Mark,

I have a Norton Antivirus scan scheduled each evening to start at 9pm. If I try to start up the computer after the time passes, it is very slow to start because the scan starts up when it can and muscles in on everything else. If you have a startup scan scheduled it will have the same effect. Try setting it to run at a time during the day when you know the computer will be on but aren't needing to use it at full capacity while the scan runs.

I'd be leery to drop Norton myself, especially for a free antivirus. It has been said that "you get what you pay for." Some free programs I happily use, but when it comes to catching the nasty stuff and the fast turn around from when a virus is launched to when the fix appears, I'll continue to trust Norton. I'd rather have the slow computer and the assurance that it is doing the trick.

This isn't to pick on Bassic's choice--there is also a question of how you log on. Since I have DSL it makes my computer a sitting duck for lots of stuff out there cruising around looking for computers to infect. The following was the introduction to a recent online newsletter sent by the Anonymizer folks (I have Anonymizer in place also, but don't use it as well as I could. I can't always get the firewall to let it work properly).

An unpatched Windows PC connected to the Internet will last for only about 20 minutes before it's compromised by malware, on average According to Internet Storm Center. That figure is down from around 40 minutes, the group's estimate in 2003. The Internet Storm Center, which is part of the SANS Institute, calculated the 20-minute "survival time" by listening on vacant Internet Protocol addresses and timing the frequency of reports received there.

"If you are assuming that most of these reports are generated by worms that attempt to propagate, an unpatched system would be infected by such a probe," the center, which provides research and education on security issues, said in a statement. The drop from 40 minutes to 20 minutes is worrisome because it means the average "survival time" is not long enough for a user to download the very patches that would protect a PC from Internet threats.

If you use a dialup connection, you still need all of the antivirus protection, but your computer isn't sitting at the same address day in and day out, and it makes it a harder target to hit. In theory, anyway. That is probably changing quickly these days also. I didn't start using a firewall until I switched to DSL. I also use a router to distribute the signal between computers. It used to be that a firewall is unnecessary for a dialup connection. Is that untrue today? (Probably, but I don't really know.)

Good luck sorting it out!

SRS