This review is meant for every computer user. Below is a short list of free programs that you can locate on the web that will enable your computer to be free of Spyware, Viruses, Spam, and other useless things that tend to slow down your computer. This guide will be short and sweet and will get to the point quickly.... basically a  list of downloadable places, ways to search for older products and so mucho more-o. If you do find this guide useful please make sure to place your vote :-)

There are probably many other programs out there so if you want to look for others just type something like this in to your favorite search engine:

freeware spyware removal

freeware anti virus

freeware spam removal

Free spyware scanning

freeware plugins for ...

...you get the idea.

Also a trick is to find an earlier version of the program (in a search engine) if it is no longer free. Sometimes the older programs will be a good start even though you will most likely not be able to update it. As with all programs make sure you download the correct version for your computer. Sometimes searching the program name like xl0p34.exe will allow you to download vs 3.4 of a program when later versions are no longer free :-(.

(1) Top sites to search for the freeware products :

download.com

tucows.com

freewareweb.com

freewarearena.com

or your favorite search engine like yahoo or msn

(2) for Free virus protection I recommend:

bitdefender free edition

BitDefender Freeware virus scanner for Linux.
Clam AV Freeware, GPL, Linux. Clam AntiVirus is a GPL anti-virus toolkit for UNIX. The main purpose of this software is the integration with mail servers (attachment scanning). The package provides a flexible and scalable multi-threaded daemon, a command line scanner, and a tool for automatic updating via Internet.
ClamWin Freeware, open-source anti-virus program for Windows.
Comodo Anti-Virus Free anti-virus program for Windows.
FProt Free anti-virus software for Linux, FreeBSD and DOS (personal use). Evaluation version for Windows.
HandyBits Free for personal use. Virus 'scanner integrator'. After performing an auto-search for installed virus scanners, it will scan your files using all found installed virus scanners. This can be useful, since some antiviral programs are good for one type of viruses, other programs for other viruses. 

F-PROT anti virus

AVG Free edition

AVAST Antivirus

Antivir Guard - Personal Edition Classic (AntiVir Personal Edition )

I would suggest installing more than one program as some detect what others don't. Also make sure they do not conflict... in other words install them but make sure some have to be manually updated and installed (only one should run in the background).

(3) Antispam

One of the best programs is K9 - justsearch "k9 spam" in your favorite search engine and you will find it. It uses some fancy statistics/probabilities that lead to high accuracy once your email programs are trained. Make sure to read the manual to set up this simple program. Make sure to use the default DNS Blackhole as this will lead to a further reduction in your spam (in the advanced tab make sure to add the following DNS Blackhole : sbl-xbl.spamhaus.org).

Also in the advanced tab click on EDIT where it reads "use a blacklist filter" and add to this the following text:

# Common executable attachments
Body nocase matches :\[Attachment!(gif|exe|bat|cmd|pif|scr|com):

about 99% of spam are gifs that really have no text but instead have pixels, like any other image, and pop up once you open the email. This will place some wanted e-mail in your spam folder BUT, with training, it will prevent many problems in the future and will make your program run almost 90%+.

There are many other programs out here but they have high false positives and  negatives and may eliminate e-mail that you want.

UPDATE: You might start receiving emails that looked like undeliverable emails (usually something like this will appear in the subject header: returned mail, undelivered mail, delivery status notification)  ... most of these are spam from email addresses like: "Mail Delivery Subsystem" or "MAILER-DAEMON..." or "System Administrator". You will notice that the emails often have attachments which are the spam AND often contain viruses so do not open ANY of these emails. Furthermore make sure you indicate these as spam in K9 after you have verified they are not legitimate emails.

Run a spyware program at least every week (or every day if you are so inclined) if you get a bunch of these at any one time.

(4) Spyware programs

Ad-aware v6.0 Build 181

 EasySpywareScanner.com

Spyware Blaster

XP-AntiSpy

Spybot - Search and Destroy

SUPERAntiSpyware

SpywareGuard

Windows Defender - Windows Defender (formerly Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware) detects and removes adware and spyware from your computer

Yahoo Toolbar with anti-spy (an older version... the newer toolbar has a limited Norton utility)

Spyware/Adware Removal & Immunization
Crapware Removal & Immunization Tools - freeware
• Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware - Recommended!
• Ad-Aware SE - Recommended!
• Spybot Search & Destroy - Recommended!
• CWShredder - Removes variants of the CoolWebSearch browser hijacker
• SpywareBlaster - Recommended. Prevents the installation of ActiveX-based spyware.
• SpywareGuard - An anti-virus program scans files before you open them and prevents execution if a virus is detected - SpywareGuard does the same thing, but for spyware.
• Bazooka Adware & Spyware Scanner - Lightning fast scans (gives manual removal instructions).
• IE-Spyad2 - Adds a huge list of sites and domains associated with known advertisers, marketers, and crapware pushers to the Restricted sites zone of Internet Explorer.
• About:Buster - A removal tool for Home Search Assistant, ie;
• KazaaBegone - A Kazaa uninstaller which scans and removes all elements of Kazaa, as well as of the bundled software that comes with it.

(5) Picture viewer for all you ebayers

Hand down the best is:

IRFANVIEW

and it is free free free!!!

Here is a keen way of downloading updates for your windows operated computer. In internet explorer go to TOOLS-->WINDOWS UPDATE.

Now go to and click on where it reads:

"Use Administrator Options" which should appear in the left hand window.

Now scroll down if you need to and locate the following link: "Search the Microsoft Download Center "

Get more updates

Search the Microsoft Download Center
Get downloads for all supported Microsoft products. Downloads are available in over 70 languages.

The download center is fantastic and even has beta products (that can be quarky so be cautious when you download a beta product). A new window should pop up. The new windows media player will show up as well as a beta version of Internet Explorer. If you scroll down further you will find a ton of downloads with even more eye candy.

Remember most if not all of these programs can be found in your favorite search engine or at tucows or download.com.