dskillzhtown said:
Just do 2 and 3 and you should be fine. I would also get Norton Internet security and anti-virus.
Sorry, but no. Even with the XP SP2 improvements, IE is still really not good for use by anyone unless absolutely necessary. The same goes for any Microsoft mail client except Entourage on the Mac.
Norton Internet Security is a pile of crap. Why bother with it when Firefox has built-in popup blocking?
Most Norton products are bloated and ineffectual. The only one I can recommend is Symantec Anti-virus Corporate Edition, and that costs $$$. Get a firewall (Windows Firewall in XP, ZoneAlarm if not XP) and a better virus checker. Kaspersky, F-Prot, Panda, Trend Micro, Eset NOD32.
Check out this article:
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,115939,pg,1,00.asp