Thanks for all that effort crash, much appreciated.

Yes, very informative. I'm using avant now too.

And another very happy customer (non Paying!!) The transfer of favs was easier than 1st thought too as there's a box to tick at the bottom of the Miscellaneous Options window that says 'transfer IE favs' & does exactly that.
Btw, does it have a sister email program? Haven't come across mention of one if there is. Thanks again.

peakester
 

Crash,

Thanks for all your computer info. I'm also interested in what email client you use and why. Also firefox has a good feature to remember those thousands of passwords we must use to login to various sites. Does Avant have this and if not, is there an add on/extension/plug in to incorporate this into the browser.

Cheers
Tony

In the website above there are links to all independent tests to support the above statements. There are some serious security issues with firefox and having initialy used it for about six months, I found it as slow as a wet week compared to Avant [Opera is the fastest in the tests ...just], which has no security issues.

Avant has a very active user forum: http://forum.avantbrowser.com/viewforum.php?f=4 For passwords etc. Avant has a very slick feature called 'organise auto fills' under 'auto fills' on the toolbar next to 'bookmarks'.

Anything you want to know about the browser can be answered at the forum site as I'm certainly no expert on it.
I have just this morning downloaded the latest new release [they come out regularly with tiny improvments after 'listening' to user imput]. There are no security issues with Avant and I love all the extra screen real-estate it's many options [a huge amount] allow.

Re Mail:
I use Outlook Express as I'm used to it and I can set it up very securely indeed through message rules and only use it for friends and a few places where I know it won't be abused.
I also use Yahoo mail as a far less intrusive option that hotmail in my personal opinion [only]. MSN messenger I have disabled [but not removed].

I've recently sacked the free Zone Alarm I used to use, as after testing it recently on a security 'leak test' ...it leaks like a sieve! I now use 'Sunbelt Keiro' as a free firewall.

Avant is IE
 

Guys

Sorry to burst the Avant Browser love bubble but Avant is just Internet Explorer with a different dress on. I use it cos it's a decent tabbed browser, not cos it's secure.

See the F.A.Q.'s

http://www.avantbrowser.com/faq.html

Seeya

Interesting topic this.

I think the important thing to remember about spyware, is that no one application will protect you, you must use a combination of antispyware programs.

I agree with crash re Norton's - it does do the job, but will slow your computer to intolerable pace.

I would suggest that anyone storing important stuff (like racing info and spreadsheets) ;) have two drives the same size and have an auto backup scheduled at minimum weekly. Use a program that will make an image of your primary drive.

SOME DRESS !!!

A single drive with an extra partition[s] will do the same thing for the down and outs who balk at installing an extra HD.

What I use:-))

Crash

I have to agree with you - I really like the dress too. I've been wearing it for over 12 months now and everybody I show it to reckons it's really pretty :)

Pixie

Get a partition virus or a bad sector in the wrong spot and you're $$$$ed.

Two drives are much better than one, but if you really can't afford one, then backup to CD.

Yep Chrome, your right about 2 drives as the dux solution [I'd like 3 ....one for the OS and programs, one for the paging file [swap file] and one for important data and other files.
Alternatively a small USB [1G to 4G] keychain drive is a cheap handy alternative as a data backup [better than disks] and will backup a fair amount of data.

Failing the above, a partition for the OS and one for files [and one for programs if you like] is a pretty good alternative for the average Joe. Mostly it is the OS that crashes and the partition can be simply re-formated and the OS re-installed.

Superantispyware
 

I have been using the freeware edition for a year or more,it finds,

"Not just the easy ones" - updates once or twice a day.

www.superantispyware.com/

Two weeks ago I installed and ran it on someone else's machine and it
found 133 Trojans and various other charmers.

HTH,

Regards.

Beware of bulletproof software, it is full of spyware and pretends to be an antispyware application.

The program posted above is a good one, as is a-squared.

It's best to have more than one anti-spyware program.
Spywareblaster is the only freeware program offering real-time protection and Ad-aware, Spybot and Ewido 4 to back Spywareblaster up are good options.

Probably overkill if neither IE or Firefox browsers are used.