Dear Bob,

Yep, I know. I'm pretty smart. Thanks for your advice anyway. I just don't have any money to pay for commericial products. I just graduated recently, and now I have a B.S. degree in addition to my A.S. degree, so I'm trying not to spend any money until I find work.

I think a few of my friends actually use Spybot. I'll keep that program in mind, or I can always search this forum for the name If I can't rid of it myself, I will as cheaply as possible. Sometimes, I like the challenge of hacking into my own computers, and learning how malicious programs work. Otherwise, I'm comfortable erasing any of my systems, as Windows is an inefficient, self-corrupting timebomb anyway. Fortunately, I didn't have to then.

I have a Norton Ghost backup image for each computer. I usually erase the computers once in a while anyway to reconfigure them rather than uninstalling all the unwanted software. I've even booted Windows 95 completely from the network. I was just having a flashback. My computers are all very healthy right now . I always have one computer NOT running Windows to store files.

Actually, I must confess that I prefer the way Linux works. Windows has always been sluggish when responding to stimuli. It's just a lot of software I use runs on Windows, mostly video games/emulators, CAD, simulators, etc. I'm just using XP because 1. It came with my laptop, 2. I bought a student version of XP Pro SP2 for $9. My school paid for the license. I don't use my desktops commerically anyway.

Erik