Agreed, I'd say a Personal Firewall is compareable to a Virus checker for security reasons. I'd go without a virus checker before I'd go without a Personal Firewall' My vote goes to Atguard. You can also eliminate most Banner Advertising and pop up windows with it. Now that's got to be worth something. I have found IP scans and the like appear to come in waves eg you have a heavy week and then several quiet weeks. I Guess alot of it is being done by aoutomated bots etc, Also a lot of the "Hackers" seem to think they are annonymous, and get a real surprise when you make a phone call to them. (Thats another story). What I mean is most of them aren't genius's but have the tools to attack you. Regardz Colin Davies