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What is important is to apply a multi application/level approach to security, no one program will provide 100% protection. However, care must be taken not to install conflicting programs, like installing two resident anti-virus or anti-spyware programs, only one resident and you can add further on-demand programs to act as a back-up on-demand scan.

Probably one of the most important things it to use common sense, many of the infections still come by email attachments or in links to bad web sites in emails, both from unknown or unsolicited (you didn’t ask for it) emails. Don’t click the attachments or links, no matter how attractive it might seem.

Keep your OS, browser, firewall and security software fully up to date.

You might also consider proactive protection, in order to place files in the system folders and create registry entries you need permission. Prevention is much better and theoretically easier than cure.

Whilst browsing or collecting email, etc. if you get infected then the malware by default inherits the same permissions that you have for your user account. So if the user account has administrator rights, the malware has administrator rights and can reap havoc. With limited rights the malware can’t put files in the system folders, create registry entries, etc. This greatly reduces the potential harm that can be done by an undetected or first day virus, etc.

Check out the link to DropMyRights (in my signature below) - Browsing the Web and Reading E-mail Safely as an Administrator. This obviously applies to those NT based OSes that have administrator settings, winNT, win2k, winXP.