One of the first things that people usually do when they purchase a new computer is buy an antivirus program. This is generally good practice, but there is still a lack of understanding on exactly what protection you are getting, and what protection you need.
First off, if you are using a high speed internet service, they should supply you with a modem. If is very bad to plug your computer directly into the modem. Go purchase a router (which will run around $40 from www.newegg.com ) then plug the router into the modem, and plug your computer into the router. What this does is sets up private IP addresses on each computer or printer connected to that router. Your ISP will assign you a single IP address which will be assigned to the router. This prevents a lot of intrusions because it is harder to penetrate a network with private IP addresses.
As far as the software is concerned, this all can be accomplished with a program called Microsoft Security Essentials. (www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/) MSE includes a virus scan, anti spyware, and malware, includes an IDS (Intrusion Detection System), and has very light footprint of most antivirus software. All of this combined will be more than enough to protect the average user and his home network.
There are plenty of other antivirus software that are available. I have heard good things about Avast Antivirus (www.avast.com/index). I personally don’t use this software but it is well known and the antivirus part of it is free. There is also Norton Antivirus from Symantec (http://www.symantec.com). The two major players in internet security are Symantec and McAfee. (www.mccafee.com) A lot of people refuse to use the free software. If you insist on purchasing antivirus software, I would recommend using one of these. (NOTE: If you are a DoD employee, you can get both of these for free through AKO) Another good product to use for detecting malware is Malwarebytes. (www.malwarebytes.org/ ) This software is great to run on a computer that might be infected with a virus.
