Tweaking

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Final Tweaking

Check your ActiveX Browser Settings:
Tools --> Internet Options --> Security --> Custom Level
If no one has changed the defaults, you're okay:

Download signed ActiveX controls: Prompt
Download unsigned ActiveX controls: Disable
Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe: Disable
Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins: Enable
Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting: Enable

It's not unusual for users to blindly accept this prompt. Dozens of harmful and obnoxious programs are mistakenly loaded with the complicity of the user himself.

When you see the Security Warning dialog box shown here, you need to be aware that if you click the "Yes" button, you are opening your computer up to whomever wrote the program.

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Microsoft Updates:

Windows - ALL Service Packs & Critical Updates
Microsoft Office Updates

Both Outlook & Outlook Express will stop ALL executable attachments except for those inside a Zip file. Outlook Express permits you to select whether or not you have access to potentially dangerous attachments. Outlook blocks ALL executables.

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WinXP has a built-in firewall. If you choose to use it, remove ZoneAlarm before activating it.

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Install Dcombobulate.

Shoot the Messenger will disable Microsoft's Windows Messenger.
Note: Windows NT, 2000, & XP only.

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Set a System Restore point after you have eliminated your malware.

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Would you like to participate in peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing? You should know that many programs that facilitate this come with spyware embedded.
Here's an online list of both the good guys and the bad guys.