From: "Louise" <none@nospam.com>

| Win XP Pro, SP2 with MS firewall turned off. Heavy home/office user
| with cable ISP. Use Firefox 85% of the time. Use Outlook as my
| email/pim.
|
| I'm wondering whether I really need to run the amount of security
| software I'm running or whether it's taking too much overhead.
|
| I have a Linksys NAT router. I run Sygate Pro. I run Avast with all
| the shields active.
|
| I used to run Spysweeper only when I actually wanted to scan my machine
| every week or so.
|
| I've just switched to Spyware Doctor (was this a good idea?), and I'm
| once again wondering whether I should leave it running "on guard" all
| the time or whether it's unnecessary use of resources.
|
| Any thoughts about Spyware Doctor and is it bloated - does it use an
| inordinate amount of resources? Is it intrusive?
|
| TIA
|
| Louise

The software sounds fine.

However, I do suggest the you block both TCP and UDP ports 135 ~ 139 and 445 on the Router.

Depending on the model and version, the settings are at the following URL...
http://192.168.1.1/Filters.htm

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm