I scan my PC with ZoneAlarm for spyware and viruses. I scan for viruses every week, no viruses. I scan for spyware everyday and it has anywhere from 11-15 spyware popping up. ZoneAlarm says do nothing, it's low risk and they have been deleted. It happens everyday though. Is that normal?

Kind of so-so. One thing you can do if you wish to waste a huge bunch of time is to go to one of your regular websites, do a spyware scan, and repeat until you get all the way through. You will then know which ones are leaving tracking cookies (which will be your primary culprit) and which ones do not. Then you can make the judgment if it is 'bad' spyware or not. If you do a lot of random web surfing, this is not uncommon. And just to make you feel somewhat better, I did a reinstall a month or so ago about the same time my wife got a new job. I did weekly spyware scans before the reinstall and had anywhere between 20-40 a week (using SpyBot S&D). Since she started her new job, she has been on the computer only once a week, and all she does is read her email. In that time, and keep in mind this has been over a month, zero for spyware (and all of my previous spyware was tracking cookies).

With tracking cookies, no. All they do is pretty much track the sites you go to so their ads can target you better (well let's say about 99.999% of them). But keep up with the scanning, as even good sites get hacked every once in awhile (or better safe than sorry).

Spendingle,

Let me put it bluntly without being rude.

Nothing you do over the INTERNET should ever be considered safe no matter what programs you use.

You are the only one which can safe guard your own personal information.

Relying on others is folly.

Hope this answers your last question without scaring you to death (LOL).

Kindest and Best Regards,
Rick P. ♥ :)