These are all things that I think are essential to have if you are going to use a computer that is connected to the Internet. They are all stuff that I use (or have used at one time or another) and like. Yes, there are TONS of good things on the Internet but there is lots of crap as well. I have compiled this list to let you benefit from my experience so hopefully you won't have to waste as much time as I have finding the good programs that actually work, are not bundled with loads of spy and adware, cause conflicts with other programs, cause conflicts with Windows, make you swear like a sailor with Turrets, make you stay up all night reinstalling your OS and apps from scratch, etc.

• AVG Anti-Virus by Grisoft - If you don't have anti-virus software from Norton or McAfee or Panda or F-Prot, etc. then you need this. Free automatic updates, on-demand scanner, email scans, scheduled scans, the works. No bells or whistles and it won't find spyware but hey, it's free. And it works.

  8 DEC 2004 - I just learned of an issue AVG V7 has with ZoneAlarm. If you use both, do a custom install of AVG and DEselect the email scanner. Then they can both happily co-exist on your PC.

• Avira AntiVir - Another great, free anti-virus product.
• ThreatFire - Zero-day malware protection because this does not rely on signature files and instead analyzes behavior. AND, you can safely install this right alongside your regular anti-virus software. I did.
• If you don't have any anti-virus software installed, you can do a free scan at one of these web sites here:

• If you are using Windows XP, get Service Pack 2 as it includes a great firewall (and pop-up blocker and lots more tasty stuff). Vista already has a firewall.
• ZoneAlarm - A really good firewall. If you don't have Windows XP (which has an integrated firewall) or some hardware firewall, you need this. Hey, you really should have a hardware and a software firewall anyway. Plus, ZoneAlarm filters incoming AND outgoing traffic so you will know when programs on your machine are trying to access the internet... If you do somehow get compromised, this will usually let you know. The Windows firewall (above) does not do this; it only filters incoming traffic.

• Microsoft Windows Defender - This works great for me on both my home and work computers and my Windows 2003 server. And it's finding stuff that both Spybot and Ad-aware are missing. And it provides good explanations about what it finds too. And it updates itself automatically. And it provides real-time protection just like good AV software. So I recommend it. I guess you can't have too much of this stuff...
• Spybot Search & Destroy - This program allows you to find and delete spyware, data miners and other aggressive advertising and tracking components you may have installed unknowingly when you installed that last item of shareware. It's consistently rated very highly when all these types of programs are reviewed and even allows you to block future installation of spyware. And it's free. Install, update and immunize.
• Ad-aware - Another super spyware and adware finder (in my opinion) deserves honorary mention because it's easily updatable and finds stuff that Spybot, etc. does not. If you're going to surf aggressively, you need more than one of these.
• ewido anti-spyware by Grisoft - Grisoft purchased ewido and then made their anti-spyware product available to single users for free. Nice.
• SpywareBlaster - Protection in depth and all that. Bring it on... This program does not scan your hard drive, it just sits there blocking the installation of 'driveby' spyware and adware. Very nice. All you have to remember is to update it once in a while. Install, update and protect.
• CWShredder - This tool does one thing and does it really well; it eliminates the Cool Web Search hijack from your computer. Cool Web Search is probably the most notorious hijack and it keeps evolving over time. Luckily the author of this tool keeps it up to date.

• AVG Anti-Rootkit - Rootkits let other people take control of your computer. Once your machine has been 'rooted' it is under the control of someone else and you are just a passenger.

• LinkScanner Lite - "It gives you the power to inspect any web page before you visit for exploits, phishing and fraud scams, hacked web sites and malicious lure sites. Additionally, LinkScanner Lite will automatically inspect search results on major search engines and provide real-time advice to prevent you from accidentally visiting a dangerous site." It works in both Internet Explorer and Firefox and it allows you to scan any URL.
• SiteAdvisor - Very simply, this program "Advises you about the safety of sites using a colored button in your browser toolbar." It can't protect you but it will let you know if you are about to click on a link to a known malicious site or not. This program only works with Internet Explorer and only queries a central database of known web sites so there is no ability to get info on any URL you might want to visit.

• ICEOWS (Interface de Compression Ergonomique pour windOWS) - A compression utility for Windows. Just like WinZip (which is NOT free just so ya know). And shoot, with a name like that, it can't help but be cool. A compression utility lets you zip and unzip files. This one handles just about all the different formats including RAR, TAR, CAB, BZ2 and of course ZIP. It also adds all the right-click menu choices you have come to expect if you've used WinZip. A must have.
• 7-Zip - Another great compression utility that handles: 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB formats. It seems to deal with files that have been tarred and zipped on a UNIX system slightly better than ICEOWS and luckily, they can both coexist happily on the same computer!

• Adobe [Acrobat] Reader - Allows you to view Acrobat (.PDF) files. A must have. Don't forget to update it once you install it.

• Secunia Software Inspector - This service lets you scan your computer and see if ANY of your software needs updating. This is fantastic because even though you might have Windows Update turned on, how often do you actually check to see if your favorite media player or Flash player or Java runtime environment is current?