AOL Toolbar is not necessary. It is not required by your system to access the Internet. If you like it - keep it, if not - uninstall. This will not affect anything.

There are a lot of anti-spyware programs. But neither of them is 100% effective. The best choise is to use two powerful products together. One - for real-time protection, and another one - for on-demand scans. The list of legitimate anti-spyware is here.

But beware of rogue products! Those pretend to be reliable spyware removers, but actually not only do not remove parasites, but also cause some serious problems and even drop malware. You can find the list of rogue spyware removers here. Avoid them!

First thing I would do is remove anything from aol. Some of us would consider them as nothing more than a virus. Worked on systems that aol would still run even after moving to dsl or cable and slow down comp. After removing aol all would be fine. Go with Zone Alarm and good free Avast or AVG. Your dsl provider may also offer a free security.

     I would stay away from any software that says AOL on it.

Also try Firefox browser. Much more secure than IE.

thanks for the info guys! before i looked at these today,  i downloaded tenebril spycatcher and bought webroot spysweeper...so i should be covered?

and you think i should just get rid of all aol stuff? i mean it makes sense since im using another companys dsl. i DO like my aim mail..its a good backup to my gmail.

Message Edited by avl123 on 03-01-2006 03:44 PM

Yes get rid of all aol stuff. but you can go to excite.com and start and email account there. It`s free and use that for when you need to give a email address for like installs. that way any junk mail will end up there. Also use yahoo mail. but if you are on yahoo dsl don`t let it integrate the extra yahoo email account, leave it seperate.
Try the microsoft WindowsDefender not too bad.