I personally use AVG Free on my personal computers, its free for non-business computers and it has worked great for me over the years.  Generally when I setup a computer for someone (or fix it) I will uninstall other name brand anti virus and install AVG Free.  The question that I get asked is what about the other features that products like Norton and Symantec come with like Firewalls and Anti-Spy ware.  Well Windows XP and above comes with a firewall and most people who have a router connected to their broadband Internet connection have a firewall. So your average user has two firewalls - a hardware firewall and the software firewall running on the local computer.  I find with my hardware firewall that Windows built-in firewall has been enough for me and most users I have supported.

I recently read this article from PC World and while AVG was third on the list I’m not changing what I use or recommend.  The number one anti-virus has daily popup ads and the number two anti-virus has a poor interface.

The only real exception that I would mention is if you connected your laptop up to a lot of different wireless networks.  You just don’t know what’s out there on the network your attaching to and that’s when your software firewall is your only line of defense.

As for most virus and security problems that I have witnessed, the best way to have avoided some of them is to not use Internet Explorer to surf the web. It’s the number one browser and so that’s where the most virus/hackers are going to focus their efforts.  I recommend using Opera or Firefox for Internet browsing. The other source of problem is your Windows has not been updated with the latest patches.  Turning on “Automatic Updates” is easy and will keep your computer more secure.

In conclusion, to really increase the security of your computer make sure at least Windows built-in firewall is active.  Install a free anti-virus like AVG Free and don’t surf the Internet with Internet Explorer and Turn Automatic Updates on.  The simplest way to check the status of your computers anti-virus, Firewall and Automatic Update is the Security Center in the Control Panel (Start->Control Panel->Security Center).