"PlowBoy" > wrote in message
news:0aO3f.7$282.1@dukeread08...
> Alan,
>
> It is worse than you think...

I realize that virus are a pretty serious problem, but it is not as bad as
those who sell protection software lead you to believe. Like a lot of
things people sell, they hype the problem to make it seem like you'd be nuts
to go without the product they want to sell.

I've always felt that virus software in particular does more harm than good.
In all my years (since 1985) of computing, I've ran into one virus. That's
it. I'll take my chances, rather than having continuous problems and
intrusive virus software harrassing me daily.

If one does the smart thing, like not opening files that are unknown, then
the problem isn't that big of a deal. Granted, I don't have any sensitive
information, I don't own a business or company, that makes it imperative to
have virus protection. I'm just me with my own stuff, which I can live
without.

And yes, I do check for spyware on a weekly basis. But spyware software
doesn't run in the background and is not intrusive, like virus software.

Alanb