I understand and that is the logic behind it in many cases. However, I try to be a bit more proactive and cautious in handling the health of my primary systems that I use for business. If I even visit a website and something suspicious happens, I run my scans and diagnostics and then wipe the system.

This is why I have test boxes separate from my primary production systems.

As for Windows 7. I find it to be very stable and have some very well needed fixes and improvements over Vista. It operates with less resources and runs much smoother on a similar system that had Vista on it.

The IE8 issues are not as bad on Win7 as they are on XP and so I use IE8 on Win7 and stayed with IE7 on XP.

There are new security products in beta from the vendors and so those having been coming along nicely. I am waiting for the RC to do more aggressive testing but for everyday use it has been very good.

Mr. Baker,

Sounds good sir. The x64 architecture is perfectly suited for the virtual environment. The thought of running my systems that long without a refresh scares me. What can I say, i’m a bit over cautious especially when it comes to thinking of those who rely on me for updates and info. I fear the impact to them than myself. Even though I trust the security of the box I still need that additional comfort knowing that it is clean.

Thank you and have a great day,

~Brett A. Scudder~

What I try to do is make greater use of Virtual Systems for testing, and then reset those every 6-9 months as needed.

-ASB