Here you will find links to great programs and information I have found over the years.

Firewall

ZoneLabs's ZoneAlarm is the best FREE personal software firewall. ZoneAlarm makes programs "ask for internet", you have to authorize every program that wants internet with a simple yes/no alert.

Download Here

Anti-Virus

AVG anti-virus is the best FREE non-messing up your computer anti-virus out there. Norton etc have messed up / caused problems on many computers I have worked with. If you install AVG UNINSTALL ALL OTHER ANT-VIRUS PROGRAMS BEFORE installing AVG. AVG is smart enough to lock out files that are known viruses so you do not pass them on to your friends, it also downloads FREE updated virus definitions and you can also schedule it to run at a certain time every day to look for viruses.
Download Here

Spyware/Cookie Cleaner

Spybot - Search & Destroy does it all, removes cookies and looks for spyware programs. It also allows you to lock your IE homepage from being changed; my personal favorite.

Popup Blocker / Closer

POW! - Popup blocker, easy to use and only closes ads/windows YOU want to have closen. POW isn't like other popup stoppers that close wanted windows, you control the list of what gets stopped and what doesn't.

PDF Reader

Foxit PDF Reader has a small installation file and doesn't take as much CPU, crash, or update as much as Adobe Acrobat. Uninstall Acrobat and install Foxit.

Print to PDF

CutePDF Writer is very easy to use, it installs as a printer so to create a PDF document you just go to File > Print > and Select CutePDF. You now have a PDF document of your file.



Random Stuff...

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware 1.30