StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I need a free program to block spyware and also a good firewall. Anyone know a good one?

You can rid yourself of most spyware simply by using a browser that doesn't stupidly execute every script on every page you visit.

So go either Opera or Firefox/Mozilla

For everything else, occasional adaware scans will stamp them out.

For a firewall, either Kerio or Zonealarm will do the trick

Adaware SE
Spybot Search & Destroy 1.3

Run both because one will catch what the other won't, and vice versa. Be sure to update both before scanning.

Mozilla I recommend downloading the full version of Mozilla instead of FireFox. FireFox is stripped down so bad, its not even funny. The interface doesn't even have HALF of the features of Mozilla, and quite frankly it looks like the bastard son of IE and Mozilla. On the same website with the exact same theme (Skypilot Classic), FireFox eats up 5 more MB than Mozilla, and loads in exactly the same time (both in program startup and actual site loading). I've been using it for the past few days side-by-side with Mozilla and so far I really don't like FF at all. (tested FF 0.9.3 and Mozilla 1.7.1 on an Athlon XP 2800+, 512MB PC2700 running XP Pro SP2)

As for a firewall, I highly recommend Kerio.

I'm using Firefox because I've read several times that the "classic" Mozilla browser will be gone and Firefox will replace it, but really I don't see the improvement at all... if anything, I think Firefox is more "idiot-proofed" and Mozilla is more for Power Users.

There were features I liked in Mozilla that were completely lost in FF. For instance, Mozilla didn't save the URL separately for each tab, but later they added it. Firefox took several versions after that to do the same thing. Also Mozilla remembers the URL if a link fails to load, so you can simply go to the (untitled) tab, click on the URL line and hit enter to try again - that was several versions ago, like 1.5 or so, and yet Firefox still doesn't do it!

I'm seriously considering going back to Mozilla... wonder which of the mail clients is better...

Sygate Personal Firewall is also a very good free firewall. See www.sygate.com

Edi