on my personal windows boxes I run Avast, zone alarm pro firewall, superantispyware and malwarebytes (run scans weekly), spywareblaster at a minimum. avast! antivirus Home Edition you must follow the directions and register it but it is free the 2 pdf files on the left side of the page should be read or printed for full directions on use. SUPERAntiSpyware Free Edition Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware free but has option to purchase (well worth the price) if you purchase it does have an automatic feature. SpywareBlaster this one is a must have, no scans to run, just hit the update button once a week then the enable all protection button, and it sits there and keeps bad things off your pc. also free Firewalls good info, there are a few free firewalls including zonealarm, however anytime you download and install things be very very careful and read each step and if it ask if you want to install extra stuff like toolbars be sure you uncheck those you do not need or want that stuff, zonealarm free has started doing that and including the ask toolbar under a different name you Do NOT want it. on all my computers I also install belarc advisor which will give you a full list of everything on your pc, I usually print out a list so I can refer to it should I need to, very very hand tool. and free Belarc And definitely install and run regularly the PSI to check to see if your program is fully updated or if it needs updating. Secunia Personal Software Inspect and of course keep all windows critical updates done as they come out. If you will be using Vista you can use the built in windows firewall it is fairly adequate rather than a separate one. If you do not have these on your current pc I would suggest getting them. the fact that you have recurring infections means your current products are not fully cleaning them out, malwarebytes will help with that. And being safe in your user habits is key, don't visit sites known to carry infections including social networking sites, don't open email attachments from anyone. when you have an infection that you know is there and you are not able to remove come ask for help I can take you to one of the support help forums that specialize in removing hard to remove infections. Do occasional online scans to double check your AV. housecall is good and so is this one FREE Online Virus Scan I also advise the use of firefox as a browser instead of IE.

It's been quite some time since I have bothered to even mention the "L" word here at GW Apparently it's not a very popular suggestion here amongst the GardenWeb'ers, but none the less, the most reasonable, safe, secure, oh yeah,and free too answer to: >>> Should I renew my membership or should I use something else. I would like good protection without having to download 5 different things. Is to get yourself a good user friendly, and after personally installing and trialing over 30 something versions of the Linux OS, I think it safe to say that they're just about all a much smoother and easier and quicker install than any MS OS......And I have been connected to "the web" for as long as 8 months continuously 24/7 and have NEVER had any security/crack/intrusion ever I would suggest Vector or SimplyMepis or Mint or Pardus for newbies....but then again there are lots more to choose from.... Feel free however to follow the rest of the herd. Using and understanding Linux OS's is certainly no harder, and IMHO based on what friends and associates are always saying about how much better MSWin OS's are while they spend lots of time and money and goodwill attempting to fix issues and stay "secure",much easier and simple to have around.... And while you might be inclined to yada yada yada on about how wonderful MSwin OS's are, run 5 browsers 21 windows 123 tabs and 19 programs all at the same time for days on end, stay online 24/7 for 8 months and run the same didtro for 1.5 years w.o. ever an issue/reboot/registry-error/intrusion/anything under any MSWin OS and then I'll listen to whatever yada yada yada you might have to say.....Until then.... I remain absolutely correct Here is a link that might be useful: the

Not too sure which work with Win98 anymore Shaddy but you can try AVG from here or Avast from here or Comodo from here or AntiVir from here All are great programs and all are free as long as you pay attention during the download and be sure to click for the free version. In my opinion most anti virus programs are all as good as each other. Sometimes we need to change when there is a conflict with other programs. As I understand it all anti virus programmers share information to try to stay ahead of the bad guys - and they are collectively losing that battle according to some written reports. Avast requires registration which lasts 14 months but is simple to complete. If you are on dialup I suggest you save the download to your hard drive in case you need to re-install at any time Be sure to go after the updated definitions as soon as you have installed your chosen program because it will be quite old and out of date.

Running 2 firewalls will deteriorate performance. The 2 firewalls will fight each other. However, there should be a firewall running before allowing your computer to connect with the internet. If Avast has a firewall, then one of these firewall should be disabled. If Avast does not have a firewall, by all means, run the Windows firewall, Your computer may connect with the internet during boot-up, or immediately afterward, if software settings are set to check for updates, and if your internet connection is "live" at that time.