It's like someone else said:A good hacker can get into just about any system, but you have to consider the odds. If you don't have nuclear secrets or the Coke formula, why would a random hacker target you? From what I've seen, most problems arise from kids and other "experts" misusing or "tweaking" your system, and that doesn't appear to be a problem in your case. I use a hardware firewall (Linksys Router), AVG Anti-virus updated and run daily, Outlook Spam filter, AD Aware and SpyBot and keep Windows up to date. I'm also running a Linux Server for my experimental web page and have two other computers on my Home network. When I run the "Shields up" test at www.grc.com I get exactly the results I expect, so I'm not worried in the least. These security-related pages might help: http://www.uksecurityonline.com/husdg/windowsxp/wxpp2.php http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx (MS security analyzer) http://www.saltmeadow.com/privacy/contents.html ******************************************************** Clarification... My concern is someone "hacking" my computer (primarily while I am logged in - no one else has physical access to my PC). The NOSPIN Group Promotions is now offering Mandrake Linux or Red Hat Linux CD sets along with the OpenOffice CD... at a great price!!! http://freepctech.com/goodies/promotions.shtml