Other people have recc'd the newsletters I read - so let me deal with the firewall.

I'm using ZoneAlarm because (a) it's free! and (b) it seems to work well without causing conflicts with other software.

*touchwood*

With ZoneAlarm running in tandem with Grisoft AVG (free anti-virus) plus regular runs of Spybot Search and Destroy (again with the free) - and so far I've not had any problems.

Hope that helps some *G*