Well let's see..

I gave up a lot of advertisements. I don't know half of what's for sale anymore.

My email gave up having to deal with stupid jokes people send. They come in as attachments (fwd turns into an attachment) and I can't view them anymore...sorry... (rolleyes)

If people send me internet greeting cards, I can't view them either and I don't get the spam from verifing emails...so sad!

It DOES bug me that I can't use the emoticons at forums though. I do like those and I do see them as necessary for conveying mood in the absence of body language. Unless I happen to know the code for the emoticon, I can't use it.

And, it can be an annoyance when you submit posts, or logon to forums and don't get redirected. I have to click manually for that.

On the other hand, I'm not plagued with viruses/trojans/worms anymore.

There have been attempts from outside forces from time to time, but it never ammounts to anything. Just recently I fell for a new tactic and got a partial coolwebseach varient that got removed immediately. 'Sisid' or something like that...a map viewer..I was looking at maps and it said i needed the viewer to see them. dumb me...but I got suspicious and killed it. Watch those canadian sites, as well as genealogy sites..those places are BAD!

Let's see....I've had to suffer with faster internet speeds, on my dialup connection, I had to sacrifice about 4 minutes to open an online free webmail to act as a collection for the junk mail you get from hidden crawling spiders when you register for forums.

Bigger time sacrifices had to be made helping friends and family get their computers cleaned up, protective programs installed so that I wouldn't be plagued with their worms and viri...

I no longer listen to internet music because I learned that the priviacy policy of my favorite program reveals it's a spyware program. I am grateful to them for being honest, and I am able to make the decision neither to use their freeware nor their purchased software. So, I've had to let go of those who would follow me around..getting to feel lonely out there! :P
Now I'm stuck listening to my cd's.

In truth and on a serious note, I've had to give up a lot of bells and whistles but the gain, faster browsing and not having to contend with the backlash of junkware, getting my money's worth of my internet connection, the speed I paid for in my computer has been worth it.

I read somewhere that if your pc is being used as a Zombi for malware, trojans etc, that YOU can be held liable for that. So, another benefit is not having to explain to the feds as they haul me to jail that I am ignorant and innocent....while they tell me that ignorance is no excuse. Safer computing in my opinion not only gives me my money's worth in time and pleasure, better browsing, peppier pc..but also my freedom and my dignity.

I don't do ANY online gaming at all, nor is anybody allowed to use my pc for that. Children's sites are BANNED on this pc since they're the most dangerous of all for many reasons! Sometimes children use my pc so I keep a very large collection of games for them to play. But no online games allowed.

I keep the reccomended safety net anti virus/malware/adware, make adjustments in pc settings to reduce impact and incidence, keep up with security updates for os, and try to be selective as to where I go on line.

My paranoia comes from experience...the misery of dealing with junk, loosing precious files, and all that goes with thinking nobody would want to break into MY pc..I don't have anything they would want...well, I'm here to tell you they just want your pc and they could care less about you or your convenience. My paranoia is the fruit of thinking certain companies had integrity, only we found out later they did'nt, and still don't.

Why do I hate automatic downloads? Because I've had worms and trojans use what ever software they could shutdown and or configure to get themselves online. Now it's my policy that NOTHING goes on line with out my express knowledge. I tend to be suspicous of everthing until it proves itself clean and clear..and innocent. Once guilty, always guilty. The end, done.

I no longer use irc programs of any kind. The first program to get disabled and then deleted on my computer is messenger. It's gone. If I could make it go away, the next would be media player. There are no media players on this pc other than what I've chosen to install, the other one is disabled and disassociated with files.

Safer computing is as important to me as independence and freedom because that's what safer computing is. It's part of that freedom. I do what is within my means to do to keep things clean.

When I learn a different os, this one is history as far as my own personal use of it goes. I'll maintain learning so that I can assist others, but once I find something I like and can work with, the pc's of family members will adapt accordingly. Taking down numbers of my equipment was the last straw. Registering with microsoft or anyone else everytime I install a different program and then go online is more than I'm willing to put up with. That is a violation of my privacy. I will not tolerate it for any longer than I have to.

Safer computing is a very good thing!!

l2l2