HOWEVER... what I and everyone else that's going to reply would strongly recomend is a FIREWALL.
Firewalls are a must-have but they will not protect you from getting a trojan on your system. A firewall will warn you if the trojan is trying to send something over the net--like information back to its owner's computer.. but if it's just modifying/deleting files, a firewall can't do much about that.
I'm sure someone will give a list of decent ones...
Try here
--also, how do i get netstat to keep the window open. when i run it the window pops up and then disappears before i can see anything.
I assume you're trying to run it from the "run" dialog box. Instead of typing "netstat" into it, type "cmd" or "command" (depending on which version of windows you're using). Then from the DOS prompt type netstat.

Later,

mjk

edit: Damnit, Swordfish!! Beat me while I was typing!

Oh, I also just realized that "command" will work in Win 2k as well... But "cmd" will not work in 95/98/ME