What is it?
Malware – short for malicious software, it is used to cause damage to a single computer, server, or computer network. Computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, most rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware, and other malicious and unwanted software are all types of malware that can infect your computer. But it is worth noting that very few malware instances are actual viruses (less than 20%).

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What to do about it?
A virus scanner is the most common tool for prevention. These scanners have “real-time protection” enabled; which scans the program before it runs and if the program has malicious code than it is stopped before the chance of execution. Common sense is another big factor in determining whether or not malware gets into your computer. If an executable computer program is attached to your e-mail and you are unsure of the source, then it should be deleted immediately. Do not download any applications or executable files from unknown sources, and be careful when trading files with other users.

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What about some free protection?

***NOTE*** Let it be known that you must have only one virus protection / firewall working on your computer or serious conflicts will occur! You MUST un-install your current virus protection suite before continuing installing another. “But what if my old one is already expired?” It does not matter, divorce it anyway…

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Anti-Virus…

I would go with Avira. It has the best ratings out of all the “free AV protection”, and even some of the paid for ones.
Here is the link for that:
http://www.free-av.com/

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Adware and Spyware…
This program only offers on demand scan I would recommend it. (Use at least one AS/A)
Here is the link for that:
http://www.superantispyware.com/

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Stopping it before it comes…
Here is the link for that:
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareb...
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Firewall…
Link for that…
http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

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Rootkit…
I would use:
Sysinternals RootkitRevealer, Panda Anti Rootkit and BlackLight
Links:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysin...
http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/d...
http://www.f-secure.com/blacklight/

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You want to make sure that all you programs are constantly updated and patched to prevent attackers from entering through software weaknesses.

Good Luck.

Regards,

Dane

If you are wanting a free program let me suggest PC TOOLS. I think that this program is very easy to work yet very advanced in protecting you.

Again, it is 100%FREE on there website.

Another free antivirus is avira antivir.

http://www.pctools.com

★Good Luck!
If you need any help, feel free to email me via my profile page – Eric

I strongly suggest Nod32. It’s not free, but it’s low maintenance and very good. If you must use a free one, I’d say Avast. (This suggestion brought to you by your friendly neighborhood IS analyst.)

There are two main things that you need to protect your PC, real-time Anti-Virus software and a two way firewall (inbound and outbound) you can get them both completely free, these two work well together on XP SP2 or SP3:

Comodo Pro (firewall)

http://www.download.com/Comodo-Firewall-Pro/3000-10435_4-10460704.html?tag=lst-1&cdlPid=10849947

Avast Anti-Virus 4.8 Home Edition*

http://www.download.com/Avast-Home-Edition/3000-2239_4-10019223.html?tag=pop.software&cdlPid=10852750

* Install Avast then Comodo as Comodo can sometimes interfere with Avast’s installation, I would recommend changing Avast’s default skin for the Vista style skin available from their website – http://www.avast.com/eng/skins.html

Comodo comes top in leaktests
http://www.matousec.com/projects/firewall-challenge/results.php

You should only browse the internet using a limited account not an administrative account, if a virus infects your computer and you are using an admin account it can make critical system changes, but a limited account does not have the power to make critical changes so the amount of damage a virus can do is limited.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2006/05/the_importance_of_the_limited.html

Would also recommend that you use a safer browser like Mozilla Firefox 3, and download additional anti-spyware software my favourite is Ad-aware 2008.

Firefox 3:
http://www.mozilla.com

You should Install the McAfee SiteAdvisor add-on – when you search for something using Yahoo, Google or MSN, site advisor displays either a green tick (safe site), yellow exclamation mark (use with care) or a red cross (dangerous site) next to every result. http://www.siteadvisor.com/