[Skybird]

IE7:

Block cookies in general and define manually which ones you accept. Keep general security settings at high, only temporarily at medium when needed at a given site you need to go. Read that I said: NEED to go. Such is the case only extremely rarely. For example when wanting to format text entries in thos forum (hint-hint)

OE:

Kill, crush and destroy that damn adress book. Send the messenger into the abyss. Deactivate automatic message preview.

Windows: deactivate remote access functions, deactivate automatic update functions and other automatic tings. I hate my computer doing things automatically. that damn thing has to do what I order it to do, and when I order it to do, not more, not less, not earlier, not later, and only when I press the button. Every function beyond that is a wide, open parading road for hostile invasion.

Following these advices, scam and spam is something that is a problem of the past over here. Both IE and OE are much better than their reputation, you just need to keep their settings very tight, run a decent firewall and other scanners, and must not visit every idiotic place there is and whose only purpose is to bring you into trouble.

You could also test the safety and stealthiness of your ports by using the oinline tests of ShieldsUp! In the basic tests, you want to see not a single port unstealthed.