I use the HOSTS method as well. My HOSTS file is 3.6 MB. I only use it on Windows 98 SE, because, unfortunately, Windows 2000 and XP are known to have problems coping with large hosts files.

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have you seen this:

Large HOSTS file in 2000/XP

starting at

Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb) tends to slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000 and XP. Windows 98 and ME are not affected.

To resolve this issue (manually) open the "Services Editor"

    * Start | Run (type) "services.msc" (no quotes)

    * Scroll down to "DNS Client", Right-click and select: Properties

    * Click the drop-down arrow for "Startup type"

    * Select: Manual, click Apply\Ok and restart.

You can see that the above "Service" is not needed (after a little browsing) by opening the Services Editor again, scroll down to DNS Client and check the "Status" column. It should be blank, if it was needed it would show "Started" in that column.

Whoops... I thought one thing, typed another...

The NOD32 2.5 Beta is free, but the full 2.5 release is due out in a few days... so you're not going to have very long to reap the benefits of the free-ness.

Sorry for the confusion.

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Nooooo!

Well, I guess I'd just have to shell out the money for it, then. I wonder if they have some kind of multi-licensing plan? I'm a poor starving student.

And to reply to a previous poster: I tried AVG out a lot, and the results were fairly disappointing. It sometimes fails to detect memory-resident viruses, or even viruses when doing a virus scan. I had to actually navigate into the folder for AVG to detect it.

Have a look at this recent comparative test results:

http://www.virus.gr/english/fullxml/default.asp?id=69&mnu=69

jaclaz

Nooooo!

Well, I guess I'd just have to shell out the money for it, then. I wonder if they have some kind of multi-licensing plan? I'm a poor starving student. 

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I'm a poor starving student as well, but for the quality of software that you get, $39 seems like a good deal. A good tip for saving up money... put all your small change into a piggy bank (not just pennies, but nickels, dimes and quarters (or the equivalent wherever you live)). Before you know it, you'll have the money for the licence. That's how I've saved up for almost all of my extra gadgets (wireless router, Palm, etc).

If you can get 4 friends in on the deal, you can purchase a multi-user licence for $170, you save $5 per licence. Not too shabby... that's what I'm gonna do for my home network when my parents' Norton runs out... buy the multi-licence and put it on all the computers at home.