Best Free Malware Scanner – AVG Rescue – Do you think you have a virus or spyware? Download and run this awesome tool from AVG to create a boot disk which will find bugs and clean your machine. AVG will scan your hard drive before the virus gets a chance to start any of its own services to duck and dodge your existing anti-virus.

Best Free Anti-Virus Software – Microsoft Security Essentials Products like Norton Anti-Virus and McAffee are terrible resource hogs. The only reason they are so pervasive is because they work out deals with Dell, HP, Acer, etc. to bundle trial versions with new PCs. Replace them with top rated anti-virus which happens to be free: AVG, Avast, Avira or our fave Microsoft Security Essentials (MSSE). We prefer MSSE because, unlike AVG, and others it will not nag you to upgrade to the pay version, plus it updates with Windows Automatic Updates. Very cool.

Best Free Anti-Virus for Windows Server – Clamwin AVG and MSSE won`t run on Windows server. Not sure why they do this, but maybe they figure if you can afford a server you can afford their enterprise-level anti-virus solution, Forefront. Personally I`d rather sink those dollars into marketing efforts of lower prices for my customers. So, if you`re both security conscious and frugal like me, download and install an effective open source solution Clamwin

Free Anonymous Web Surfing – Cyber Ghost If you use free open Wi-Fi at hotels and coffee shops you could be exposing your web surfing habits, including password information to hackers, and I use the word hacker generously. Snoopers don`t really have to hack anything – they just run freebie software designed to spy on unsecured networks and can see what you are doing. To prevent this, use a service like Cyber Ghost which will set up a virtual private network (VPN) between you and the Cyber Ghost service thereby encrypting the information passing between your machine and the Wi-Fi connection.

DNS Based Web Security – OpenDNS By changing your routers DNS settings from those of your ISP to those of OpenDNS you`ll be able to control the web sites visited by employees, family, etc. OpenDNS also tracks and known phishing sites and malware sites designed to infect your computer. There are paid-versions for larger companies, but the free offering has incredible value to protect all computers on your network.

Best Password Manager – LastPass LastPass is a highly rated password management utility to help you track passwords and automatically enter them when you access password-protected resources such as web sites. With the average web user having 25 web-based accounts, the majority use only one or two passwords across all of them. LastPass will allow you to create secure passowrds for each without the hassle of remembering every single one of them.