I am curious enough to ask this question. Is Internet Security really that important? I can see the use of a firewall for sure but, I have never had any problems like a virus attack or anything like a serious spyware problem in all the years I have computers. But, obviously I know people who have had these problems. So do I really have to have software running that protects me against all these things that have never affected me personally? I suppose the prudent answer is yes. However it takes up ram and disk space for something that I don't seem to have had a use for.

Thinking of being prudent as always, my guess would be to have both a minimal Anti-virus and spyware programs on the computer but, not resident in memory all the time. That way I assume they would be there if I need them but, not wasting memory and any other resources when I don't them. Thoughts please?

You are obviously a "clean" user. By that I mean that, possibly, you do not use the internet extensively or, when you do so, you stay on known, and clean, sites?
Bear in mind that a huge percentage of enthusiastic users are youngsters who often download pirated material or visit sites which are linked to them.
Unfortunately, their chances of picking up a virus or trojan, without protection, are of a very high risk.
I must confess that, throughout my computer days (going back to the ZX80) I also did not think an antivirus program very important. Fact is, I did not experience a virus attack until well into the XP era, when, on advice, I began to protect my computer.
If you browse and read up on it, you will find that today you cannot guarantee your safety even on reputed sites.
If you are happy to merely have an anti virus program installed but not resident, you can run it say, weekly, and hopefully you will survive. There is not a great deal of overhead in having the program running from start up and I would adise it.
If, on the other hand ( this is my own method) you ever are aware that you have been attacked, have an image or some kind of squeeky clean backup handy and bung it back on.

Just to add to davehc's comments.. There are many different types of bugs out there. Some are merely an inconvenience others will literally kill your HDD so I guess it's best to be on the safe side. I've only ever had one bug too.. Some one mailed me from a cyber cafe and a virus came with the mail. Luckily my utility got it straight away and so it wasn't really a big deal but if it hadn't it would have then mailed everyone in my contacts list sending the virus to them too...

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Good point from both of you. I swear I have never had a virus or anything like it but, to always be protected I guess is the best way to go. Yes I always visit the trusted sites if there is such a thing. I sometimes see a shareware site that is marked as dangerous but, I certainly have not had a problem even with those sites.

As for a firewall though I do use the windows firewall, I almost for sure would rather use the firewall from my router.

I've had my share I used to go to a lot of "hacker" sites looking for software. Got hammered by pop ups and I would download what I was looking but it would have a virus or trojan attached. I finely decided I didn't need the software THAT bad and stopped going.

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FATBOY

Hi!! I use Norton Internet Security, a lot of people don't care for Norton. However, it rates 2nd only to Nod32 because its scanners aren't as fast as Nods. Without security I get cookies galore. Because I'm attracted to entertainment. A silly screensaver with a Trojan might of hurt me without security. Funny thing is they left behind a beautiful multi-projection screensaver, the trojan no longer functions. I was really afraid it was still working....Very sure it's dead. (Anybody that watches a movie or uses MSN should keep a good security system).

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Celestra

My oldest downloads and installs everything I went to her house last week and She had a minimum of 6 IE tool bars

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FATBOY

Well since the consensus is that Internet Security of some kind is a must these days, I have just finished installing all Norton products including System Works. I guess this will protect most if not everything that needs protection. Since the information I have gotten here and elesewhere on the Internet is totally pro security, I believe it's the much more prudent way to be careful and mindful of problems even if they have never occured to me.

As fatboy would say, If you want my 2 cents, it is better to have some protection than none.
I'm not convinced by the "new thinking" that you are better off without any . Without any protection there is a good chance you will pick up some "nasty". You may be lucky and find it can be got rid of easily or you can find it is almost impossible to delete without drastic action.
I did have one about 6 months ago and while my top rated security protection idetified it could not delete it. It came down to reformat or have a go at removing it from the registry. I took a "stab" at the latter and managed to delete it through the registry.
So while I agree that some form of protection is better, I don't agree that the more you pay the better chance you will have of avoiding trouble. If you use Macfee & WOT site advisers and take care with your email inbox you can avoid most of the problems.
Personally I now intend to use all free security protection & common sense.
There, that was about a dollars worth!!!!

Not a bad dollars worth at all really. Now only reason I invested in Norton, I wanted the auto login all everything but, thats just me.