WARNING
Unprotected access to the Internet may be hazardous to your computer's health. The programs listed here are free for personal or home use.
I created this page to help promote the safe use of computers connected to the Internet. I bear no responsibility for any problems that may be encountered from using any of the listed programs or services. My recommendations are based solely on my personal experience with the programs in my computing environment. Each person's computing environment is different so performance and results may vary.
Every computer that connects to the Internet should, at a minimum, have up-to-date anti-virus and personal firewall software installed and running. I highly recommend the frequent (at least weekly) use of updated anti-virus and anti-spyware software to scan for malware. There are certainly other fine products you can use. The important thing is to use some sort of anti-virus/anti-spyware/firewall protection.
If you have a high speed (DSL or cable) connection to the Internet, a broadband router with Network Address Translation (NAT) is a worthwhile investment even if you only have one computer. It adds an extra layer of protection and gives you room for future expansion. Linksys, Netgear, and D-Link make fine products for home networking and are very reasonably priced.
Or you could leave Windows behind and install Linux. I recommend the Ubuntu or Linux Mint distributions as they are easy to install and have good graphical user interfaces.
