In 2008, the airlines told us what they think of us, and they rolled out various extra fees designed to bleed us. Baggage fees. Change fees. Water that costs $2. "We'll haul your body around," the airlines told me, "but you're going to pay extra for every other thing you want from us."

Fine. I'm buying a service. I get that. But the take-me-for-what-I'm-worth game can play both ways. Now, like millions of other Americans, I'm going to devise ways to reverse the relationship and to take the airlines for whatever I can. That means I'm going to wring value out of every last frequent flier mile I have. I want pay as little for airfare as I can. Preferably, that's nothing.

As if on cue, the Wall Street Journal has run the numbers, and it finds that the best value for those miles isn't in using them to buy your seat, but to upgrade a seat you've already purchased. It puts it this way: When you use miles to get a coach seat, you're getting about 1.2¢ per mile if you divide the dollar cost of that ticket by the number of miles you have to use.

But when you use your miles to upgrade from coach to business or first class (the paper uses a New York-San Diego ticket as an example), each mile buys about 5¢. And that was calculated including a $100 redemption fee of the sort that airlines are increasingly tossing onto the bill.

If you're in the market for anti-virus software, Norton anti-virus is available in a "grabber" offer right now at Buy.com . The software is the 2008 version of the popular Norton anti-virus application which regularly retails in the area of $59. Shipping is free but supplies are limited. As usual, be certain to read all the fine print before you buy.

Buy.com is offering two companion rebates on this product. The first is an "outright purchase rebate", available just for buying the product. The second rebate is called a "competitive / upgrade rebate" for previous users of Norton products and you'll want to check out the details which may apply. Remember, rebates are sales tools used to create and stimulate consumer interest. Companies win when you don't follow through on rebate redemption, so sometimes they make it tricky for you to claim your rebate. It appears that the rebates in this offer will come in the form of a Visa debit card rather than a check.

Consumer reviews on this product are generally positive, with an average product rating of 4.5 out of 5 points. However, reviewers seem to indicate that the software will not accommodate operating systems older than Windows 2000. There are also hints that the software may not be real friendly with Windows Vista either. Overall, the comments I reviewed were quite positive and people who needed additional customer service were generally satisfied with that experience.