Firefox

If you are at all concerned about keeping adware and spyware off your computer, then I would seriously consider Firefox.

This free, open-source program is a web browser, similar to Internet Explorer, but it is not as widely used as IE (although it is gaining in popularity), so it doesn't have a lot of the security holes that IE has. In fact, most adware and spyware that comes in through web browsers cannot even install if you are using Firefox.

Another feature that Firefox has that I cannot live without is "tabbed browsing." Right-click on a link and select "Open in a tab" and you will find the page being loaded in the background in a new tab right within your browser (you probably won't see the tabs until you open one). This makes it very handy to read through, for example, news sites, because you can scroll down and open each story you want to read in a new tab, then go back and read each one once you have the tabs open. Also useful when doing web searches, and so on. Only recently did Internet Explorer add this feature with version 7, although you have to have Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista to get it.

There are also nearly 1,000 optional extensions available that can extend the capabilities of the program and nearly 150 themes to change the look of the program. Just go to the "Tools" menu and select "Extensions." There is a link to the extensions on the screen. Then you can sort to your heart's content. You can find everything from a weather toolbar to a built-in FTP client to an egg timer. And no, I'm not kidding on the egg timer.

One nice feature that is built-in to Firefox is a pop-up blocker. I installed an extension on my computer that counts the number of pop-ups blocked. So far, it is up over 7,000 pop-ups in the last year.

I highly, highly, highly recommend Firefox.

Check out the Firefox website