Internet Security Tips

There's NO person I know that didn't complain about some trojans , spyware or diallers , sitting in their PC's denying to be removed . SP2 came to confirm the need of better security practices . All the steps listed below with priority order .

1) Anti-Virus
    - My Freeware choice: AVG
    - My commercial choice: NAV

Antivirus is the oldest and the most important weapon . It comes from the dark ages of Ms-Dos . 

2) Firewall 
    - My Freeware choice: Agnitum Outpost Firewall 1.0
    - My commercial choice: Agnitum Outpost Firewall 2.x 

Yes WinXP already includes a built-in firewall (although it came too late) , but it does not include critical features that some third party firewalls have (like report viewer , status monitor , web blocker etc) . Yes SP2 includes a better firewall but compared with some others (even free) firewalls , it's still missing too much .  However the firewall inside SP2 is a nice feature for entry level people . Even the coolest firewall is to much complicated for a novice user .

Notice: Be careful handling and installing more than one firewall (or firewall-like) applications . My PC crashed once trying to install a firewall-like application over Norton Internet Security . Generally avoid NIS (none says that's the best solution today) as it's too 'heavy' .

2b) Ad Blocker
    - My Freeware choice: WebWasher , muffin
    - My commercial choice: Ad Muncher

Some firewalls (like Agnitum) already includes some Ad Blocking features . If your firewall does not , ad blocking saves bandwidth and increases security .

3) Anti-Spyware
    - My Freeware choice: MS AntiSpyware
    - My commercial choice:  Spyware Doctor

The modern type of a virus . Actually it is not a virus (it does not intend to harm your PC) but it's something we do not want it in our computer !. 

4) Non-IE compatible browser
    - My Freeware choice: Opera 6.06 (Adaware)
    - My commercial choice: Opera 6.06

Most trojans & spyware try to abuse some existing IE (Internet Explorer) security holes . So the easiest way to avoid them is NOT to use IE !. I wrote some years before about Opera , and I still insist using it mostly due to kick-ass 'Load cached images only' feature not found anywhere else . Mozzila is 100% free but there's still nothing like Opera ... . As I worte on another topic I prefer better Opera 6 than 7 (you can still find it) . You cannot live without IE (some sites cannot be viewed correctly with Opera or Mozila) , but try to surf without IE as much as you can . 

5) AntiSpam
    -My Freeware choice: K9
    -My commercial choice: Spam Inspector

The easiest gate to get a virus is via email . Moreover spam waste your bandwidth and your personal time .

6) System & Security Tools
    - TcpView (free)
    - TaskInfo (share)

It's a good help if you have some tools reporting you which program are running in background (TaskInfo) or which of them have Internet activity (TcpView) . Also tools like CWSInstall , bugoff , xp-AntiSpy , AnalogX Script Defender , HijackThis are good to be in your hard disk .

7) WinXP - SP2

Unfortunately came toooo late , and it came too incomplete .  If you did all of the above steps , SP2 is the less important action . Anyway SP2 is not only a better firewall , so it's wise to install it . Deactivate the firewall since you've already installed some better .