For more information, see the articles on our overview page. Someone somewhere is always creating a new virus, worm, trojan horse or another new way to break through a firewall.
Most Internet users can achieve a reasonable level of security at low cost.
At a minimum, you also need anti-virus software to provide a reasonable level of security. You may also want software for email encryption, trojan detection and removal, VPN for telecommuters, cookie manager or cleaner, ad blocker, personal data privacy, and parental controls for content filtering. Many, but not all, of these features are offered by the Norton Internet Security Family Edition and by McAfee Internet Guard Dog Pro software suites. Links to separate programs for each of these types of security are provided on our freeware page. You should also consider one if you use a dial-up Internet connection for hours at a time.