in response to a pm i received from a user i thought it'd be better to post my responses to his/her questions. some of this may be redundant to my other posts on this topic. question: why do you like mse vs avg or other programs? i use malwarebytes and spywareblaster i like it b/c: it's free! it is lightweight meaning when you run it it doesn't slow your comp down like norton it catches every virus that managed to slip through (like 1 a month maybe) the other two programs are good for eliminated something already there not really protecting your comp ahead of time IIRC although mse will clean up viruses too. i used to pay for avg then heard about mse and did my homework and switched. question: i saw a negative review re adblock and heard it slows down your comp/browser? if someone has a negative review re adblock it's prob b/c they are either messed up in the head and/or are a content producer that doesn't like their ads being block. there are millions of happy users including me - don't let 1 or 2 idiots discourage you from using it. the internet is a million times better w/ no ads/viruses disguised as ads/etc. it also actually makes things faster, page load times decrease b/c less ads. question: you use sumatra pds vs adobe? why? b/c it takes less time to load when opening a doc. my philosophy is a program should take up as much space and time as it needs to. adobe is too big and takes too much time to load. question: should i use noscript? i def recommend it to reduce chance of viruses/speed up browser however if you go to a new site you might be annoyed b/c you'll have to change the settings to allow the page/site every time. this bothered me too much so i stopped using it but that's not to say it's not worth it for some people. question: why do you use revo uninstaller? b/c it totally gets rid of a program vs just going to start-programs-add/remove programs. if you don't believe me try to uninstall the usual way then search for the name of the program after - you'll find dozens or hundreds of remaining parts of the program. in order to remove everything you have to check the "advanced" or "total" button when you select something to be uninstalled then choose the parts of the program to delete from the drop down. it only takes an extra 30 secs but it's worth it.
Thank you for those explanation, FS. (For other readers of this thread, it was me that PM'd him asking for this help.) I also posted a link to this thread at the other thread where the discussion there included your recommendations. I wanted others there to get the benefit of knowing this thread existed. n e t w o r k i n g Each of the resources you refer to have benefits, and in the aggregate will become one big one. I'm moving forward. Thanks again for your quick response and generosity of effort !