anti-virus program

AVG by grisoft (free)
Spybot (free)
Adaware (free)

also use Firefox as a browser and Mozilla Thunderbird for e-mail.

stay away from internet explorer and update windows ans all these apps regularly and these should keep your system clean.

Ditto except for kaspersky pro

http://www.kaspersky.com/

i should clarify:

AVG = anti-virus
Adaware = removes adware
Spybot = removes spyware

search on google should turn all these up for download.

Two more antivirus programs

Avast Antivirus (free for personal use)
ClamAV(open source)

There are others as well.

AVG and Avast deserve first consideration for a couple of reasons: 1) email scanning (both in and outgoing) 2) real time protection

No other free antivirus program I have found offers both of these features, though I am certainly willing to be pointed in a new direction.

Avast gets the edge in my book for MOST users because it automatically downloads updates. AVG requires manual updating, or at least it did. AVG just released AVG free 7.0. which I have not checked out yet.

Both are excellent products and worthy of being mentioned in the same breath with any pay for option.

I miss InnoculateIT...

Represent'n for Avast; I've been using it for over a year now, and have it installed on every system in my house. It's powerful stuff, even better than pay software like McAff and Nort.

Adaware and Spybot are great cleaning tools, though I don't use them as much as I used to since I started using firefox. Firefox, in combination with Spyware Blaster to plug any holes, makes you virtually immune to spy/adware, unless you blatantly download and install it yourself.

-Hal

For free I highly recommend AVG for antivirus protection. For your spyware cleaning needs a combo of AdAware and Bulletproof's Spyware Search and Destroy oughta do the trick. I've not used a free software firewall in many years but used to recommend Zonelab's ZoneAlarm to folks who were in need.

Chris

What he said. Plus ZoneAlarm.

Avast! (free)
Sygate (free)
Spybot & AdAware

id have to say avast for viruses
spy bot and adaware
and zone alarm

Best advice stay away from norton (firewall and antivirus)

I use trend micro's PC Cillin (http://www.trendmicro.com/en/home/us/personal.htm) its no where near as much of a system hog as norton or mcaffee. I've tried AVG before.... its ok. I like PC-Cillin because its an antivirus, spyware/adware, and a firewall all rolled into one...

I'll disagree here slightly. I have AVG running on one laptop and Norton Systemworks running on the other. AVG takes up more resources than Norton and has let through things that Norton hasn't. Checking in Windows Task Manager, AVG has four different processes running. It is by now means a light running program, although it is of course free.

For spyware I've been using Giant Antispyware, although who knows what will happen now that Micosoft has taken over, and Adaware for the occasional mop-ups.

Steve

AVG is actually a litle leaner than Avast! from my experiences. Version 7 has auto-updates and Pop3 and SMTP scanning without requiring setup. Also, it has fared better on the VirusBulletin tests than Avast! and it has fewer false positives (wilders.org, but keep in mind their review is of the older AVG version).

For firewall I prefer Kerio Personal Firewall, although Sygate isn't too bad either. Both are better than Zonealarm IMHO, which I swore off after enough problems trying to play internet games with it.

My vote is for AVG and Sygate. The combo has worked flawlessly for me for ages. Add in Spybot, Adaware, Firefox, and Thunderbird, and I haven't ever had a single problem in well, um... forever.

For antivirus software i use NOD32 and haven't had a virus since i've been using it.
For spyware i use BPS.
I don't use a firewall.

I use Avast (personal version). If it finds a virus a voice speaks telling you you have a virus thats been detected.

Yeah love the voice, haha... "Virus database has been UP-dated."

Here's the truth about AV programs...if you install a halfway decent AV program before you get a virus, you will be a lot happier and more effective.

If you neglect to, and get multiple virii, even the best AV program is going to struggle like hell to get you out of trouble. The key is prevention.

I just got through working on the PC from Hell today and I have a migraine that stretches from here to Nebraska because the owner who bought the PC around 2002 has accepted every executable email attachment, downloaded craploads of adware and spyware and never bothered to update windows in all that time.

I literally cannot count how many issues there were with this machine....I know adaware registered over 1600 objects, then spybot grabbed another 90 and then webroot spysweeper nailed 100 or so more. Avast choked and died on what at last count was 150 trojan/virii/worm files and settings (I counted at least 40 unique trojans/virii before giving up) and AVG did the same.

I ultimately had to resort to manually killing off the various problems the old fashioned way (but ulimately the best), encountering some very new and ugly strains of vx2 better internet and cws that defied any normal removal technique.

And just to really piss me off, the guy forgot his administrator password, so I had to blank that just to get into a reasonable trouble free account.

People, people, people...get an AV program, any AV program. Keep it updated. Don't click on every stupid popup you see. No matter how much you wish it, Dolly Parton and Angelina Jolie have never appeared nude in a porn movie so stop clicking on the damns things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sigh....just had to get that off my chest.

You should have told him he's an idiot or you had to wipe the machine because it was unrecoverable...he would have probably learned his lesson better that way.