With all the malicious software floating around the Internet (viruses, worms, Trojan software, etc) an up-to-date antivirus software package is a definite MUST. Anti-Virus software is not a cure-all, but it is your best front-line defense against compromise. A couple of my favorites (free for personal use) are AVG Free Edition and AntiVir Personal Edition.

There is also a good listing of commercial Anti-Virus products available here.

Spyware/Adware Protection

A growing problem is the plethora of spyware and adware that can be surreptitiously installed on your system, either while browsing the Internet, or sometimes by downloadable programs that we install on our own. I recommend you download and install Spybot-S&D and Ad-aware SE Personal. These two programs, working in concert, provide optimal protection against the latest spyware and adware.

Pop-Up Protection


Pop-up Ads! We all get them; we all hate them! There's nothing more irritating that surfing along, minding my own business, and getting blasted with multiple windows popping up and begging me to buy the latest junk software. At least, nothing other than SPAM, but we'll get to that later.

Pop-ups are a fact of life on the Internet, but they can be minimized to some degree. First, there are many pop-up blockers available. I personally like the Google Toolbar, but many of my friends and colleagues like the Yahoo! Toolbar just as much. Both of these toolbars provide a pop-up blocker, along with some nice features unique to their service. I like Google's toobar because it lets me set my default search engine to Google. The Yahoo! Toolbar claims not only pop-up blocking, but some anti-spy abilities as well (I've not tested this myself). Either one works well, but neither one can get rid of ALL pop-ups. No matter what we do, new techniques are being developed to get around these blockers. It's a running battle.

Phishing

Phishing has become one of the fastest growing threats related to identity theft. Phishing attacks use a fake e-mails or webpage to fool you into giving up sensitive personal information that can be used to steal your identity (for financial purposes). This information can consist of personal financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames and passwords, and social security numbers. The use of well-known names (banks, AOL, eBay, etc) enables these phishers to convince up to 5% of recipients to respond to them. Beware!