I'll try and write a quick quide with (mostly) free software to protect your PC from the ravages of spyware and viruses. If you have a Macintosh, you can take comfort in that spending twice as much for a computer has spared you most of these steps, but you're still not entirely safe. I'm fairly mac-illiterate, but I've heard that Paranoid Android is a good step in protecting Safari and OS X. Also, securemac.com seems to be a good resource for securing your Mac. Also, the first step I list for PC users also applies to Macs - a good router/firewall is platform independent - get one.
So, for the PC users out there:
1. Buy a $40 or $50 router to put inbetween your modem and your computer(s). As far as brands are concerned, Linksys, Netgear, and D-Link are the most popular and easiest to find. Any of these will provide your computer(s) a firewall to operate behind. A simplistic explanation is that a firewall will only allow incoming traffic that your computer has explicitly asked for. Of course, if your computer's already infected, it will be asking for more nasty stuff to be brought in or if you visit a malicious website, your computer will be asking for trouble, which brings me to...
2. A software firewall. Software firewalls block any unwanted outgoing traffic. If you're using Windows XP Service Pack 2, it has a built-in firewall that, combined with the previously mentioned hardware firewall, will get you to a relatively secure level of incoming/outbound traffic protection. If you don't have XP, SP 2, I'd recommend the free Sygate personal firewall. These programs are a pain at first because you have to "teach" them what's allowed, but it gives you a good idea of what your computer is doing; sometimes you're not sure if something should be allowed or not, do a search on google to see what the program is if you're not sure. Your anti-virus, spyware, IM clients, browser, e-mail programs, etc, all need to be given permission to access the internet (of course), so the firewall will need to be told this. As software firewalls get better, they get smarter and understand which programs are legitimate or not, but, unfortunately, they're still kind of dumb and you'll have to inform them that your e-mail program (and others) are allowed to access the internet.
3. Install Mozilla's free Firefox browser. 90% of all spyware attacks Microsoft Internet Explorer. Firefox works on most of the pages IE does and is much, much safer. If you find Firefox not working on a particular website, you can always use IE for that site. Firefox will import your bookmarks, saved history, etc., so you won't lose anything by switching.
4. Antispyware software. I'd recommend installing all THREE of the following programs, although it's probably a little overboard.
Microsoft AntiSpyware will get you 90% of the way there. Microsoft bought the very good Giant anti-spyware and has tweaked it and it's very good at catching most stuff. In various tests, this was shown to cast the widest net in catching spyware. The big bonus to me is that it will auto-update itself (make sure to answer "yes" when it prompts you about this). You'll have to go through the "Genuine Windows Validation" process, AND you need Windows 2000 or above. If you have Windows 98 or lower, please install the next two recommendations
Spypot Search and Destroy. This does not auto-update, but it's easy to run - please update the definitions regularly and also use the "immunize" feature.
Ad-Aware. This isn't nearly as good as it used to be (it was one of the first anti-spyware programs), but installing this still seems to be recommended as an overkill, confidence measure.
5. Anti-virus software. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is a great product that is almost as good as the ubiquitous Norton Anti-Virus. If you're willing to spend some money, I still think Norton is better, but I use AVG and am comfortable in its protection.
If you take these steps, you will go a very long way to protecting yourself. This combined with your savvy use will keep you protected. Savvy users don't install software they don't absolutely need (comet cursors, cute screensavers, etc.), don't click on attachments unless they're expecting them and don't visit fringe websites dealing with hacking, gambling or pornography. Ethical considerations aside, it has been found that these websites put forth the majority of the nasty stuff that can infect your computer, sometimes without you clicking on anything - by merely visiting a malicious website you can get infected. So be careful and take the steps outlined above, backup frequently and you should enjoy relatively stress-free computing.
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