I use a hardware firewall along with AnalogX script defender, Xp SP2, XP antispy, Spyware blocker, PC Pitstop security config, and Zone Alarm. I also use an antivirus, anti popup blocker, Ad-Aware, Spybot SD, PC cleaner, and tested my machine against GRC.com
I still feel vulnerable. :-(
That's ok...really.
I hear chicks dig that stuff.
Imagine....
Imagine no spyware - none, zilch, nada.
Imagine no adware - nothing, zero, not a single one.
Imagine no trojans.
Imagine no viruses - nothing to protect against. Imagine not even _running_ any anti-virus software on your computer.
Imagine computing for 17 years, online for 17 years, and never having had a virus, not once. Ever.
Imagine being able to read _any_ email, without fear. To download _anything_ you wished, and not even have to check it for infection, or worry about some hidden application buried within it, just waiting to attack your computer.
Imagine turning on your computer with the confidence that you can leave it online all day, walk away, and return to find it in exactly the same state - unmolested - as you left it in.
Now, STOP imagining. That's been my personal computing experience (really!) for the last 17 years online.
Impossible, you say? Not if you're using a Mac.
Granted, someone _could_ possibly concoct a virus or some other malaware for OS X. However, if it _does_ happen, it's going to be a "man bites dog" story. It'll be headlines not because it's another virus, but because there has never been an attack on OS X. And it will be dealt with quickly.
I'm writing this post on an older PowerMac 9600 running OS 9.2.2. Safe to say, there will probably _never_ be any new kind of attack on this OS, since all current development is with OS X. (In fairness, there were some Macintosh viruses released upon us 'way back in the 80's and early 90's, but they quickly faded from the scene). Yet OS 9 remains a solid operating system which I expect I'll be using for years to come. I _do_ run OS 10.3.6 on my g4 dual-processor.
As has been suggested by others in this thread, I, too, use a wired router for it's built-in NAT firewall protection. Just good practice, and I needed it to run the 2 Macs from my DSL connection, anyway.
I should admit that I just kind of blindly stumbled into the Macintosh years ago, coming from the Apple //. Otherwise, I probably would have ended up a Windows user like everyone else, with the same problems as most Windows users face.
I've got a friend at work who has used computers as long (longer?) than I have, but he came from the "PC side" of things. Two of his most memorable comments to me were "it took me ten years to learn DOS", and, "I hate computers!".
I've been fooling with personal computers since 1986 (the Mac since 1987) and I _enjoy_ computers! Why is that?
Cheers!
- John