Ad-aware and Zone Alarm Firewall

These are two programs that I would recommend to every Windows XP/Vista user.

1. Ad-aware by Lavasoft (Free download)

Link to free download:
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ad-aware/

First of all install Ad-aware as this is one of the most popular and one of the best anti-spyware (anti-malware)programs. It scans your PC for small programs which might be collecting your personal data...
It also has an ability to recognise some of the Trojan horse/Backdoor viruses and removes them.



Once downloaded make sure you click on webupdate so that this program is up to date with all latest malware database. Once its updated make sure you run the full system scan.

2. Zonealarm Firewall (Free download)

Link to free download: http://www.filehippo.com/download_zonealarm_free/

This program is designed to keep all unwanted traffic out of your computer. If you are not familiar with what firewall is I would recommed that you read up about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewall_%28networking%29

With this program you will be informed which applications are trying to access Internet.This way you get to find out more about which programs are requesting to access Internet. For example using this program you can disable some of the automatic updates for the software on your PC.



As you can see here its a list of programs that I have installed on my PC and using simple ticks I get to decide which program should be granted outside access (access to Internet).