Has anyone heard of any security program that may be in the works that will cover all aspects of security? So we only have to download one program rather than 5or6 programs to cover 5or6 different security issues. Larry

You don't need any security programs. If you have a router, you don't need a software firewall. Actually, if you control what services you run, you don't need any firewall at all. It's safe to leave all your ports open if no programs listen on those ports. Software firewalls are most useful in blocking ougoing connections from trojans. If you avoid insecure programs, you can eliminate the virus scanner and a few other programs. For example, use Mozilla Firefox rather than Internet Explorer. It has popup blocking built in, so you don't need a program for that anymore. You also won't have to worry about "browser hijacking." Avoiding Outlook for e-mail will further reduce the virus threat. Mozilla Thunderbird is a good alternative. Avoid adware/spyware by using Free software. VLC is a good adware/spyware-free media player that supports lots of formats. I've also heard good things about Media Player Classic, but I've never used it (I use Linux most of the time, and MPlayer is supports almost everything). Being selective about what P2P programs you install is important. Avoid those that are known to be full of adware/spyware. Once you've moved away from vulnerable programs, the only virus threat remaining is from files you've downloaded. Don't be stupid. If you want to run cracks and hacks for games, lame screensavers, etc., make sure you trust the download source. I know doing things my way requires installing a few programs, so it's not exactly the answer you're looking for, but I often find the secure "alternative" has better features anyway.

Hi Jake, Thanks for the info.Being an ex Air Force radar tech. I'm not new to computers, but I am a newbie to haveing my own home PC to keep in good condition so I was just curious. For example I use the latest updated versions of Norton,AVG,Zone Alarm, Ad-Aware,and Yahoo Companion popup killer.I keep them all updated daily also any critical updates for windows. So far I have not had any problems. Larry

"You don't need any security programs. If you have a router, you don't need a software firewall. Actually, if you control what services you run, you don't need any firewall at all. It's safe to leave all your ports open if no programs listen on those ports. Software firewalls are most useful in blocking ougoing connections from trojans." "If you avoid insecure programs, you can eliminate the virus scanner and a few other programs. For example, use Mozilla Firefox rather than Internet Explorer. It has popup blocking built in, so you don't need a program for that anymore. You also won't have to worry about "browser hijacking." Avoiding Outlook for e-mail will further reduce the virus threat. Mozilla Thunderbird is a good alternative." Ok, maybe I'm sticking my foot in my mouth here, and you may very well know something that I don't, hell, I'm no expert, but those two paragraphs scare the crap out of me. I don't care how safe you surf or whatever, but you leave your ports open, get rid of your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs, and see what happens. Now I may somewhat agree that having a router WITH a firewall in it, you may not need a software firewall, in fact it might conflict with it in rare cases. But, to be on the safe side, leave one on there as a second layer. Anti-spyware programs are pretty much a must unless you have a firewall that has options to block Active X and those other things or have it blocked in IE. Even then I wouldn't go so far as to say you're perfectly safe without them. Oh yes, getting rid of an antivirus? Absolutely not. The new worm out doesn't need to be opened, it looks for those open ports and invites itself in. You'll be pretty safe from viruses if you never open unknown attachments and scan everything you download BEFORE opening them, bit for pete's sake never get rid of your antivirus. Again, you may be an expert and I may be missing many points, but otherwise, my 2 cents is that is some bad advice. No disrespect meant.

"Now I may somewhat agree that having a router WITH a firewall in it, you may not need a software firewall" - by "router" I mean NAT router, which inherently firewalls computers behind it "...or have it blocked in IE" - notice that I'm advocating not using IE "Absolutely not. The new worm out doesn't need to be opened, it looks for those open ports and invites itself in." - Worms don't just invite themselves in through open ports. Somthing needs to be running on those ports. Unfortunatly, if you use Windows, you probably have a few potentially vulnerable services enabled by default. But even if you do, if you're behind a NAT router the ports are only "open" to the Internet if you forward them. That means the default is safe with a router. I think there's too much "boogie man's gonna sneak in through open ports" type information out there confusing people. Sure it won't hurt to have extra layers of protection, but it's not voodoo. If someone portscans you and doesn't find any ports open, they'll move along just the same as if they found all the ports open but nothing running on them. If you don't know how to disable everything or want the extra layer of protection, use a router. Once you're behind the router, attacks can only come from within, meaning you either have to use vulnerable software or literally hack yourself. Eliminate both of those possibilities and you only have physical security to worry about, but if a home computer isn't physically secure, you have bigger problems than the latest NT worm.