Any recommendations for free security software?

Hello

Here are some Anti Virus recommendations.
Avira AntiVir or Avast Home Edition
Please note its is best to only run one anti virus program

I recommend Comodo Free Firewall as your firewall. Its much lighter on you system than ZoneAlarm.

And here are a few Anti Spyware utilities
Spybot Search & Destroy - Uber powerful tool which can search and annhilate nasties that make it onto your system. Now with an Immunize section that will help prevent future infections.

SpywareBlaster - Great prevention tool to keep nasties from installing on your system.

SpywareGuard - Works as a Spyware "Shield" to protect your computer from getting malware in the first place.

IE-SpyAd - puts over 5000 sites in your restricted zone so you'll be protected when you visit innocent-looking sites that aren't actually innocent at all.

Head over to the Freeware replacements For Common Commerical Apps topic for more

You can try the following combination:

Anti-virus: AVG Free Edition (Quite popular)
Firewall: Comodo or Zone Alarm
Anti-spyware:
Super Anti-Spyware (which has been praised quite a lot by many people & itself! You will know what I am talking about if you download it!)
AVG Anti-Spyware
Spybot S&D

I also highly recommend Comodo Firewall Pro for your Machine... It works for both 32bit and 64bit versions off Vista and XP, And is really light on resources (On my Vista machine, running at 2,352K-7,356K)!

I also recommend SUPERAntispyware

Well there are many choices to choose, one place where you can find some is the Freeware replacements For Common Commerical Apps, as Teenage.Zombie had suggested.

I highly recommend the following combination of freeware internet security programs:

Anti-Virus: AVG Anti-Virus (Free Edition)
Anti-Spyware: Spyware Terminator along with SpywareBlaster as-well as Ad-Aware 2007
Anti-Rootkit (Optional): AVG Anti-Rootkit
Firewall: COMODO Firewall PRO

These work great for me, because they get the job done, remove malware efficiently and are not resource hogs . Also, just keep in mind, that no protection is 100% foolproof .

Regards,
David.

for compatibility with which windows version please?

I recommend Avast also...it is a great antispyware....A tip: If you have xp turn on the windows firewall if you don't have windows xp download the free Zone Alarm Freeware...

Windows XP users turn on automatic updates. Thats the extra protection for xp users....

I have windows vista

The programs I recommended all work with Vista so you good to go if you use them.

Kawacan, Avast is an anti-virus program, not an anti-spyware.

And also, it's recommended that you use a third party firewall instead of Windows Xp inbuilt firewall because the Windows one blocks only inbound traffic and not outbound ones. That's what the experts say. Zone Alarm is a good one. Also Comodo.

Turning on Automatic Updates is recommended. I recommend the option 'Download Updates for me, but let me choose when to install them'. For me, by doing this, at least I have an understanding of what I am installing...

I second that opinion. It can get annoying when you are trying to do a task that requires high processing power and you don't work out why your PC goes slow until you notice it is downloading and installing updates without you knowing. Yes it's true that the updates can run in the background without you noticing, except for the part where it slows down your CPU sometimes.

Regards,
David.

I agree with you David. Maybe the 3rd Option might be the right one for some people. Unless they are like me, mostly wandering through the WWW and not involved in a 'high process' requiring job...

Sorry to have to say that I "have" to stay for a while with a freeware antivirus (I mean it is not for pleasure). Then I have been checking several ones. AVG 8 is too heavy for my system; AVG 7.5 that runs lovely has started with the pretty joke to not install the famous shield (so, it's necessary to re start...); Avir is a joke for updating because the line is always occupied; Avasta has a too "original" appearance that I do not like. I think that, by now, the NOD 32 3 is a very good product but it's also too heavy for my current PC. If somebody can tell me the secret to avoid the uninstalling of AVG 7.5's shield it will mean that's obvious the best. Greetings.

What about CCleaner? Many thanks.

Zonealarm, Spybot & Ad-aware are all past it's prime.

This is the kind of software that was recommended 2, 3... 5 years ago! and even more. COMODO Firewall Pro 3, Highly recommended. SUPERAntispyware can take both Spybot & Ad-aware Down, and MalwareBytes' AntiMalware is getting better each release and very activity being updated and developed.

I still recommend Avast! for Free & NOD32 for paid AV.

My Opinion. We aren't living in in 1980 anymore!

CCleaner is a system clean-up tool that removes temp files and other unneeded files. The tool is not a substitute for Anti Malware.

Thanks a lot. Greetings

I also need to be sure that if you use CCleaner, or any registry cleaner application, you are very very very very careful; since the registry cleaner part of CC can be very powerful, unless you are experienced with operating systems and know how to review the candidated deletions, using that part of it can do great harm to your computer.
Cheers,
John

I like so much to see that nice picture of Nietzsche... Actually I have been using CCleaner without troubles but I will stop using the register scanning. I got serious troubles with something like Cleaner 2007 or so, that deleted almost my hair, including the free AVG 7.5. A lot of thanks. Currently I am having troubles with this because of the paroxistic non installing of the resident shield. Many thanks and greeting

I would also recommend CCleaner for cleaning up junk, However don't use the Registry Cleaner please. The best Reg Cleaners would be me and you to be honest.

But the good thing if you want to use the Reg cleaner in CCleaner you can make a back up first. <<Highly Recommended.

Strongly agree. Many thanks.