A Guide: Useful software for the Internet user
by Ian Rochat (ianr@rnrtech.com)

Following is a short list of software I recommend downloading

Ad-Aware by Lavasoft
Ad-Aware is software that scans your computer for spyware, adware, and other software which may be running on your system unknowningly. Chances are if you do not run software similar to this, you have plenty of unwanted programs running, tracking your computer usage and possibly displaying pop-up ads or slowing down your computer. This is a must for all computer users.

They have a free version of this software available for download.
Go to the Lavasoft homepage.

AVG by Grisoft
AVG is an anti-virus software that has been around for quite some time. It does a good job and there is even a free edition, the free edition has a few limitations but nothing the average home user needs to worry about -- it will still find and eliminate viruses.
If you do not run anti-virus software, you should download this.

They have a free version of this software available for download (AVG Free Edition).
Go to the Grisoft homepage.

ZoneAlarm by Zone Labs
ZoneAlarm is a personal firewall software. You may be wondering what a firewall is...it is simply something that helps protect computers from unwanted internet access by only allowing certain types of requests in and out of your computer. This may be a little much for those of you totally new to computers or the internet, however you can always give it a try and uninstall it if it causes too much confusion or trouble for you. They offer more features if you are willing to pay some money, but for the basic security (which is probably plenty fine for most) the free download works great! They will try to push their commercial products on you (ZoneAlarm Plus and ZoneAlarm Pro as of this writing), but they really do have a free version which is plenty useful and it is just ZoneAlarm.
For those of you who want more security on your computer, you should download this.

They have a free version of this software available for download (ZoneAlarm).
Go to the Zone Labs homepage.

Of course, if you do download any of these softwares, you should be sure and keep them up-to-date. Software that is security or virus related needs to be kept up-to-date at all times or it is almost worthless. Many of them have an "update" button to check for updates from within the software itself.