Noreen,

My kids don't use my computer any more. I just couldn't risk the stuff they might accidentally download, and I make a point of trying to keep them up to date on what they should and shouldn't be doing with the computer. We saved up, had a garage sale, etc., and bought them a Dell last fall. It's faster than mine and more up to date, but it's theirs and they have a vested interest in using it right. They really like having their own computer--and they don't take it for granted.

Meanwhile, I still do all of the computer maintenance around here and I regularly run updates on their computer as well as mine. Often as not, I'll run an update on mine then tell the child who is logged on at the time to run the update on theirs. This way they get to practice on their own. It may seem an expensive way to teach that lesson, but the price of a computer is worth it so that I can continue to telecommute from home.

The only thing I would add to what John has recommended is to get a good remote (USB or firewire) hard drive and a copy of Norton's Ghost. Make regular full backups of the computer and if you have to, restore the image. A trick I have figured out that (knock on wood) has worked for me so far: I divided my C drive (80 gig) into C:, D:, and E: and on the D: drive I have installed all of my productivity software. My Documents also operates from the D: drive. The operating system, the browsers, that sort of thing, are on the C: drive. Assuming that mal-wear by default installs itself on the C: drive, in the past when I had something go wrong that I couldn't fix, I restored the C: drive and that wrote over whatever the problem was. I didn't lose my email or productivity files created during the time since the last backup because they were on a drive that was never affected. If something bigger comes along and trashes the whole thing, then I'd lose some of my work if I restored the whole computer. It's worth the investment if you use your computer for more than simple household stuff and games for the kids.

SRS