I know that you can get viruses from email attachments and files that you may download (macro viruses, trojans etc). I have heard that you can download a virus from a webpage without being aware of it. You just visit the site and somehow, in the background without you knowing it, the virus just finds its way on your PC. The only such "virus" I have ever caught just attempted to change my default homepage and was easily detected by Norton.

I also read that there are options enabled withing internet explorer by default that make catching these viruses easier and that these options should be disabled. Could someone tell me what these options are and what implications disabling them will have on general web browsing?

Thanks

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/win.script.hosting.html
http://www.sophos.com/support/faqs/wsh.html

PC Pitstop offers a performance scan to evaluate and assist you in setting your computer for maximum performance. What I think is the best feature of this scan is that it checks your secuurity settings and offers tips/fixes to upgrade them if they are not properly configured. Some other websites are PC Flank, browsercheck, thepublicworks, spywareinfo, cexx and wilders.org for more security information. Always remember that there is a trade off between easy/fun surfing and absolutely secure surfing that only you can make, because you can not simply use your browser and go! Many browser features will be disabled and many of the websites that are your favorites can no longer be accessed. Take care and all the best!

Thanks Guys,

Will check the sites out that you both mentioned.

Once while searching google i clicked a link. Immediately Panda popped up warning me of an attack. The site banged away until i closed the IE window. 33 attempts to infect me.

That was the last time i closed my antivirus software. I didnt have a firewall but i assume it would have helped.

As an extra security precaution you could DISBALE ACTIVE X and JAVA and that can help, but then some pages will not load and show properly.

Another option, is to go through the security settings and require a "Prompt" befor downloading ACTIVE X files. This way you can still download them from safe sites you visit, and know about attempts to download from new sites you visit.

To ShutMeUpOrDown :
Try Kerio Firewall,it's very nice and uses
less resources than others.
You just don't have to do nothing after you set it up.

one of the top virii, that infects servers is nimda.enc that creates a bunch of .eml files in the temp internet folder. nav has
stopped them so far, not sure what the avenue of attack was, since it happend while surfing with netscape.