Thread: Programs

Here's a couple freebies people seem to swear byhttp://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/or
AVG Free - Free Antivirus Download | Antivirus Software for Windows 7, Vista and XP. Personally I'm a fan of ESET Nod 32 A/V ESET - Antivirus Software with Spyware and Malware Protection and Stopzilla for spyware STOPzilla Anti-Spyware but they will both cost you. Although with the mail in rebate on Stopzilla it's pretty cheap.

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/ I use it works fine,I was using AVG but it's gotten funky over the past year.

MS Security Essentials is a good solution for both AV and AntiSpyware. Avira, AVG and Avast! are all good options for AV. Most detect the common malware/spyware threats as well. SpyBot Search & Destroy and Malware Bytes are both good free anti-malware/spyware software. Sadly the effectiveness of most software like this, is minimal at best. It detects what is known and sometimes (poorly) something that LOOKS like a problem, but in reality, most times, the folks writing the viruses and malware are two steps ahead of all the AV companies.

The biggest thing you can to to prevent getting nailed by viruses/malware is to keep your system up to date. Not just Microsoft updates, but all the plugins you have in your browser are the single biggest path to ownage on your machine. I use Secunia's PSI (Personal Software Inspector) to ensure all my software is up to date. Version 2.0 came out and will automagically download and install updates to things like Java, Flash, Acrobat Reader, etc.

PSI - Consumer - Products

Security Essentials is the best. I have been burned by both AVG and Avast.

Ninite Easy PC Setup - Silent Unattended Install Multiple Programs At Once

best site for installing common stuff.