If you know it could be better meaning you don't have a firewall, have let your anti-virus subscription lapse, or don't know if you have anti-spyware programs installed the good news is there are quality free programs out there to help protect your computer, your identity, and your piece of mind.
Anti-Virus
AVG Free Anti-virus is a free basic anti-virus program that does a great job if you aren't downloading stuff from strangers or sites you wouldn't want your kids to visit. I have it installed on my laptop which is normally just used for email and web surfing. Its one major plus is that there no subscription to renew. Well, that and its free.
Firewall
If you have Windows XP or Vista just turn your firewall on.
If you'd like something a little more secure there also ye olde Zone Alarm Free Firewall
It has a handy feature that totally locks your computer down when the screen saver engages and its pretty easy to configure. I've used it off and on for years.
Anti-Spyware
There are more than a few decent programs out there for free I'm just going to highlight the ones I've used. The important thing is to have two programs because currently no one program gets rid of everything.
Windows Defender by Microsoft - One of the few that updates itself.
Spybot - One of the few that inoculates your computer against getting infected in the first place.
Adaware - Its been around forever and does a good job.
I've tried all of these out and they've worked well for me. Once you have all three layers of protection going the odds of your identity being stolen goes down dramatically, or a virus crashing your computer, or your computer being hijacked and used to attack another computer, web site, or network.
3 hours ago
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