After all the reading I've done on RootKits, Malware, etc., I believe the only solution is use a sacrificial drive for browsing / accessing the net. This is back to basics, as years ago (prior to Windows) came across a virus that did a lot of damage on a major system. After that, only selected designated computers could interface outside of the company computer.

The biggest issue I have, is if you download something to the sacrificial drive, and you want to keep the information,
is how to verify it is clean, during the transfer process (via CD, stick, floppy, etc.) For this, the only thing I can think of is convert it to a text file which eliminates any pictures (pdf, etc) being saved from the net.

Anyone got a better solution??