How to protect your PC

Overview

In order to enjoy your games, your PC needs to be in top condition and that means keeping bad programs away from it.

Software Suggestions

1. Use a web browser other than Microsoft Internet Explorer. I am not going into the "who is more secure" debate because hackers target whoever is "on top" and that is the IE browser. I personally use Firefox because I am a web developer and really like the custom extensions available.
2. Use a hardware firewall if you can afford one.
3. Even if you have a hardware firewall, use a software firewall. (use only one)
   • Comodo Firewall Pro (FREE no restrictions)
   • ZoneAlarm Firewall (FREE for home use)
   • Outpost Firewall Free (FREE)
   • Windows Firewall (FREE, comes with Windows XP, the SP2 version is recommended if you go this route but does not protect outbound traffic)
4. Use an Anti-Virus software and keep it updated. (install only one)
   • Comodo Antivirus (FREE, no restrictions)
   • Avast! Home Edition (FREE for home use)
   • Avira Antivir (FREE for home use, crippleware)
   • AVG Anti-Virus FREE Edition (FREE for home use)
   • Clamwin (FREE, does not have real-time scanner...manual scans only)
   • Microsoft Security Essentials (FREE)
   • Panda Cloud Antivirus (FREE for Home Users)
   • Immunet Protect (FREE)
   • Digital Defender Antivirus (FREE)
   • PC Tools AntiVirus Free (FREE)
5. Use Anti-Spyware software and keep them updated.
   • Comodo AntiMalware (FREE, no conditions)
   • Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool (FREE)
   • Malwarebytes (FREE for home use)
   • Ad-aware (FREE for home use)
   • Bazooka Spyware Scanner (FREE)
   • Microsoft Windows Defender (FREE, requires Genuine Advantage)
   • Spybot Search and Destroy (FREE)
   • Spyware Blaster (FREE)
   • TrendMicro HijackThis (FREE, good for reporting)
6. If you use Email, use an Anti-SPAM program and keep it updated. (install only one)
   • Comodo AntiSpam (FREE)
   • Spam Experts (21-days TRIAL)
7. Before disaster strikes, make a bootable recovery CDROM. The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows is probably your best bet.
8. Keep all your "data" files that you consider necessary (as in the event of a hard-drive failure) in one location to make backups easier, faster and thus more likely to happen. I keep mine in an organized structure under E:\MyData and use a tool called SyncBackSE (or Synkron) to copy all the files to a secondary hard drive on a nightly basis in case one hard drive goes belly up. I also have another SyncBack profile that copies the same data to an external hard drive once in a while for offsite storage.

NOTE #1: Avoid Download Managers, most, if not all, are garbage and cause more problems than they help (such as system instability).

NOTE #2: Click here for the current security analysis report that compares security suites on how well they protect your PC from various threats.

References

LHammonds Oblivion Mods Site

& Zaldir's Personal Experience