Firstly, I wouldn't panic until you "know" you have a virus - you say in your opening line that you "think" you do - before taking drastic steps it's best to know thine enemy, as it were.

Secondly - I've seen 3 machines in the past month that were "working fine until I put g**gle chrome on it". I know lots of people use it, but maybe there are conflicts with some setups.

If you are using Vista, you can pop the DVD in and select to boot from it, then run the auto-repair tool.

If your worst fears are realised, or for peace of mind you choose to go with a fresh install on a new HDD - think carefully about what protection you need - sometimes you can have too much.

As others have listed what they use, I'll do the same;

Firewall in Router, Windows Defender and MS Security Essentials. As I'm with BT all mail is scanned at their end and then by Security essentials at this end. I don't use IE for browsing as a rule - only for certain sites that won't work correctly with my chosen browser, which is Opera.

People will now be staring at this and thinking the worst, which is fine. I rarely download anything and when I do, it's from a reputable source (I don't file-share or use P2P technology) so they'll be taking their own steps to ensure that they keep their house in order.

I've tried AVG and Norton and various others in the past as well as Zone Alarm - all they did was hog resources and duplicated what I had either as part of my ISP package, or as part of the OS.

The only time a virus got through to my machine was when I was using AVG+Zonealarm some 6 or so years back, but they let it straight through.

I'm a bit late into this, but I've got the Sigma 170-500mm and am extremely pleased with the IQ.

It's a bit on the heavy side if you are using it freehand for long periods. The only thing I would mention is that I had the devil of a job locating one - I eventually found one in Germany.

Can I have opinions/comments on a Makinon 4-5.6 35-300mm Macro Zoom?

Is it a good lens and do they have a good price point 2nd hand?

Regards

RayB

Thanks for the comments chaps - I'll go and have another go with lower ISO's.

With reference to the credit, can't you supply the high-res image with a watermark/copyright notice burned in?

That is, of course, if you are going ahead with it...

50mm ISO 800 F6.7 3S


24mm ISO 800 F6.7 3S


18mm ISO 800 F5.6 1s


80mm ISO 800 F8 1s



Lots more on my flickr site: www.flickr.com/photos/rayb_uk

It was great to have the bridge deserted, it meant I could use the tripod without worry. I'd welcome comments on exposure times and ISO settings.

The step down at the top of the lens (as shot)




From the opposite side




The slight scarring at the "3 o'clock" position in the DSLR is where the portion of the lens is striking it




Lastly, the front end of the lens with appropriate detail

Hmm, going to be tricky to describe.

There is a part of the lens that is striking part of the camera internals and stopping the lens from fully connecting. It's not a fault with either bit of kit, the lens fits my P30 perfectly and I've had some great pictures with it over the years.

I've got a Vivitar 70-210mm Zoom with 1:45 Macro 52mm PK-A mount - not a lot of use to me any more as it won't fit my DSLR.

ISTM that the council (in this case) are caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place - if they don't instigate something and there is an incident, everyone will be blaming them for *not* taking steps to avoid the situation. That said, I think they have perhaps over reacted to a perceived threat...

Not an easy one to solve.

As with Davex, I purposefully avoid areas with children when out with the camera - I was in East London recently with a mate documenting some changes and it got to chucking out time for the local hooligans - annoying though it is to have to curtail totally innocent activities, it really is not worth the grief and potential stigma...