I only use this PC to surf the web...NO Emails, NO purchasing, NO online banking, NOTHING.

There are a couple of extra things added... WiFi and an extra long life battery.  However, the hard drive is only 4 Gig... no need for anything bigger.  The ENTIRE package is less than 3 pounds!

Are you seeing what I'm getting at????  Even if virus protection does work, and that's not always the case, for what you pay in AntiSpamWare, AntiSpyWare, AntiCrapWare, you can set up a spare laptop to surf without worries.

When infected to the point where it's a problem... just reformat and reinstall the OS when it gets to be a problem. With a small OS and application footprint, it'll be faster than trying to get rid of the infection!!!  

Everybody knows surfing the Internet on a Windows based PC is an open invitation to spyware, viruses, and other nasty things.

Instead of trying to bullet-proof my Windows based PC, I decided to go in the totally OPPOSITE direction.  I loaded a 5 year old Sony Vaio PCG-505VE ultrathin laptop (about $300 on EBay) with Windows ME and Internet Explorer... and nothing else (NO personal information, no email address book, nothing).

In the up coming weeks, I'll detail how to wipe the drive, reload the Windows ME OS, and basically set this unit up for worries free web surfing.

Come back and check this page out for updates on this project.  New installments will be added every Thursday for the next 4 weeks.

And YES... I use a Mac for all my real work :-)