Protect Your Computer

Using all five of the free utilities listed below will help protect your pc from malicious code that, among other things, could take over or disable your computer, capture personal information, and/or allow hackers to access and use your pc without your knowledge or permission.

Click on any of the links in the center column below to bring up the desired download (or online scan) page. To get more information on a utility, click on the right-hand column below.

Utility*	Download Page	More Information
Anti-virus (a)	AVG	Grisoft
Firewall	ZoneAlarm (b)	ZoneLabs
Anti-malware -spyware	Ad-Aware	Lavasoft
	Spybot Search & Destroy	Safer-networking
	Microsoft Defender	Microsoft
Free, demo & shareware	FileHippo

(a) Caution: only one anti-virus program can be present on a computer; before installing AVG, remove any other trial, running or expired anti-virus program(s).

    (b) Firewall: the current free version of ZoneAlarm now DOES work with Vista

Additional Utilities and Tools

* Note: In addition to the above brief list, there are many other tools available which one can download and/or purchase that provide additional protection and capabilities. The above list is therefore only intended to help a user give his or her computer basic protections as quickly as possible, at the lowest possible initial cost.

Also, keep in mind that while you can use only one anti-virus program on a computer, at the present time it is recommended that one have two or more anti-spy/malware programs to prevent and remove spy/malware.

For TechWeb's August, 2006 article "10 Free Ways to Keep Your PC Safe," point your browser to: http://www.techweb.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=161100001.

For a much more extensive list of free and commercial utilities, and additional information, visit member Don Miller's Web page at: http://dmiller900.com/internet_safety.htm, or point your browser to: http://100-downloads.com for 100 recommended, free programs and utilities which include those listed above.

E-mail safety: visit Don's Web page at http://dmiller900.com/emailinfo.htm

Children: keep them safe on the Internet - visit Don's Web page at http://dmiller900.com/kidsafe.htm

PC World article, and listing, of free utilities (be sure to look at pages 1 and 2): http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,119992,tk,spx,00.asp

Brief information on Spam, Phishing, Cyber Security, Identity Theft, and Spyware - what they are, and how to cope with them, at: http://www.techleadership.org/resources/