Expert: Carolyn Meinel - 6/4/2006

Question
Hi, just bought a new computer and heard a lot of stuff you need for it i.e spam stuff anti virus stuff spyware, and other stuff dont know much about computers and downloaded avg i think thats for my virus thing what else do i need to have a safe computer thanks very much andy.

Answer
For antivirus programs, you can get the free version of Avast! antivirus, from http://www.avast.com/eng/down_home.html or AVG, free from http://free.grisoft.com/doc/Get+AVG+FREE/lng/us/tpl/v5

For safer web browsing, don't ever use Internet Explorer. Instead, use Firefox, free from Mozilla.org.

For email, don't use Outlook (which came with your computer). Instead, use Thunderbird, also free from Mozilla.org, or Eudora, which has a free version from Eudora.com. I prefer the paid version of Eudora.

Two good free programs for fighting spyware and adware are Ad-aware, http://lavasoft.element5.com/software/adaware or Spybot Search and Destroy, free from http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/ You can use both together if you wish because they are compatible. However, if you use Forefox all the time and never succumb to the temptation to use Internet Explorer, you probably won't need to use them.

Last of all, the Windows XP firewall is pretty good, but I like the Zone Alarm firewall better. You can get it from Zonelabs.com.