Kay writes: <<Wow, this is disconcerting. I'm with Ann. I too, show this file and have virus protection, firewall, all updates (except sp2). Do we get rid of this and if yes, how?>> I think a lot of people may be getting misled here. In fact, after reading some of the correspondence, I was getting a little scary myself. Lsass.exe is a normal Windows XP system file, which is running at all times. You should see it in your Task Manager. Don't mess around with it. There is a virus of the same name. It is so-called because it works through this system file. That's all. Seeing this file running, (as you should), does NOT mean that you have a virus. If you have any reason to think you might have this virus, look up its symptoms on any of the anti-virus websites. I don't know how vital this file is to XP, or whether the system will run without it. Certainly XP will not operate properly without it, so don't, unless you are an expert, be tempted to delete it or monkey around with it in any way. Leave it to your antivirus software, or the specialised removal tools, if you think your computer is infested. 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