Zonealarm
A firewall is a particularly important device for broadband users who leave their PC on-line all the time.
These machines are particularly vulnerable as they are useful to hackers who want to "own" your PC so they can launch attacks from it and thousands of other drone PCs they have captured.
Windows XP with SP2 has an in-built firewall, however, some people think it is not good enough - and given Microsoft's record for keeping hackers out they are probably right.
A great and free to home-users firewall is ZoneAlarm. This can be downloaded here: http://www.zonelabs.com.
AVG
It is easier than you think to get a virus from a website as even reputable sites can be compromised.
In the past it was widely thought that you only got viruses by opening emails. However, thanks again to our friends at Microsoft, this is not true. Recently it has become apparent that opening certain sites in Internet Explorer can let in viruses too. Its lucky then that there is AVG.
AVG is an excellent free product that is very thorough in its virus detection and comes with a free update service as well.
In our opinion it is much better than the preinstalled packages such as Nortopn and McCaffee You can download AVG Free Edition here: free.grisoft.com
Firefox
Internet Explorer has many problems, not least its recently exposed security flaw.
A better browser is the free Mozilla Firefox which in every aspect does a much better job than its competitors.
I can't put it any better than Mozilla's own words:
"The safer, faster, better web browser featuring tabbed browsing, integrated search and live bookmarks. Stop pop-ups, spyware and viruses. Get Firefox and spread the word! I suggest dumping Microsoft's Internet Explorer"
Mac or PC - this is the best browser to have.
Thunderbird - Reclaim your inbox
Thunderbird 2 features many new enhancements to help you better manage your unruly inbox, and stay informed. Thunderbird 2 scales to the most sophisticated organizational needs while making it easy to find what you need.
Thunderbird continues to lead the way in online security, and now includes active protection from online scams to keep you safer.
Choose from hundreds of useful add-ons that enhance Thunderbird. It´s easy to personalize Thunderbird to make it your own.
Download Thunderbird 2
