All browsers have history files. It's not a Microsoft conspiracy.

The history files are useful to me. I actually save almost a year's worth in Netscape. The main feature is identifying links I have already used by changing their color. Like on this board, for example. New posts are blue, old ones are gray. Being able to type in a piece of an address and having the browser fill in the rest is also useful.

Yeah, someone could look at my files and see where I've been. If they can dig that far into my computer, I'm already in trouble.

I agree that a firewall like Zonealarm is essential, especially for an always-on system like mine. The key there is which pieces of software you tell Zonealarm to allow access. Who do you trust?

A system with all defenses up is hard to crack, but can also result in crippling your web access. I have IE's ActiveX and other functions switched off for all but a few sites, and it makes it difficult when so many sites use these functions for their pages. Even a lot of plugins don't work right.