virus program

Die-hard Infopackets Reader Paul B. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have been a faithful subscriber to your newsletter for a few years now. While I immensely enjoy reading your articles (especially the software reviews), I am constantly second-guessing ... myself as to which utilities *I* need to keep my system running smoothly. As a newbie, I would like to know how many of these 'fix all programs' are really necessary? For example, which utilities do I need for: speeding up, uninstalling, defragging, anti-Spyware, anti-spam, firewall, anti-virus, registry cleaning / fixing... etc. I mostly use my ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jospeh D. writes: " Dear Dennis, Your newsletters are the greatest! I've installed Windows XP Service Pack 2 *twice* on my machine, and both times, it told me that I didn't have a virus program installed. I've tried Grisoft ... AntiVirus and also tried AVAST32. Still, Windows XP is not recognizing them. Every time I start my computer there is a reminder for me to install a virus program. Am I protected or not? " My response: This one had me stumped, too. If your antivirus program is sitting in the tray (next to the clock), then chances are that it's working. It's a ... (view more)