessive toolbar addins.... if you have more than one tool bar in your internet explorer, you should get rid of them (and watch when installing apps, like yahoo messager, Adobe Reader, java, etc. They all have a prechecked checkbox to install a toolbar. just uncheck it.... ) O and Run an antivirus/antimaleware.... doesn't matter which just make sure some popup said if you buy this now it will fix your problems. Trust the trusted providers,

That's a paid program if it's up to date and running ok I would keep it. You should uninstall Microsoft Security Essentials Lavasoft Ad-Aware version 8.1.4 Features  Complete Malware Protection, Including Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware  Ad-Watch Live! Expert Real-time Protection  NEW! Genotype Detection Technology  NEW! Behavior-Based Heuristics Detection  NEW! Expert Level Rootkit Removal System  NEW! The Neutralizer Malware Removal Tool  NEW! Do Not Disturb Mode Minimal Strain on System Resources  NEW! Download Guard for Internet Explorer  Toolbox Including Process Watch, AutoStart Manager, Hosts File Editor, and ThreatWork  Customizable Profile Scans  Network Drive Scanning  Automatic Pulse Updates & Free Technical Support Running more the 1 Anti virus program can cause slow downs, crashes. See link for uninstalling Microsoft Security Essentials. Here is a link that might be useful: Uninstall_Microsoft_Security_Essentials