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I don't know if anyone else will agree with me on this, but I'll tell you what's worked for me for Internet security for the last five years.

I simply keep ONE computer dedicated to being online and it does nothing else: no other programs besides browser, e-mail, printer and CD burner. I don't have ANY security on it at all and I don't even check for viruses. The computer always works properly but about once a year (to clean out any bugs or glitches which may have unknowingly accumulated) I backup any files I want to keep on the secondary partition (D) and reformat the primary partition (C) and then do a clean install of Windows and reinstall the browser, e-mail, printer and CD burner. The computer I use for this is a cheapo "obsolete" model that never needs upgrades because Internet browsing doesn't really require much in the way of performance.

I have other computers that I use for other purposes and I make sure that I never transfer anything from the Internet computer to any of them without being absolutely sure the transfered files are clean.

I was first advised to do this by a friend of mine who is a system administrator and he does this himself. He said he's never had problems doing this either.

That's an intriguing idea -- I never thought about that.

I might be in a good position to do this, too. I have a pretty large desk at home with plenty of space on it (I use a 7-foot buffet table, going back to my days in engineering school when I needed the room to unfold drawings). My new computer will be a laptop for portability (I'm on the road maybe once a week), but since I hate laptop screens and small keyboards I plan to use a docking station so I can connect my desktop keyboard and my desktop monitor. Is there any way to connect the two CPUs to a single router so I can transfer files between them if necessary?