7. RUN A REAL Firewall.
NEVER EVER rely on ANY firewall from Microsoft. I have never seen the Microsoft firewall block anything. And you can be sure it is not going to block any of Microsoft's own spyware shenanigans. After 20 years Microsoft hasn't even been able to create a secure operating system?
Check out some of your firewall options. I also liked the firewall with EZ-Armor

6. Download and run the REAL SpyBot-Search and Destroy.
Check it out at www.safer-networking.org.

Stay away from Spykiller and Spyhunter. The demos run half-way and then require a credit card. They paid various internet search engine companies (like Google and Yahoo) to direct people looking for Spy-Bot to their malicious sites that try to make you think you are getting SpyBot S&D but all you end up getting is their lame products pretending to be SpyBot. Spykiller and Spyhunter are really in the biz of adware, malware and spyware. True to their name, they are hunters of spyware who will use fear to sell their killers of your computer. They get your money, you get nothing but problems.
It's a good idea to download the latest version of SpyBot occasionally as the product improves.
Freeware CWShredder and HiJackThis aren't bad programs to have in your arsenal either.

5. Be sure you have Windows Restore (the feature, not the restore disk or partition), GoBack or some other product that allows you to restore your computer to a day within the last week.

Give it plenty of space to store systems changes, the more space, the more days.

You never know when one of Microsoft's recommended Windows Updates is going to render your computer inoperable. But then again, this may not help. Many of Microsoft's Updates are designed to destroy Windows Restore. Once you update, you can never go back unless you are technical enough (which most people aren't) to do an image backup and restore. Of course if all goes to hell, you can spend another $300 to buy Windows again. Sure, you lose all of your data but as long as Microsoft gets more of your money, they don't care how much pain they've inflicted upon their customers.

4. Turn of automatic updates. Go to windowsupdate.com frequently and check the patches.

Review the patches and if you think they apply to your machine, assess if the known vulnerability has been exploited. I say this because when Microsoft first releases a patch, there is a chance it may do more harm than good. You don't want to be the first one to find this out as there is no support from Microsoft. The more time you can hold off, the more time Microsoft has to fix their broken fixes. By checking the threats and knowing when it was a good time to apply the fix for the Blaster worm, I managed to apply the patch the day before the worm hit and I was spared. Many were not so fortunate.

Beware: Every time you let Windows Update scan your computer, Microsoft also scans your computer for other info. They wrote the system and they can scan your computer for personal info, surfing habits, installed software or anything else their prying and curious eyes want to know about you. It's a Catch 22. Do you want your system repaired from all the holes Microsoft left in it, or do you want to leave those holes open to the hackers? That's the conundrum MS has imposed upon its customers. It's no wonder Macs and Linux are gaining ground. How much pain and costs are the users of Microshaft willing to endure? I reached my limit $4000 ago. I haven't used Microshaft for my home computers for three years now. Two Linux machines and a Mac. I haven't had a problem since and I've saved myself a ton of money and a ton of headaches.

3. NEVER EVER open any email attachments that you are unsure about. Especially if they have extensions such as .vbs, .exe, .pif, .com, .scr, .zip, .eml, double extensions or you do not know the person who sent it. Some may even arrive as being sent from you.
There are a million tactics the tricksters use to lure you into opening attachments or going to malicious websites. The Can Spam act of 2003 that Congress passed actually gives malicious spammers more rights than you have and they now have the right to spam you with junk until they trick you into getting more spyware and viruses on your system.

2. Ordering Products online?

If you do, check to see if your credit card company offers "one-time" or "single-use" charge numbers. You just have to call them to get one before going online and committing to a purchase. This will ensure you don't get caught up in many of the credit card frauds that happen to millions of people every year. Another tip is to use a card that has an expiration date of less than a year. This will only protect you though from companies that impose an automatic annual renewal fee even though you never intended automatic annual renewal.

Read the fine print. Like many of the big chain stores, companies selling things over the internet have policies which allow them to share all of your account data with anyone who will pay them for it OR anyone they are affiliated with. For example: you order some concert tickets online through TicketMaster. If you approve of the purchase, TicketMaster assumes you are authorizing them to give your account information to everyone they do business with. Some of their affiliates may only spam you. But anyone in the chain of employees who have access to this info, many of which are minimum wages earners (or even outsourced, or offshored employees in other countries) can take your credit card info and go on a shopping spree. If you are a victim, the odds are good you can get it fixed if the people who stole it commit a crime within the city of your residence. The criminals know this. Once the fraud crosses a city, county, state or country boundary, you have a BIG problem as U.S. law enforcement totally breaks down. Online shopping is nice and it is easy. But online identity theft is now one of the fastest growing problems in the world. Be careful. If you can pay in person and pay cash, you are safe. If you only make one or two online transactions a year and become a victim, then you at least know where the problem originated. This was my case. But if you buy dozens of products online, when you get hit by fraud, you probably will never know who stole your information and you will be useless in helping the police in Botswana catch the perpetrators.

1. Be careful when typing in links/URLs.

Almost every bad guy out there has taken advantage of the fact that people fat-finger URLs when typing them in. So they buy up domain names that look similar to the most popular names on the internet. This is called typo-squatting. Often the domains look like the real thing. And more often than not, once you click, your machine is infected.