This is an excerpt from a member of the 29th Infantry Division on internet security. All credit and respect should go to the 29th ID.

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Here is a list of the programs that I use to ensure that my computers are secure:

Spybot Search & Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html)

* Active malware (i.e. ‘Malicious Software’ – virii, spyware, adware, etc.) blockers (NOTE: The ‘Teatimer’ program acts as a kind of firewall for your system settings. It will popup and ask you before it will allow changes to certain settings.)
* Malware remover
* Various system checking tools

Spyware Blaster (http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html)

* Passive malware blocker
* Protects IE (Internet Explorer) & Mozilla/Firefox web browsers

Lavasoft Adaware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php)

* Passive malware blocker
* Malware remover

AVG Antivirus (http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1)

* Active antivirus blocker
* Active antivirus remover

Mozilla Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/) – web browser

* Looks and acts like IE (Can be made to look /exactly/ like IE)
* Far more secure than IE – IE, because it is on every computer running Windows, and is a hacker’s favourite target
* Upon install can automatically import all of your IE settings
* More advanced than IE7
* Built-in extensible search bar (can search more than 5000 sites)
* Extensible (more than 2500 addons available) – Highly recommended:
o Noscript (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/722/) – Blocks java/javascript from running on web pages (Not necessarily malware – most modern sites use scripting) By default disabled; enable if the page doesn’t seem to run properly.
o Adblock Plus (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1865/) – Blocks unwanted ads in web pages.
o IE Tab (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1419/) – Adds option to open page using IE in current tab
o Foxytunes (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/219/) – Lets you control your media player right from the status bar
o Forecast Fox (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/398/) – Shows weather forecast in the status bar
o TinyURL Creator (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/126/) – Compresses long URLs into short ones (i.e. The Ad-Aware site shrinks down to http://tinyurl.com/lvov4) Very useful for passing website address over the phone.
* Easy updating of both the browser and addons.
* (I have been using this for over a year and have had NO malware install itself while using it. I used to get 2-3 malware a week using IE.)

Mozilla Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/) – Email/Newgroup/RSS program

* Looks and acts like OE (Outlook Express)
* Far more secure than OE – OE, because it is on every computer running Windows, and is a hacker’s favourite target
* Upon install can automatically import all of your OE settings
* More advanced than OE
* Extensible