Protecting a Windows-based PC

My mother's computer was long-past ancient, so we finally took it in to get upgraded so that it could at least compare with the computers of today. Along with this, she will be upgrading to XP Home.

She can get around Windows just fine, but she isn't an expert computer user by any means. Because of this, I want to take every precaution that I can while I'm still around from the moment she gets the computer back and we do the fresh install of XP. (If I had the extra cash right now, I would have tossed in the extra $120 it would have taken to get her a Mac Mini, so that we wouldn't have to worry about any of these things.)

So, being that I'm not a Windows user, what do I need to know, and what software should I be getting for her. She has Norton Antivirus already, but I know I'm going to need things beyond that, like pop-up blockers or spyware protectors or that kind of stuff. I'm going to hopefully get her in the habit of using FireFox, so that will at least be one step in the right direction.

What basis do I need to cover, what software do I need to go download? If there is good stuff that is also free stuff, that would be great. Also, beyond virus, pop-up, and spyware protection, is there anything else I need to keep in mind when getting her set up?

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/s...ad.php?t=37351

i use avast! for antivirus and the ms anti-spyware for the other stuff. its a helluva lot better than ad-aware and spybot together.

1. Don't use IE unless necessary.
2. Don't run as an administrator.

Windows has automatic updates and the firewall turned on by default, as long as you follow the two rules above you shouldn't have a problem.

All new pc installs I do include the following,

Fully updated!!!
Firewall and Auto updates on
Free AVG antivirus
MS Anti Spyware
Firefox
Google toolbar -in case they must use IE



And for the love of all that is good in the world, if on broadband get a linksys firewall or the like.

I pretty much do what JMET does, followed by the BlackViper tweaks.

See, whenever I hear people talking about protecting their PC, it scares the crap out of me. I'm used to turning the computer on, maybe starting OS X's firewall, and being done with it.

Thanks for the advice, and the link to the other thread - I tried to do a bit of searching, but wasn't exactly sure what to look for.

OS X was recently compromised too so watch out for them.

There has yet to be an actual, in-the-wild compromise running around out there. Everything so far has been, "Well, you could do this..."

One of the great things on being on a minority OS - most people don't care enough about you to try to screw you up.

Apple's issued plenty of security fixes when they discovered people could run code on your system by exploiting Safari and other programs. People should take precautions no matter what they're using, most of it's common sense.

the windows flaws and scares are only bad if somebody is a complete moron. treat your computer like you treat anything else and the normal person "should" be fine.