For those who have been looking for a free, effective and easy to use anti-virus/anti-malware program...

 * CLICK HERE for Microsoft Security Essentials (Effective and trouble-free)

Panda Cloud Antivirus (Requires a good Internet connection for best results, may slow your computer somewhat at times)

Avira Antivirus (Highly rated, annoying ads)

Avast Antivirus Home Edition - (Highly rated, only free for personal use)

Beware of pop-ups that that have "falsely" detected infections.  Be familiar with what your antivirus program looks like.  Never respond to pop-ups about viruses unless they are from your antivirus program! (Ctrl + Alt + Del out of those pop-ups)   Never give out personal information when the solicitation is initiated by someone else.  Never put birthdays, phone numbers, and other personal information on social networking sites. Beware of Phishing.

Virus - A computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without the permission or knowledge of the user.

Worm - A computer worm is a self-replicating computer program. It uses a network to send copies of itself to other nodes (computers on the network) and it may do so without any user intervention.

Trojan - The Trojan horse, also known as Trojan, in the context of computing and software, describes a class of computer threats (malware) that appears to perform a desirable function but in fact performs undisclosed malicious functions that allow unauthorized access to the host machine, giving them the ability to save their files on the user's computer or even watch the user's screen and control the computer.  Trojans also have payloads which can be of any the other threats mentioned here and which are usually harmful.

Malware - A portmanteau from the words malicious and software, is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent.

Spyware - A computer software that is installed surreptitiously on a personal computer to intercept or take partial control over the user's interaction with the computer, without the user's informed consent.

*  Make sure you have an updated antivirus (free one)  Microsoft Security Essentials -  Panda Free Cloud Antivirus  - Avira Free -  Avast Free.  Always remember that there are no perfect antivirus solutions! Use Open DNS it blocks threats before they reach your network, (for ATT DSL homes, works with many others too, it does not work with Hugh Net.  It's easy to set up. -- For Hughes Net customers use K-9 content filter.

*  Have an anti-malware program.  Spyware Doctor (Google Pack) -- Malwarebytes (Malwarebytes is not active - good cure, no prevention), Others are available but may have a high degree of "annoyance factor" -- * Online Scanners.  F-Secure -- Trend Micro HouseCall --  BitDefender  --  McAfee Free Scan

*  Back-up your personal data!  Window 7 has it's own backup program, greatly improved over previous versions. Or use the free version of Syncback.  Also consider Online Backup