Which is why it wasn’t a Windows problem. 
Actually, I had my 768K 8088 at around the time that Windows 3.0 was released. Couldn’t afford an AT or 386.
Heh heh.
The whole “get a Mac” solution to computer problems really is getting a little old.
Why do you think the Big Three have been losing sales to Toyota and Honda?
OK, I apologize for ribbing y’all. I know better.
You don’t have the plethora of spyware and viruses because of intrinsic problems in Windows, you have it because of the popularity of Windows. And if you all switched to Macs en masse the damn script kiddies and spyware varmints would, too, and even if MacOS X does have a better security model we’d still be up to our eyeballs in malware.
[/diplomat mode]
Beneath the exaggerations and the deliberate wording of my post designed to make it sound like a freaking disaster, though, most of it was legitimate advice. (And good advice for Mac owners too, in many cases).
• You should have a bootable backup of your OS volume. And ideally you should have a second bootable backup that you don’t refresh very often, because otherwise, if you pick up a low-profile pernicious problem (of which a virus or spyware is only one example, btw) and don’t notice it right off, you end up backing up your problem when you do your next backup. Restoring from that backup won’t help.
• Don’t open ports you don’t use. In fact, affirmately close any ports you don’t use.
• If you are a Windows user, and you have even a smidgeon of interest in playing with OS emulators, running a non-Windows OS in an emulator and using that system’s native web browser and email program really is a good way to protect yourself from a lot of internet-borne bullshit. It doesn’t have to be a Mac emulator, btw, just an emulator that has networking enabled. Get Microsoft’s VirtualPC and install Linux on it and run it in a Window while continuing to work in other Windows programs. The Linux environment isn’t going to get infected and you don’t need to know all the ins and outs of Linux just to be able to run an email client and a web browser. (And you won’t even take a speed hit, VPC runs natively off your Pentium or Pentium-compatible processor).
• Relying on multiple antivirus packages, if you can afford them, really is a good idea. Likewise with anti-spyware packages: Spybot and Ad-Aware both, and maybe the new one from Microsoft too.
Mollified?
Darksideofthefloyd, are you using IE? It might be an idea to try an alternative broqwser (firefox or Opera are two recommended alternatives. Also put in a good free firewall and Bob is your mother’s brother.
alternatively, get a mac and then wait for any PC problem thread, so you can come in and be a condescending unhelpful asshole.