Keeping your system secure

I recently switched over to Broadband. With Broadband comes an increased threat of virus and spyware infections. True to my fears, my system started behaving erratically within days of going 'always-on'. Cornered, I decide to embark on this expedition to secure my system against all the dreadful stuff doing the rounds on the Internet. Here are my recommendations -

(a) A good Firewall: From what I have heard, Zone Alarm is a b'ful free firewall program. I opted for the 90 days Trial version of Norton Internet Security 2005, though. It comes with a time-tested personal firewall solution.

(b) An Anti-virus: Now, where have we heard this before. ;) Trend Micro has a decent free AV for offering. I personally recommend, Norton AV, if u have the money to shell out, that is.

(c) An Anti-spyware program: Get two of these in fact. While two AVs behave like two wives in one house, two anti-spyware programs work like comrades-in-arms in protecting your system. I would recommend Spybot S and D and Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta. I am running Spybot S and D alone at present. Why? Cause I use Windows 98 SE and MAS Beta, unfortunately, only supports Windows 2K and XP platforms.

(d) An Anti-spam solution: Haven't configured any mail client on my system as yet. But, most web-based mail services do seem to have good spam filters in place. On a different note, NIS 2005, comes bundled with a Anti-spam software.

So, right now the burden of protecting my system rests on the tried and tested shoulders of - NIS 2005 and Spybot S and D. And trust me, I 'zealously' update these two software with the latest definitions every week.

P.S -

I had some doubts about the anti-spyware defintions update capability of MAS Beta 1. The following articles made a believer out of me, though -

http://malektips.com/microsoft_antispyware_0011.html

http://snipurl.com/fqur