How to make your XP system secure. Erase it. Or rather erase it and start over.

Remember that DVD they gave you when you bought your system that was labeled 'restore' or 'recovery'. It has a copy of your operating system on it. Plug it in, boot from the CD and it will erase everything on your hard drive, including the viruses so you can have a secure system and start over.

Aye! But there's the rube. You have to back up all of your personal files. Also make a list of everything you've downloaded and want to reinstall on your computer. If you're an advanced user you might want to make sure you copy any configuration files, logs, etc that you've been using for programming. Since I work with a lot of software development kits, it takes me about a week, off and on, to get my system back to where it was. A list helps. Also if I was really organized I would keep a copy of each file I downloaded to be reinstalled. You might even go as far as making yourself a step-by-step list and be ready for a monthly security reinstall. Theoretically you could do it in twenty minutes if you had everything at your fingertips, but who am I kidding. Imagine the ultimate in secure systems, where you reinstalled your operating system once a month, before going online to buy anything, or share any personal information, and thus you could be sure your computer was free of keyboard readers that might steel your credit card numbers. It might even be possible to write a batch file to do the work for you, if you want to dabble with your genius.

You see, the thing is, computer viruses are usually not disguised as personal files. Your Word, doc, text, mp3, and video are probably safe. Most viruses, on Windows, disguise themselves as files with a 'dll' or 'exe' extension and none of programs save files with either of those extensions. So you're pretty safe if you back up all your personal files, because none of them (unless you're a programmer) will be in a dll or exe format. You still have the responsibility though, of making sure you don't have any viruses in your personal files, or, if you like, you can reinstall your operating system again if you find one.

Another neat trick is SpyBot, Symantic, and other security software packages have a tool that can check software you download for viruses. Thus anything that's not on the system disk/DVD can be checked for viruses. Also you might want to get in the habit of checking any new software you download, and also learn that md5 thing and start using it whenever you see a md5 number with a file.

That's my absolute panacea for eliminating computer viruses. Shoot the system. However there are some steps you'll want to take in your regular course of routine, like set system restore points and back up your registry a good idea from Microsoft. To set a restore point click 'Start -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore' and then make sure the 'Create a restore point' button is checked. Also I use 'regedit' to back up my registry at the same time I set a restore point, once a month. Click 'Start -> Run' and then type in 'regedit' in the text box and click 'ok'. Under the drop down file menu select 'Export' and assign your back up file a name and directory. That saves all your registry files for import later, which I've never gotten around to. You might even want to make a backup copy on a CD or send it to another computer on your network. Then if the whole network gets infected it's not a game anymore, it's war. It's your patriotic duty to make sure your system's secure.