Hi Don, I often add Zone Alarm free as well to computers I fix up. On my own I use/trust the Eset Security Suite. I bought the 3 computer 3 year licence 2 years ago and have never had an infection. It will not allow a download of anything is suspects is malicious. The other day there was a free download of Nero 9 I could not complete the download as it had the Ask Toobar Trojan bundled with it. This computer my Vista Home Pro made for me by www.ncix.ca has Windows Defender on it but it has never done anything other than asking if I wish to notify MS of a trusted application install. I have been recommending Avira formerly H&Bev antivir for around 8 years it is one of the best AV programs I have found. Cheers Mike the mod ******* REPLY SEPARATOR ********* On 8/7/2009 at 8:13 PM recklessmaverick@xxxxxxxxxx wrote: My XP Pro SP1a disk was the same PITA until I tried installing it on a new computer. Then it installed like a champ. Apparently a new system starts the # of installs count over again. Your idea sounds better. I'm thinking clean install, security software install, update. Install ATI and other software (including portable software) and update it all. Configure software as desired for email, internet etc. Run a last update on Windows and Security software. Create a Bootable ATI USB drive using BartPE. Use ATI to create an image and store it on the same USB drive. I would also include various install files or portable versions of maintenance and diagnostic software I did want to put in the image. Mine method might take a 16GB thumbdrive but I have four of them laying around doing nothing right now. I might also use EasyBCD to create a backup of the MBR and keep it on the drive also. Have you found AviraAV and MalWareBytes to be adequate protection? Do you also use Windows Defender or other stuff also? Don --------------------------------------------------------------- Please remember to trim your replies (including this sentence and everything below it) and adjust the subject line as necessary. To subscribe, unsubscribe or modify your email settings: //www.freelists.org/webpage/pctechtalk OR To subscribe to the mailing list, send an email to pctechtalk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject. To unsubscribe send email to pctechtalk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject. To access our Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PCTechTalk/messages/ //www.freelists.org/archives/pctechtalk/ To contact only the PCTT Mod Squad, write to: pctechtalk-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To join our separate PCTableTalk off-topic group, send a blank email to: pctabletalk+subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---------------------------------------------------------------