I have a chichuahua and a friend with chichuahuas, she is interested in finding a small chichuahua and I have been helping her by doing searches and giving her the results.  Next I have Norton 360 antivirus. 
  Okay I do the search, visit websites and write a little infomation and turn off the computer.  The next day I turn the computer on,  a little pop up says Norton is doing a background scan, later Norton wants to restart the computer to remove risks, it pulls out about a dozen things it considers risks. If I stick to my regular websites I don't run into this.  In the past I ran into all kinds of things from the internet (viruses, trojans, worms, malware, ect.) Norton seems to do the job and keep the computer running okay but to have to shut down to remove risks after visiting websites for pets seems a bit much.
Carl2

Doesn't sound to good carl, I would have thought if Norton was doing its job right it should have stopped them coming in or at least given a warning that something was trying to get it.

Im still a believer in the Free Microsoft security essentials, I have it on my windows 7 machine, had nothing get in, its also on about 6 other computers I know and again nothing has got in yet.

At least your Norton did catch something trying to get in, I just wonder what it was, is it being over the top and complaining about cookies or something else that really isn't harmful. 

Cookies can normally be deleted on the fly (no restart). Only reason for a restart is if the (alleged) dodgy prog. is still running (norm. a worm from a website).

The best defence is to know what should/shouldn't be running on any given machine. I start with MSCONFIG (startup tab) and stop anything you're not sure of and put it back if something you like in system tray goes missing. This at least frees up memory, often an issue on low resource machines. It also lets you learn what is running in the background of your machine.

  I know that I had Kaplasky ( not sure of the spelling ) in a vista computer, at the time said to be the best.  Yiata complained about the load time, the program kept me asking me if it should block, I really didn't know what to reply.  Also Kaplasky would not get involved with malware.
  Norton 360 seems to be doing the job since the computer is up and running, In the XP days I got use to formating and reinstalling the OS.
  Just looked at Msconfig, haven't done that in ages.  Possibly I'll try running the Microsoft Security  at the same time.  Thanks
Carl2

One thing about Microsoft security essentials is that it doesn't like any other anti virus installed onto the PC, it wants to take over the security job completely and will probably refuse to install if any other anti virus is found on the system.

  Thanks for putting that in, I went to your link and realized we are talking about anti virus and the non compatability issue.  I'd bought the chihuahua I now have off the internet from a breeder,  something that would not be possible without the internet and also buy computer components online both which serve a useful purpose.  I just get upset once in a while by poor advertising pratices and the amount of threats to computers and the need to protect your personal info.
  The last restart from Norton was because of 19 cookies and something else.  The computer is okay so Norton is doing it's job.
  Just looked at Nortons Firewall, to be honest it is over my head, I would really  rather not make any changes.
Carl2

I find I go for the easy option these days. I used to play with firewalls and stuff.
I just use windows firewall and MS security ess. They don't nag and seem to do their job.

Is it just me or is it easier to re-install windows than get your head around all the info from firewalls and stuff?

I find I've learnt what not to click and do 'alt+F4' (close focused window) if dodgy windows pop up.

Quote from: Snowcrash on August 21, 2010, 21:28:27 PM
Is it just me or is it easier to re-install windows than get your head around all the info from firewalls and stuff?

Much easier to re-install imo.  I used to re-install XP every six months or so.  But like you I know what not to click now and W7 is the same install I did ten month ago and there's no real need to change anything.

  Norton has it's own safe search which I have used in the past, I remember there was a warning about a site so I didn't go near it.  I can remember the reinstalling XP, I partitioned the disk and moved downloads, documents ect to the other drive.  Well it is much better than the XP days.
Carl2