>In summary, my view, when it comes to firewalls or virus protect, is how can I tell that they are doing the job they are intended to do? And if I can't, how could I ever say any of this stuff "works like a charm"?

Mine is easy, I used to get virus infections and spyware infections, now I don't. WinXP is more stable for that than it has ever been. I've switched to running just Hotmail, now Windows Live mail, which I find gives me few problems than running Outlook. The new interface for Windows Live mail is very close to the corporate version of Outlook webmail. Plus when I switch ISPs I don't have to switch email addresses.