Laptop vs Desktop:
They are pretty much at a time where they are in-line with each other. You might get extra computing power for the same money by buying a desktop, but you of course won't have the portability option if you want that. Also, a hidden cost in desktops is more power usage. Laptops are built for less power consumption, so I've read that over time you save more in power bills.
It really comes down to whether you want portability or a big monitor. Also, if you're a gamer, or use high performance applications, I'd stick with a desktop. If you use it for MS Word, reading forums on websites, and want to watch movies on the plane, go for the laptop.
And I second all the recommendations. I use AVG and Ad-aware SE. Also make sure MS patches are automatically applied to Windows and I'd also add Microsoft Defender which runs constantly instead of just when you remember to run Adaware:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
As Mickeyd stated, be leery about calls made directly to you. Never give out any kind of password. Any company, be it bank, investment firm, credit card company, etc, will NEVER request your password or PIN. They don't need it to access your account. If anyone ever suggests that they need a PIN or password for validating something or accessing your account, IMMEDIATELY hang up and call the company directly from their listed phone number on their website. Explain every bit of information you gave to the previous call!
Good luck!
Olav
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Engineer vs Hacker
www.evsh.net
