I was told recently that there are viruses that can record what keys you strike and send that information back to its installer, in order to gain private information. If so, is this very common and will it get detected by anti-virus programs? (I have Norton 360)

This is true. It is mainly called malware (or spyware). This is mostly used to retrieve credit card numbers, passwords, and other important data.

If your anti-virus programs are up to date it may be able to detect most of these. Sometimes Norton misses many of these problems and can be a pain to remove the program itself. If you wish, try AVG Free (check source for link) or Google "Avast". Make sure you select the free version & not a trial (buy it if you can afford it). Also, install Spybot - Search & Destroy, and possible AdAware (free edition). Link to Spybot is in Sources.

Just make sure your computer is up to date at all times. And if you do get the host ip address & some other details, report it immediately to police (if they are not being lazy...)

Programs that record your keystrokes are a type of spy ware and are called keyloggers. You need a good anti spyware to combat them. Keyloggers are easily detected by Anti Spywares. I personally use " Spybot Search & Destory " and it works really great.


Acrovin
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Acrovin is an author of the blog www.magofe.com

Yeah there are plenty of viruses. Millions of em'. As long as your anti-virus programs are updated daily, and you don't go downloading some random files of the internet you should be fine.