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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RingXero" data-source="post: 1046422" data-attributes="member: 109">Umm, I really hate to continue this OT thread past it's first point, but I really must say that this is extremely bad advice.  (No personal attack intended, I just wanted to point this out for those who don't know alot about virii, so they don't think they can get away without some form of virus protection.)No one can know everything of what not to do on the interenet and with email.  Granted there are a number of steps in locking down a machine so that a malicious program will not execute by itself, but this level of hardening is in almost all cases not worth the trade-off in usability that most people desire out of their machines.  AND does not protect them from any new security 'holes' in their OS/Browser/Email program.Having an anti-virus software on your machine that checks for virus definition updates constantly (ie. at least once a day)is one of the best things that a person can do for the safety of his/her machine and for the safety of their friends' and family's machines.  It is by far not the only thing to do, but it is the best first step.The next is to make sure that the OS and email program are updated to the latest versions, actually exceedingly important if using Microsoft products, Windows and Office update make this rather easy.  If you are using something else than the chance of you being able to be infected by a virus goes down greatly so updating can be held off of for a small time if necessary.Spyware removal tools such as Ad-aware (make sure that you keep them updated frequently) are important for the average user.  Mostly to keep the machine running in top form, as the prevalence of resource sucking spyware is at an almost unbelievable level.  No longer is it just Gator anymore.and finally, robust Firewall software, while some people may have to update their RAM so the performance hit is negligable, it is more than worth it.  This helps with primarily tracking what on your machine is accessing the outside world while also protecting your machine from your inquisitive neighbor.RX</blockquote>

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