Home Computer Aid

Here, you can skip the explanations, and just download what you need!

Antivirus Downloads

Stinger - A free virus scanner. Good for finding viruses that may disable your antivirus software. This is NOT full fledged Antivirus software and is not intended to replace the other programs listed here.

AVG Antivirus - A free, full featured antivirus program.

Avast Antivirus - Another free, full featured antivirus program.

McAfee - Not free, but good software for keeping your computer safe. If you don't want to pay a recurring annual fee, see below.

Best-selling antivirus software – Norton AntiVirus 2006 Click Here. Reasonably priced and many users swear by it. If you want to skip the annual fees though, see AVG and Avast above.

Spyware Removal

Ad-Aware - A free automatic spyware detection and removal program.

Spybot Search & Destroy - Another free automatic spyware detection and removal program. Remember to Immunize your computer.

Firewalls

Hardware Firewalls

Two excellent home Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewalls in the $80 to $90 price range:

Linksys Instant Broadband EtherFast Cable/DSL Firewall Router with 4-Port Switch BEFSX41

Netgear ProSafe VPN Firewall with 4-Port 10/100 Mbps Switch FVS114

Software Firewalls

Windows XP SP2 Firewall - Built in firewall installed with Windows XP Service Pack 2. It may have some security vulnerabilities, but it’s a vast improvement over the original XP Firewall. For more on the vulnerability, visit PC Magazine’s article about it. If you download one of the firewalls below, I strongly recommend disabling the Windows firewall.

Zone Alarm - Free, configurable software firewall.

Sygate - Also free for home use.

McAfee - Fee based Personal Firewall Plus by McAffee can be purchased separately or bundled with Antivirus.

Windows Utilites

MSCONFIG - Download the MSCONFIG Utility for Windows 2000. Save to the c:\windows\system32 directory.

MaceCraft's Reg Supreme - Registry cleaning program. Free trial period. After the trial, it's well worth the $12.95 to own it!

Antispam

SpamPal.org - Free Spam sorting utility. Puts Spam in a SpamPal box and leaves your regular e-mail in your in-box.