(very) basic guide for beginners

for those of you may be using a desktop computer for the first time, here are a few guidelines for keeping your system safe from online threats. So what do you need?

1 an anti-virus software
I advise AVG free edition. Extremely fast at scanning, belongs to Grisoft ( you might want to know that Intel owns some of the capital of Grisoft).

There is also Avast, partly free, full of useless features, resource demanding, but very good-looking, the first skinable anti-virus.More on it later in this blog.

2 an anti-spyware
my pick goes to Spyware Terminator, it is free, performing , fast, complete.

If you wanna go for a commercial software, no hesitation: AVG anti-spyware.
(see my post below) I do not recommend using the Claim anti-virus component of Spyware Terminator; first I read bad reviews about it (security leaks), second I tried it and it's really basic, too basic. Expect anyway that future software will integrate anti-virus & spyware in an all-in-one solution. That's already the case of Norton 360, for these components.

3 a good firewall
here my choice is Comodo Firewall. Its default configuration will already make your computer really safe. You can always choose later to get into network rules etc...