Have a look at running free AVG antivirus from www.grisoft.com I use it in
our offices and at home and have yet to be caught out by a virus. ( I've had
them delivered but AVG has caught them every time )
mailwasher is a good idea but wont help much with newsgroups like R.A.S, try
looking around for one of the other news readers -
http://cws.internet.com/news.html

Ian