I updated to ie 8 on my xp. Now I get a security warning when accessing the internet telling me "your current security settings put your computer at risk". Is there a way of disabling this warning? It really irritates me that I can't get rid of it. Thanks.

go to control panel, security applet to change. Set for normal.

You should be using an anti-virus. I recommend using clamwin. But it is not a resident scanner, so you will need to override the security setting on (self check for resident scanner).