Just something Newbies might want to take a look at.
A good firewall will block all the ports on your machine except for the ones you are using. It should allow you to choose whether or not people should also be allowed to connect to your computer. A good one will also close the ports which remote administration programs use on your computer and warn you if one is running on your machine. I suggest installing one to help defend yourself. The firewall will stealth all your ports. Just because you have 10 firewalls does not mean you are protected. Its possible that all of them could crash. The only way to truly protect yourself is by having the security up to max...

ICQ and p2p is very dangerous. You are allowing other people to connect to your computer. Use your imagaination and think of the possiblities. Sometimes its okay to be paranoid. I know I have good reason to be.

Be safe........Blue