But here’s what most people don’t know: There better ways to protect your computer. Spending no money whatsoever, you can have protection that’s just as good as Norton and just as easy to use.

I know, I know, it sounds too good to be true. Here’s how it works: Many companies allow private individuals to use free versions of their software, but businesses are forced to pay. The free versions basically act as advertising. Also, the individuals are encouraged to upgrade to the Premium version. But for a lot of this software, it’s not worth paying for the premium version; just stick with the free one.

The software I list here is software that I personally know and trust. As a general rule, don’t download or install anything until you really know what it is. A great resource is download.com. It’s got a zillion files, and they’re all legit. (Some sites will claim to provide XYZ file, but really they’re sending you a nasty virus. Download.com is a trustworthy source. Also, if you ever feel you’re on a suspicious webpage, google for the stuff you want. The top results are typically legit. And stay away from filesharing networks; there’s viruses out there.)

Now, I’m going to assume that you’re running Windows. I know, I know, Mac is cool. Personally I dual-boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu. If you’re at all interested in Linux you should try that out. But most people aren’t interested, most people run Windows. So that’s what this post is about.

Basic Setup:

Get Comodo Internet Security. (Again, don’t bother with the premium, try-for-30-days-and-then-pay-for-it option. Just get the free one.) This is a three-in-one package:

1. Antivirus - Scans for and removes viruses, and prevents them from running in the first place.
2. Firewall - Protects you from various internet attacks
3. Program Control – (Comodo calls it “Defense+”) When a program does something at all suspicious, Comodo asks you if you’re ok with this. You can allow the program to do what it likes, or you make it stop in its tracks. There’s a setting to make these alerts more frequent or less frequent, depending on your passion for security and your tolerance for Comodo’s inquiries.

Next, get Ad-Aware. This is an anti-malware program that covers a few things Comodo doesn’t.

Once a week, open up Comodo Antivirus, do an update, and then run a full scan. Then open up Ad-Aware, do an update, and run a full scan there too. If either program finds something, it’ll tell you, and then you just click a little button for “remove all” or whatever.

And…that’s pretty much it. You don’t have perfect protection, but you’re basically safe.

A few other tips:

• Keep Windows updated. If you don’t want to bother doing this yourself, you can tell Windows to update automatically.
• Don’t download suspicious files and don’t go to suspicious sites. (Some stuff doesn’t even need to be downloaded; just visiting a certain website will cause problems).
• If you use Internet Explorer, consider using Firefox instead. It’s better.
• System Restore is useful. It’s a built-in Windows program that essentially sends your computer back in time a bit, changing all your settings (but not your personal files) to they way they were.
• Safe Mode is useful. When booting up, hit F8 every couple of seconds, and you’ll get a menu to select Safe Mode. Basically, in Safe Mode, nothing happens unless you tell it to happen. This (hopefully) allows you to run a virus scan without the viruses getting in the way.
• Some nasty things pretend to be antivirus software etc.. If you see a program you don’t recognize, google it to see if it’s safe.
• Keep a backup of all your important files, just in case something terrible happens.
• And in general, be smart.

There. I just saved you from $100 a year on a Norton subscription and/or several nasty computer problems.

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BONUS

Here’s a list of security programs I know and trust. Because I’m a geek, I have all of these on my machine, though I really just use a few of them. I like having backups, though, just to be sure. All of these are legally free for private users

Ad-Aware Free
A-squared Free
AVG Antivirus Free Edition
CCleaner (not exactly a security program, but whatever)
Comodo Internet Security
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
Trend Micro HijackThis (doesn’t actually fix problems, but provides detailed information so you can figure out how to fix them)
Spybot – Search and Destroy (if nothing else, use it for the “immunize” function)
Spyware Blaster (purely defensive; stops spyware from being installed)

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