You are right about the security issues. That is the one area that Linux seems to have the upper hand. Although, I suspect if Linux were as widely used and had the market share MS does, they would be experiencing a similar number of security issues:) Everyone wants to take on the guy with the most power :)

You might want to be aware that the Messenger service (that gadget you can send messages to peers with across a network) is subject to exploitation. If you are using this feature across a network, I believe there is a patch at Microsoft for this. I use XP Pro on a DSL connection....no network....and I was getting those little grey pop box messages from some school trying to sell me something! I'll be setting up a firewall eventually, but currently do not have one.

Not much you can do about other users.....XP does not have any solutions for them! :)