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Many thanks for all the advice on malicious spyware and Trojans
I have broadband and use zone alarm
I guess I'll get a router for that "hardware firewall". I've just been too cheap to so until now. I'll look for a Christmas deal. I'm not interested in wireless ones but there are a few cheap ones mentioned here.... http://www.techbargains.com/

You can also get small versions of Linux that boot from the CD and do transactions that way if you need better security.

I've used CD Knoppix to do an XP windows repair. I can really do the transaction on a bootable CD and it will leave no trace on the computer? Mandrake has one also now. Great idea!! I think Next would be to put a legitimate Linux partition my hard drive

I guess I'll get a router for that "hardware firewall".

You really should. I tell it to Every end user that comes to me for Advice when getting Cable/DSL. Your IP address becomes invisible because the router simply drops the packet. Your address goes on the hackers "no response list". If your computer does respond on any port, even secured ones, you can bet your ass, they're going to pound your address if a new vuln comes out.

For deals, also check out Ecost.com and dealcatcher.com.

And yes, you can use Knoppix. It'll need access to the drive for some swapping so you might need a non NTFS partition, not sure if has an NTFS driver. There's lots of distros, I'm going to say SUSE is my choice. Mandrake can be a pain, forget OpenBSD unless you're really into Linux. Your mileage may vary. For a desktop Personally, I like Gnome, but KDE is more windows like. I'm too lazy to surf on my Linux box though. Heh. I just make sure I don't do anything stupid.

Take a look at Xandros Version 3 , it is getting good reviews for being a point and click OS and friendly to the Windows Users....

I am running V2 and has good fonts, performs decent, is a Linux variant and for browsing , seems better than Windows XP Pro.