I run both of those anti spyware programmes and they're great. I also run AVG anti virus which is a free download.

Cheers, Jules

for me don't get norton or any of the bigger labels, they just don't deliver. the only viruses i ever had was when i was running nortons, i use their free housecalls to check the integrity of my current program do this about once a month do a search their are lots offer the service.

good freebie avg and avaste is another if you want to pay for one the best i found was etrust/vet.

i use sw blaster, spybot and another good one ad-aware, use all 3.

would think that using anything from m$ would not be a good choice as it is m$ software that the vandals are attacking.

also you need to be doing your computer housekeeping lots just either don't know to do it or simply don't.

that is at least once a week run scan disk and defrag, lots say that defrag should be run twice a week, if you are online all the time ie.,. broadband etc.,. then do housekeeping twice a week. remeber to close down all programs running in the background first.

and last but not least use firefox as your browser it is better at controlling the pop-ups.

the absolute best you can do is never open any e/mails with unsolicited attachments, and use a mail reader that allows you to save attachments to disk for virus scanning before opening them.

and for senders only send jpg/jpeg or gif attachments all documents should be dragged and dropped into the body of the e/mail, if we all do that it is going to be very hard for viruses to get around. also if you get something you want to forward send it in a new e/mail so it doesn't show as a fw: or fwd: in the subject line, i have found with past bad experience that the worms use these prefexis re:, fw/fwd: and [none] in the subject lines.

also change your e/mailer setting to send and recieve in plain text only never use html sending receiving options. and for me if you use e/mailers that automatically attach those thingie like emoticons etc.,. they show as an attachment and are then unsolicited so they all get deleted you do the same you will drastically reduce the risk factor to you machine.

also something done by lots of people don't auto save all e/m addies as you get them only have addies that you use regular in your contact lists, and when or if you send to multiple addies use the 'BCC' function to hide all those addies from the recipients.

always put a subject in the subject line of your e/mails.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

I use the free AVG as various computer mags etc have done tests with the more popular anti-virus programs have shown that AVG is up there with the best so I thought why pay for something that I can get for free.

I do a bit of advertising online to sell my pups and get a lot of offers to buy a pup from dubious buyers. It is easy to tell which ones are trying to rip you off - terrible English, offer larger amounts of money, offer to pay in Euros or various money orders, etc, use yahoo or hotmail, and have an agent do the buying. They are usually from Nigeria but often say they are from UK, etc. If I have any doubt about these I just delete - too bad if I accidently lose a sale if they are genuine. Everyone should beware of these as they don't just target pet sites but any selling sites.

I have also received these offers about making money that sound like they are too good to be true. I really don't know how people could fall for them - nothing is ever that easy.

I also use another email address, a free yahoo one, which I keep to use for when I don't want to use my proper one or am worried about security of a site.

The only time I ever had a problem was a worm that was picked up when my daughter's boyfriend went on a porn site. Did I go off at him! I then changed all my passwords to stop him using the computer when I was out. Apparently it was only a low level threat but I still got rid of it pretty quick.