Is your anti-virus/firewall program a yearly subscription too
 

I got a pop-up just now saying that my Norton Security is expiring in 7 days. I have to renew it at a cost of $39.56 for another year of use. Seems like a good deal considering I've never had virus problems since installing it.

I assume this is the norm. What protection software are you using?

Also they will hit you up for some upsales while they are at it.

i dont have one, thats why my computer is full of shit and doesnt work

AVG personal edition works great
http://www.grisoft.com

I run none of that nonsense ... and that's exactly what it is - many folks who've been infected with adware, spyware, viruses, etc *were running* such programs - those programs for many folks may be better than nothing, but certainly not worth paying that type of money for given their failure rate in allowing nasty things through.

Disabling Active-X along many types of scripting (restricting/setting to prompt), turning off preview pane in email reader along with turning off embedded images and HTML, not installing plugins/toolbars unless absolutely essential, not clicking on links in email unless one was expecting a particular email to contain a particular link in advance such as a confirmation email after signing up at a message board, use only well known chat/IM programs, avoid flamewars, promptly install security patches, etc ... steps such as these tend to be more effective and saves one much money on buying virus, spyware, and adware scanners, etc - no need to be a slave to Norton, McAffe etc; those programs, in my experience, often cause numerous problems themselves.

Ron

I still like Norton..most decent antivirus programs charge you a yearly fee