I have put together a list of very useful programs that I myself use on a daily basis to keep my computer clean of trash, viruses, spyware and adware.
For those that do not know what the above names mean I will elaborate.
Trash
Relating to a computer's everyday clutter that it leaves around after it's done doing things for you.
Temporary Internet Files, Cookies, Images, Setup Files, Logs and anything left in t he Recycle Bin.
Let's face it our computers are lazy when it comes to housekeeping.
Viruses
Viruses are created by bored people who spend their lives putting together code to make your life miserable, either for revenge or a simple laugh. If you have ever lost a piece of information due to a virus I feel your pain, it sucks, but the best way to fight these lowlifes at their own game is to not give them the satisfaction they long for by protecting yourself against them with a decent Anti-Virus program.
Spyware
Spyware is one of the worst baddies out there because it install on your computer without you knowing and sends PERSONAL information to someone over the internet including but not limited to;
Credit Card numbers;
Phone numbers;
Names;
Addresses;
Birth dates;
Banking information;
Online activities;
The list goes on.
This has to stop before you lose something extremely important: YOUR IDENTITY!
So to reduce your chances of I.D. Theft use a Anti-Spyware program.
Last but not least...
Adware
We've all had adware on our computers at one time or another. They're bloody annoying. Adware is simply ads that will pop up on your screen, open a browser to a certain site or it will open thousands of windows filled with UNWANTED stuff.
So to sum things up you need about 4-5 different programs installed on your computer to cover yourself completely from these idiotic computer problems created by useless people. I know you're thinking, why? Why don't I just get a Mac and I won't have these problems? WRONG! Due to macs increasing popularity (up to 16% of the world's population now uses a Mac) all this crap is being made for Macs as well.
I
STRONGLY suggest NOT getting an all-in-one Anti-Trash/Virus/Malware/Spyware/Adware program as they (more often than not) slow your computer down to a crawl because they are heavy ass programs that bloat your system by using a LOT of memory even when it is IDLING.
So after reading all that I will list the programs I said I would list when you started reading the long winded but very informative lecture.
The safest computer is a computer NOT on the internet.
Be careful where you browse.
On to the Goodies!
Use this to fight - Trash!
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner CCleaner - Previously Crap Cleaner - Will clean out all the unwanted, unused and unnecessary clutter from your system and improving it''s speed tremendously, almost back to NEW!
Use this to fight Viruses!
http://usa.kaspersky.com Kaspersky Anti-Virus - Will keep you protected against any viruses out there on the net - yesterdays and today's viruses will e destroyed!
Use this to fight Spyware, Adware and other annoyances!
http://www.malwarebytes.org Malwarebytes - The best anti-spyware program out there. It is by far the greatest problem solver out there. I know I said to not get one of those all-in-one wonders but, this is an exception as it is VERY lightweight and very powerful. Also it's only $25 for a lifetime subscription of updates. A MUST HAVE!
Thank you for reading this and better protecting yourself.
P.S.
Back to the topic of bloated software (All-In-Ones)
Norton, McAfee and now AVG are the three most bloated programs out there. I would recommend Kaspersky as the ONLY antivirus I would pay for myself as it is very effective.
----UPDATE----
Norton has refined their GUI and is not such a resource hog anymore.
P.S.S.
I forgot to add a nice little gadget i use to monitor my Dlink DNS-323's on my network (Usage, Space available, Restart, Shutdown options). The gadget itself was made by Phil Wigglesworth and you can reach his page under the friends section to the left side of the forum.
I created an installer so users could create up to 10 DNS Monitors in Windows Vista and Windows 7 and program them individually to monitor separate DNS'.
P.S.S.S
BTW the link to this installer is right below this last bit of text.
