free utilities

my friend graig was asking me today about some free spyware removal utilities. i made a few suggestions to him of my favorites.

free avg
avg is an anti-virus program. it's great. i have been using it regularly for a couple of years. there is no need to pay for symantec and mcafee when there are better alternatives. it is small and doesn't use a lot of your systems processes. not too mention it works just as well.

spyware removal
there a couple you should use. each works well but each also will find things the others might not. if you have some major spyware issues try all three.
AdAware this is my personal favorite and the one i use the most. it provides you with a level of the threat, gives you an easy way to remove them.
spybot from safer networkinganother good removal tool.
and last but not least is microsoft's defender. again it is free, but is still in beta. i haven't experienced any issues with it. the full version will likely be included in MS' new OS, Vista.

CCleaner
this little utility will clean out your computer. it removes unused files from your system to help your computer run smooth. it will clean the reigstry, internet files, old .tmp files, and remove anything left behind after uninstalling a program.

and finally for a better internet experience use firefox. it's an alternative web pbrowser to internet explorer. without going into the details it is safer, not allowing web pages to install software without your permission. it loads pages faster and gives you more ways to customize it. try it out.