Not long ago it was suggested I try the trial version of avast! internet security, so I did. Have. Am. And so far its been great. Resource hogging has stopped, I've not had any problems with my user profile locking up, Everything has been, well, great. So it looks like I'll end up buy the user rights to this one.

As I said in another thread, I've started using Opera as my web browser. I hate to keep using the same word, but it too has been great. It loads faster than IE, it has a page called Speed Dial that allows you to set selected sites for one click access--no need to keep looking in favorites/bookmark. I really love this feature.

And the newest I'm trying is Thunderbird, an e-mail program from Mozilla. Its been in use just for a day but I'm starting to find it easier to use than Outlook or Outlook Express. And it seems a bit faster too.

One feature I've noticed is called Junk, where you train Thunderbird to recognize junk mail. This feature also gives you a few options as to how junk e-mails are to be handled. I'll have to look more closely at this feature when we really get a piece of junk e-mail.

The jury is still out on a feature that blocks remote content if an e-mail links directly to a web site. It's easy to allow remote content, just a pain if Thunderbird doesn't know to let the remote content through. I think this is similar to the message bar I see now and then asking if I want to allow ActiveX or some other thing to proceed. I've only used Thunderbird for a day so maybe I'll get used to this feature.

But, overall, after one day, I'm really impressed with Thunderbird. I may even keep using it instead of Outlook Express.

Homer6,

Thanks for the thumbs up on Avast. All the remarks about it have made me think of switching myself. It's not that I don't like Vipre, I do, but something is really screwing my computer and after experiencing what a resource hog some AV programs can be (ZoneAlarm and AVG among them), I can't help wondering if it's happening again.

If you ever update to Win7, you won't have the option to use OE so if you get used to Thunderbird you may as well stick with it. There's a program for Win7 called Windows Live Mail which you can download (Microsoft doesn't provide it automatically) which is pretty close to OE if you turn off all the bells and whistles. I've always detested web-based email so I use Live Mail since it's the closest thing to OE for Win7.

Speaking of Opera, if you have auto update enabled, you may have noticed that it recently updated to version 11. It's even faster than it was! Speedo! With the mouse gestures and the stacked tabs, I can race around the internet.

<g>

Gil.

Hi Homer6

Interesting thread - stay with Thunderbird for a while and look into the Junk mail settings. You'll be glad you did!

You can set up a number of email accounts in Thunderbird and "train" T-Bird to spot junk mail and send it to whatever folder you select in the mail settings. It is very flexible and really works like a charm.

T-Bird also has a host of different Themes you can install to suit your taste.

It is much easier to navigate around than Outlook.

Amazing how these Open-Source programs like Mozilla Firefox / Thunderbird / Opera / and let's not forget Open-Office are taking a real hold in the computing world !! Open-Office is also a free Office Suite that can do anything MS Ofiice can - and will read any MS Office document - even if the original was written with Office Suite 2003 - 2007 - 20010 !!!