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Most of this information is common knowledge for the IT savvy, but here are some steps you can take for $0.00 to protect yourself a little more.

FireFox http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ [mozilla.org] is a web browser that is much more secure then Internet Explorer. I have been using it for many months now, and it is very stable and has a small fraction of the security problems found in IE.

Ad-Aware http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/ [lavasoftusa.com] is a Spy Ware finding and removal tool. This is one of the best anti-spy ware programs available and should be run at least twice a week. Microsoft Windows only.

Spy-Bot http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html [safer-networking.org] is an excellent compliment to Ad-Aware and should be run also twice a week. The combination of both Ad-Aware and SpyBot make for great security. Windows only.

Trend Micro http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_corp.asp [antivirus.com] has a free online virus scanner that I run once a week. It has found viruses that Norton did not detect. Windows only.

Microsoft's windows update http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ [microsoft.com] should be checked often to patch your operating system. I would suggest you install the updates. Windows only.

Zone Alarm http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/company/zap _za_grid.jsp [zonealarm.com] If you do not have a Firewall router at home or are using dialup. Make sure you have some sort of firewall running on your machine. This one is pretty good and free. Windows only.

Here is a mini guide on how to prevent receiving spam.

1. Do not give out your work email address to anyone not work related. Do not give it out to relatives.
2. Do not use your primary email address to sign up for things online, use a free email from hotmail or gmail.
3. DO not use your work/primary email to post on message boards or USENET unless they are closed and protected forums.
4. Do not sign up for free giveaways, even if they are work related.
5. Do *NOT* forward jokes or other such emails. Discourage people from forwarding them to you. These emails hold a massive list of email addresses and will eventually end up in the hands of spammers.
6. Do *NOT* reply to any spam asking to be removed or to "unsubscribe." It just guarantees that you will get more spam as you have confirmed it is a valid account. This can be a tricky one as valid mailing lists will include an unsubscribe link or directions. However, when you consider that you receive many more spam email than genuine mailing list emails in error, it's a good precaution to take.
7. Do not buy anything from a spam email. This only encourages the practice.
8. If you get spam in Outlook, go to "File", then "Work Offline" and then delete the email messages. Selecting the email message for deleting opens it, this can cause a virus to be downloaded or download pictures that have unique tag. With the unique image tag, a spammer can tell when you opened the email and that your account is valid. By using the "Work Offline" mode, no images will be opened.