I think they are fine. I would not pay for them, but their 'free trials' can actually serve as a neat utility- use it to patch-up your machine and then try to be safe from there on out.

On the other hand, some folks might consider the peace of mind worth the price.

I think it is better to to try to do as much of it as you can on your own. It makes one feel more secure in the digital world.

The problem is finding the balance. You don't want to 'not know' all the time, and go around re-formatting your hard drive every time some piece of nasty-but-mostly-harmless VBScript or Javascript changes your home page or someone spams your IP with windows messenger pop-ups. But at the same time, you want your computer to actually be a *utility*, not some on-going research project.

And turn off the windows messenger service yourself through administrative tools. There are a lot of clowns out there selling pricey software that does just that and only that.

Davin L.