Secure Your PC aka Make Windows Suck Less

Updated : 3/25/2007

Popups ? Spyware ? Adware ? Viruses ?

If this is you then life probably sucks. But wait, there's good news !

There are a whole range of free software programs to help you rid Windows of these annoying things.

My personal favorites go like this :

Firewall
Keep the bad guys out & restrict internet access to bad programs

ZoneAlarm [ free version ]

Anti-Virus
Nuke most known viruses with no problems + free updates + email scanning

AVG Antivirus

SpyWare / AdWare removal
Detects and removes most known spyware / adware

AdAware [ free version ]

AVG Anti-Spyware [ free version ]

Web Browser
Helps keeps evil web pages from messing with your PC

Firefox - more secure than Internet Explorer

CustomizeGoogle - nice extension for Firefox with a lot of extra Google options !

Opera - an excellent web browser which has been around for a long time

Popup Blocker
Keeps most popups away

Yahoo Toolbar

Proxy Network
Your internet data is bounced anonymously around the world keeping your ID private (hopefully)

Tor

Media Player
Less is more.

VLC Media player

Secure WebMail
Web based email that's "totally secure".

HushMail

Secure Operating Systems
Windows really isn't that secure :-(

Puppy Linux Live CD

Does not need to be installed - runs from a CD.
Comes with lots of programs.
Very fast.

Ubuntu Linux

More secure than Windows and totally free.

OpenBSD

Often called the most secure OS also totally free.

Note : There are hundreds of other free versions of Linux and BSD. Including a lot of other live cds which don't need to be installed and run from a CD.