T N. ian - this makes me curious about something - how can you tell if a free downloadable program is legitimate and won't infect your computer? for example, when i downloaded CutePDF, i kind of just took a chance on it that it wouldn't do that. or if i use cnet, i can feel safe in knowing it's legit. but how do you know for sure otherwise?

Ian M. Hi T N - thank-you for your question. I don't work in IT but will answer your question from my current understanding with computer viruses. Some wise choices are:

- Before downloading a program, always confirm the websites identity and safety. To do this, check several websites for reviews: e.g. Norton safe-web, Macafee SiteAdvisor, etc.

- After downloading the program, but before executing the program, right click the file and do a scan with your anti-virus software. All fine? Good - proceed to next step.

- After the program is executed and installed, but before opening the file to start using, do one final scan.

Another important note: during the installation process, check the size of the file and make sure its not much larger or smaller then you think it should be. Further to this, you should check where the program is been installed, and what the file name is. Obviously, it would be wise not to continue installing a program that says the word "trojan" in it.

Does this answer your question? Hopefully it does :-)