Michael wrote:
>I have  Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition build 105.  Do I also need Spybot, =
>or is Ad-Aware enough??  What would Spybot add in addition to Ad-Aware?>>


As Dean says, use both.   There's an overlap of about 90%, but each will
look for slightly different things.
When setting up Spybot the first time, make sure you click the "Immunize"
button so that it's set to stand guard at all times to prevent nasties from
getting in, a bit like a junior firewall. I don't think it does that by
default, you have to set it.

As well,  I also have Spyware Guard running (which does much the same
thing). There's no harm in having 2 extra lines of defence as well as your
firewall. These are both set to catch nasties trying to download thru your
browser, which a general firewall won't stop because your browser already
has permission to access the Net.

You might also like to have a startup monitor running, which is another
firewally kinda thing.  This prevents anything placing itself in any of
your startup locations without express permission---a favourite ploy of
many trojans. Mine occasionally gets triggered, despite the other
protections. There are several different ones available.

You need all the protection you can get. Especially if you visit any of the
more dubious websites, such as "free" screensavers, fonts, cards,
stationery, and the like.  Free?  Yeah, sure---at the cost of some very
nasty trojans, spyware, malware, and other assorted evil things. Which of
course you won't see---at least, not until your browsing starts to slow
down somewhat.  All those things are hijacking your browser time sending
out their information about you and your browsing habits.

The thing to remember is this--each piece of software is only as good as
its database updates, so each program is bound to differ slightly.

Don Penlington

 From the Beach at Surfers Paradise in sunny Queensland.
Computer tutorials, local scenery,  and other things at my website:
http://users.tpg.com.au/deepend/index1.html