Reply #38: "Guess I do"

[Katzenjammer]

Yes, you do. And buy a good one, don't rely on a freebie or a cheapo. ZA Pro is the one I've used for years, and it gets good marks. It has some minor usability problems, but they wouldn't affect you unless you build a LAN.

Also buy one or more good de-spywaring utilities. I use Spyware Doctor, but I don't really know whether it's the best. It seems to work well, but hasn't found anything since right after I bought it. Is that because my routinely being cautious has kept my machines clean, or because the Doctor is incompetent and misses the malware that's managed to sneak in? I can't think of any safe way to test that. So ask around among your nerdy friends. But make sure that you're not connected to the net when you run the anti-spyware utility/ies, since you don't want to be immediately reinfected.