OK, I have decided to uninstall the ez antivirus (for now) and give avast a try for the next 30 days or so. Part of my rationale is the recent CONSUMER REPORTS review of antivirus software where avast got a good review and ez antivirus did not. I appreciate the quick responses of the experts on this forum and look forward to using avast for a long time. FYI, I still have the MAILSAFE options turned OFF in the firewall. Thanks again.