[Curlyben]

What Apps do you consider a must to ensure the health of your PC ?

[ScottGem]

The one thing I count on most to ensure the health of my PC is common sense. Being careful where I surf, not falling for phishing schemes, not downloading anything I'm not 120% sure of, etc. This does more to keep your PC safe then anything else.

Of course I back up my commons sense with an A/V program, a firewall and anti-spyware scanners. I also use a Cookie manager. Oh yes and a comprehensive backup setup.

Other than that I don't do anything special. No other cleaners, anonymizers, etc.

[cremedies]

AVG anti-virus (free version) available at www.grisoft.com, Spysweeper or MS AntiSpyware, and occasionally run Housecall's online virus scanner which is available at www.trendmicro.com. Also, stay away from any free games and downloads. If you must download for free, then use Limewire rather than Kazaa since Limewire does not bundle spyware into its software. It is also much faster and has a greater variety of downloads than Kazaa.

[fredg]

Hi,
Here are some I suggest, and ways to use them:

http://www.security-related.com/download2.htm
Download: SpyBot Search & Destroy; 1.3
(If you use the Spyware Blaster free program, then don't set SpyBot to the Immunization feature)

AdAware at:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com
Download: AdAware_SE

CWShredder at:
http://www.intermute.com/products/cwshredder.html
(CWShredder is intended only for removal of CoolWebSearch files; placed as spyware on the harddrive). It is not a "stand alone" scan, but needs to be run. Download the free version by clicking on "Download stand alone version of CW Shredder".

All 3 of the above programs run better and much faster when run in SafeMode.

To get into SafeMode:
Re-boot the computer, and immediately after starting up, Press and hold down, F8, at top of keypad.
When the options show on the screen, use the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard to select
"Safe Mode".
Press Enter

It's best to run the AdAware scan first; 3 times; then re-boot.
Then, run the AdAware scan again 3 times; then run the SpyBot. Then, run CWShredder.
Re- Boot.
Reason for running so many times:
Some of these trojans' files can be deleted the first time; leaving some others; but on re-boot, they re-write the files that were deleted.
Running multiple times deletes most of it the first
Time.

If you wish to have a great program, after you clean out Spyware/Advertising Ware:
SpyWare Blaster 3.3

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html

Also, AVG (http://www.grisoft.com) is a much better Antivirus Program than most others.

Best of luck,
fredg