Dwight W. Hayes,AA,BS,MS

Security Software

Before you begin surfing the Internet you need to have the appropriate security software: a firewall, an antivirus program and two anti-spyware programs- that’s right, I said two anti-spyware programs. But don’t install more than one antivirus program and one firewall program– more than one will probably cause conflicts.

If you don’t have this software, there are free programs out there for you to try like the following:

(1)Firewall,

Zone Alarm Firewall,

http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp

(2)Antivirus,

AVG,

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/avg-anti-virus-free/lng/us/tpl/v5

or

Avast,

http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html or

or

PCTools,

http://www.pctools.com/free-antivirus/

(3)Anti-Spyware,

Windows Defender, http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

or

Ad-Aware 2007,

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

or

Spybot-search *& destroy

http://fileforum.betanews.com/download/Spybot_Search_and_Destroy/1043809773/

These are all good free programs for home use. However, if your purpose is business you will need to pay for licenses.

After you have installed these programs, update them to make sure you have the latest definitions. Now scan for malware with the antivirus and anti-spyware programs. Run them one by one. Remove anything they find. You’re ready to surf the net safely .