Quote Originally Posted by JPnyc
A novice user should not be using IE.
Which they all are of course. How many workplaces for a start, use alternatives to Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office? People whose only experience of the internet is at work mostly don't even know they have options.

Not that the majority of workplaces are a risk when it comes to infecting machines, if only because users don't normally have enough privileges and systems probably clean boot or are otherwise protected by whoever administers them.

I think in the days of Win98 it was perfectly possible to get by without firewalls and anti virus - nowadays I'm not so sure, unless you're going to take all the fun out of the internet. We may have watered down the effect of dialers with always-on broadband, but the fact that it is always on brings its own problems.