A few basic hints for web users.
Firefox or Opera are two free browsers which have far fewer problems than Internet Explorer. They are not tied in as closely with Windows & therefore not subject to so many security vulnerabilities.
In the case of Firefox, there are extensions which add new facilities to the browser including one to help you check your spelling when you post on here.
Ok, since you asked, one for IE too!
Again, free spelling checkers on Internet Explorer
& Firefox.
If you want to give people an email address to get in touch but don’t want them to have your main address, why not sign up for a web mail address from GMail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, or the tons of other free mail providers. As an extra, most will also screen your mail for viruses.
Speaking of virus checkers & firewalls, if you are using Windows XP, it comes with a built-in firewall which is better than nothing, so is worth using. But free firewalls such as Zone Alarm or Outpost are better.
Free anti-virus software such as Avast, EZ Antivirus, Bitdefender, AVG, Antivir are every bit as good as Norton /
MacAfee etc & usually much more stable.
As for protection from spy ware, Microsoft Antispyware, Spybot Search & Destroy or Ad-Aware are all pretty good, you might want to have one or more installed on your system.
Safe online behaviour would include having regularly updated copies of at least one each of the above installed & running on your computer.