[SpiritWind]

{size:18px}[/size]:D Hi all : Have ALL FREE & GOOD Programs ( no bloatware "Security Suite(s)" ) : Avast Home Edition SUPERantispyware Ewido anti-spyware Ad-Aware Sygate Firewall SpywareBlaster SpywareGuard IE-Spyad for Zoned Out Registry First Aid Eusing Free Registry Cleaner ( this one makes me nervous ) Traceless ATF Cleaner CookieWall ( a "cookie manager" ) RootkitRevealer Process Explorer

[stargazer]

Ok folks, answer me this. I have AvG/Zone Alarm Virus and firewall/ad aware...but here's what happened and I don't under-stand it. Computer working great....then a site froze and I had to shut her down the hard way. When I rebooted, it did a disk scan and all Ok..2 days later, same thing, this time no disk scan on reboot...icons are huge and scattered all over desktop, wallpaper is distorted and MOUSE WONT WORK. I tried every keyboard shortcut to open System Restore, but npo good. A computer expert I know took the cpu home and put DOS to work on it and found all my drivers had been deleted. She opened a good restore point and voila! back came my sweet baby.For about a month before this all happened, I noticed a new icon on my desktopo that I had not put there!!! I was afraid to open it but I couldn't control myself. When I opened it there was my nameJune@ xeryt*.223 and a long list of the same thing (different code). When I opened it thru Notepad, all I got was programmer data I couldn't understand. It was a few days after this that my problems began.After my friend healed my cpu, all was working but that same d--- (forgot, no cussing) icon was on my desktop. I put it up in a corner and vowed never to opoen it. Then a brilliant idea!!! I get them sometimes. I went back to 2 more restore points and restored. Voila! The icon went poof, and I hope it never comes back.....Why didn't my spyware catch this. Stargazer

[SpiritWind]

{size:18px}[/size]:D Hi "Star" : Because in your list of programs I did NOT see one program that "specializes" in detecting trojans, worms, keyloggers, etc . The good & FREE programs in my list that do that are Ewido and SUPERantispyware. Also your list implies you have 2 antiVIRUS programs "running", namely AVG and Zone Alarm AV; if true, this is NOT a good idea, since they can "conflict" with each other, causing problems . When you see an unexpected Icon on your desktop, you should ask the volunteer Experts on the Ad-Aware oriented forums at www.landzdown.com to "check out" your machine .

[stargazer]

Thenks SpiritWind: I spent quite a bit of time today on really analyzing what each of my security programs did...(lousy English). My main point is that I only had a firewall on the free Zone Alarm.I only have virus protection on my AVG. So there's no overlapping. What does bother me tho is that AVG is updating every day and dumping a lot of "upgrades" on my memory and H.D. I run Windows ME and the cust. rep says my program as the latest for that version, so they wont be "updating" anymore.Ditto Windows wont sent down any security downloads. I must live with what I have.I am kinda agreeing with Cosmo that all this security stuff is taking up too much of my time and brain power. I just want to play on my computer. Why would a hacker be interested in grabbing any info from an Me, dial -up computer....unless of course they could use me to get to someone more important. Bottom line is that when I get top heavy with secuirity ware, I sill uninstall and be brave. If they ruin me I will clear the H.D. and reinstall or maybe spring for a better PC. Thanks all Stargazer

[SpiritWind]

{size:18px}[/size]:D Hi "Star" : The reason you should still be concerned with protecting your computer is because Spammers are looking for unprotected computers to turn into "zombies" so they can spread their SPAM undetected. As far as AV protection is concerned, the FREE Avast Antivirus Home Edition still supports Win ME, so would recommend you seriously consider "switching" !? If interested, go to www.avast.com, put your mouse on "support", then read the "FAQ"s for the Home Edition. If no problems, download Avast, COMPLETELY REMOVE AVG ( that's MORE than "uninstall" ), then install Avast. I am one of the volunteer regular "Helpers" on the Avast Forums . More serious is that Microsoft has STOPPED Updating the Win ME . And IF you are pressed with memory space, would recommend you "substitute" Ad-Aware ( which I have on my machine ) for "a-squared Free" from www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/ .

[stargazer]

Thanks Spiritwind: Good advice and I'm gonna do it!I just love getting all this techie info for free. Bye Stargazer

[IlyaRabinovich]

DefenseWall HIPS.

[mdonnel]

Ice Sword :shock: