May I jump in and say that one of the best investments you can make is a hardware firewall. Use this in conjuction with a software firewall and you are extremely secure.Furthermore you dont need to get a dedicated hardware firewall - for example most routers today have their own firewalls, so now you can use bunches of comps in your home - and have solid protection.Oh....dont trust that Windows XP firewall!!!!! Try the free Zone Alarm or Sygate. ----------------------------------------------------------------------As for my comment on disconnecting while playing FS:I just said that because it would give you two things:1. Peace of mind - you arent online, your computer is not at risk. Enjoy flying!2. More memory is freed up for MSFS because you've stopped the anti-virus monitoring etc.Of course if you have solid firewalls, a blazing processor and gobs of RAM this isnt an issue hee hee!:)

How about the pair of you back off on the personal insults in a public forum?Ian P.

Having worked in and around computers since the early 80s, I came through the period when viruses were only normally transferred by the boot blocks on floppies right through to the mess we have now. Throughout that time, Sophos has consistently come out at the top of the pack.The problem has always been the price of it, in the past, and the fact that some people find it hard to use - especially the Enterprise Manager (although thankfully private users don't have to do battle with that!!!)My year with Norton is about to run out and it is about to get replaced by AVG. My girlfriend's is probably about to get replaced by Sophos. Could be an interesting comparison from my perspective!Ian P.

<< My year with Norton is about to run out and it is about to get replaced by AVG >>I had to uninstall NAV from a computer once - and it was not easy. To the best of my knowledge it is one of the the most stubborn programs to completely remove from a system. Even after I used Add-Remove it would still show up after the reboot. Finally got it to leave after some fiddling around in the registry & in safe mode (dont do this unless u have all your data sitting backed up on CDs or DVDs!)I have to say that NAVs impact was great - that computer sped up a lot! Not just for gaming but for everyday use too!

Quick question, how do you get AVG7.0 to scan downloaded files? With AVG6 you could specify in Download Accelerator the exact file exe that scanned and it gave a report at the end of scanning, but cannot find the same exe in AVG7. Any ideas?ThanksShez

I think you just right-click on a file and select "Scan With AVG"

After several years I have joined the exodus from NAV, and AVG Free has so far found 3 viruses that could have been there for years!My bit of advice is that 'add remove programs' does not get rod of NAV completely. Visit www.symantec.com and search the knowledge base for details of how to manually remove all registry keys and services for the product you have, and also to download their own Norton Anti-virus removal tool. Takes about an hour but it will rid your system of NAV and other symatec items completely.AVG is still scanning and we are up to 4 trojan horse viruses so far!RegardsGraeme

Good post. Users tend to believe in a set and forget solutions.Jos

I guess I have to chime in the opposite.I used AVG for years. During that time I picked up many trojans/viruses that either AVG detected but said it could not fix-or were totally undetected by AVG. My new computer of a year ago came with Norton. Since using it-I have not had one single problem picking up any nasty from the internet-nada.I was a sworn against Norton user from some past troubles with their products -however in this case I think I'll take a few frame rate hits ....If Avg works for you-certainly great-but in my case it sure had some holes .http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg

Well Norton found nothing up until the point I removed it and AVG found nothing afterwards, so that was something of a non-issue here.The PC I use for FS is neither used for downloads/surfing nor for e-mail, so it's only really the loophole-in-Windows viruses, worms, trojans and the like that are being protected against. The entire network hides behind a hardware firewall, which takes some of the heat from the software blockers as well.The one funny thing is that it takes Norton somewhere in the region of 6 hours to scan the HDD. It took AVG 3hrs. So did it just skip bits, or was it really faster? ;-)Ian P.

The best thing about AVG is that it

Hello RTH,I believe that scheduled scanning is part of the Professional version. Since it works on any file that's accessed and scans prior to coming up to the desktop, I have had no need for scheduling but I just checked briefly on it. Also, don't forget you can merge the 2 icons in the task tray as well as disable the sounds.Carmine http://ftp.avsim.com/dcforum/Images/wave.gif

Thanks Carmine:I guess that scores one point for AVG. but I will give avast a fair try for a while.Respectfully:RTH

100% correct IMHOMany months ago I went through the removal routine for the complete Norton package. There are programs available for locating all of the hiding places where it refuses to die by normal removal methods, but I don't remember all of them right now. A simple search would probably locate them (the removal programs), but no doubt about it, it is a hassle and Norton refuses to die like a science fiction alien. Once COMPLETELY removed, FS9 performed much better for me. About the easiest thing to do is simply wait for your next upgrade. When I updated to a RAID0 setup with four new HD's (+ two old backups by my previous HD's) I left Norton in the archive box in my garage. Of course, one can bite the bullet and reformat, reinstall everything and start over leaving Norton out of the package.I have three computers in the house. When I upgrade mine, I pass the applicable hardware from my previous one to my wife, and her's to my daughter. My wife uses almost all data programs, the internet, and a few internet games so I have left Norton on hers (for the time being). It is causing no problem to my knowledge thanks to her simple usage so I have chosen to delay dealing with it until the next udgrade. At that time, Norton will cease to be on her computer as well. I don't know what my daughter installs on her unit that is totally in conflict with Norton, but it has caused corruption, crashes and all kinds of problems for years through multiple upgrades. I finally reformatted/reinstalled and started over from scratch burying Norton relative to her machine as well. All problems went away.I believe there are many good and relatively equal choices, but A combination of a Cable Modem/Router + AVG + Zone Alarm + Spybot have worked for me for some time to prevent and/or remove intrusion. (All freeware software which I highly recommend).Happy flying:RTH

That is true when one opens the file after it is on the HD I think. AVG6 actually automatically scanned the files as soon as the download completed. I did not find the same option in AVG7.Shez