Last week, one of the teachers that worked at our school sent out a 'do not open any e-mails from me, I have a virus ' (as the title)message so I didn't open any of her e-mails or any that looked like they could be from the same source - the ones with the silly titles that you always get. anyway today I received something from someone in my address book that looked like it could be a reply to one of the silly messages warning me of the problem, I didn't open it. So to be on the safe side I used the help on my virus checker to see why I wasn't being protected. No real answer, just a request for payment so that a 'specialist technician' could look at my computer remotely to see if there was a problem or not. I declined this offer as it was almost as expensive as getting a new ? better virus checker. So, should I get this done or not? I've not had any messages about an attack or anything, which presumably would have popped up? Should I get a different virus package? I'm a bit cross, I was supposed to be working and now I'm not :-( :-s

Download a free virus scanner like Avast! or AVG. In many respects they're better than paid-for programmes like Norton as they will fix any problems you have without asking for any money aside from voluntary donations. It would also bee a good idea to download a spyware scanner and a firewall as well. I use a combination of Avast!, spybot search and destroy and Zonealarm firewall and have not had a virus in as long as I can remember.

Go to a general site like www.download.com and have a look through the reviews yourself, you should find something that suits without too much bother.

thanks for that. I'm not sure if it wasn't just a coincidence, as there are many addresses in my address book, but that was the only reply, the re:re:re bit might mean it was nothing, but I never opened it to see! I've got firewall, and a virus scanner as well as the package, so I am presuming that at the moment it is OK, if not I will download another one to supercede the one I have. It's like lots of things these days, they take your money during the good times, and don't wan't to know if you need anything. They have suggested I use a download from their site to check for problems, so I may do that too. don't you just love it when you are ready to work, and something else intervenes :$