Internet Explorer user wants to cut viruses

We have more and more letters to answer. Let's get right to the mailbag.

Question: In a recent column you said that 95 percent of all viruses and spyware are aimed at Internet Explorer, so I decided to do away with IE. Ha! Easier said than done. I am 80 and not of the computer generation. I don't even know what a default browser is.

I got the instructions to get rid of Explorer, but I have to have something. Do you know of an ISP that does not use Explorer for anything? Is Explorer automatically tied to Windows? Do I have to get an Apple when I'm still fighting Windows and start over?

Answer: Good morning and good question. Not all viruses are aimed at Internet Explorer but rather aimed at Windows. To answer your question, you can just leave Internet Explorer alone. It is a fundamental part of Windows and pretty hard for a layman to remove.

So what you should do is keep your current Internet Service Provider, dial in to connect then use IE to download the excellent Firefox browser from www.mozilla.org. Once installed, just dial your ISP and launch the Firefox browser to do your Web browsing. Firefox is free, fast, nimble — frankly a better browser than IE. (If you previously installed it, the latest version was posted earlier this month, so it may be worth a second download.)

Question: I am interested in remotely controlling my home PC. There is a program called GoToMyPC that other people in my office use, but it is pretty expensive. What other options do I have?

Answer: I am testing GoToMyPC right now, so hopefully I will have a better answer in a little while, but you also can use software like PC Anywhere from Symantec that doesn't cost anything other than the initial purchase price. A service called Log Me In (www.logmein.com) offers free connection ability (aside from file transfer from one PC to another), and I am playing with that one, too. The software is available at the site, and it's about 3.5 megs.

Question: I heard there are free anti-virus products out there. Do they work?

Answer: PC World magazine recently tested lots of solutions. The free product called AVG (www.grisoft.com) tested very well. (It is free for home use and certain non-commercial use.) I have installed it and use it and it works well. I would periodically supplement any anti-virus product with online scans from firms like Panda (www.pandasoftware.com) and Trend (www.trendmicro.com).

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James Derk is co-owner of CyberDads, a computer repair company, and a computer columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. His e-mail address is jim@cyberdads.com.