Sick and tired of viruses,bugs and worms!

In that case...you need 2 beatings.

Maybe I'm wrong. But I thought it was obvious. The skill level that is.

 

Lose the Norton. Worst out there.

 

Now that you've got Firefox, go into the addons for it and get Adblock Plus. Subscribe to the blocklist for the US. That'll knock out a large part of your problems right there.

And toolbars are evil.

 

The biggest (virii/bug/spyware) prevention method is to change YOUR behavior. STOP going to porn sites, STOP downloading "stuff" from unknown sources, UPDATE your computer regularly (turn ON "Auto Update").
But the sad thing is, once you are "infected"; paying someone to "dis-infect" is a waste of money. You will need to re-install your OS.

 

Set your auto update to "Notify" though. Some of the update MS comes up with can and will trash your machine. I usually only get the critical security updates and give them a while to work the bugs out of the other stuff.

 

That's the easiest and least expensive way to do it. Provided he doesn't need to recover critical data.

If my moms PC became infected, I would do a simple re-install. The only critical data she has, is our banking information. Which is backed up on flash drive at every access of MS Money.

I think our original poster is having issues with e-mail and websites. More so than simple downloads.

To our original poster.

The script kiddies aka hacks, use sites like Google and Yahoo to look up what the leading searches are. Then develop e-mails and websites that are similar to the most popular searchs, with embedded code.

You need to avoid temptation to click links in e-mails coming from people/sources you have not had direct contact with.

Avoid websites out of the mainstream. Even if you prefer to visit questionable sites that involve P2P or porn. There are reputable/honest places to visit, that have been in business for years.

If you are just gathering information, and have no need for pictures, sound, etc. It's simple to set your web browser controls to prevent download of erroneous data you do not need to display.

However, the tighter you set those controls. The more limitations you place on your internet experience.

ActiveX code is rampant now. This feature can be crippled or disabled within Explorer by simply clicking "Tools" in Explorer. Then selecting the Internet Options then select the "Security" tab when the window opens.

Click "Custom Level" scroll down and disable or select "prompt" for all ActiveX controls.

Do the same for scripting.

A word of caution here. Doing this will severely impact your online experience. But it will virtually eliminate the majority of web site embedded bugs.

If you simply change these settings to "Prompt before loading". You have the control at your fingertips. It can get very annoying also. But it will make you aware of what is going on....even if you don't understand it.

 

here is a tip for you windows users. Do yourself a favor and partition your drive. Move your "My documents" "My Music" My videos" folders to the second partition. Here is a guide how to make windows use the second drive. http://www.techsupportalert.com/how_to_move_my_documents.htm This makes reinstalling your OS a heck of a lot less traumatic. Your data will be untouched.