Is my computer secure (enough)?

Spy wares, Viruses, Hackers, Adware, Tracking cookies....the list is endless. Don't these people have better jobs?

All the above scare me...a little tech savvy guy ;). This question always bugs me...You would like everyone to get on the internet wagon...but how does one have a pleasant experience with all the above mentioned? This one is hard to explain to my mother, who wants get on to the internet to e-mail a few words to her son, without the windows or the internet going down. She is just learning to use the computer. I want to tell her, "It's not your fault". It amazes me that she can do e-mail and Yahoo chat (w/webcam) these days (all by herself, without any external help).

Here is what I did on my home computer.

1. Non-administrative user: I created a "guest" user that I use while I am browsing. When I need to install any programs, I use the Administrator logon.

2. Firewall: I got one from ZoneAlarm. It is pretty good and it auto updates. Free for personal use.

3. Anti-virus: I would like to use McAfee. But they want a yearly subscription for the Auto updates. I used them for 1 year. And I switched to AVG. I have to do a manual update. They frequently update the virus data files. Free for personal use.

4. WinPatrol: I got this from here. This one is a little puppy on my taskbar that watches changes in my registry and browsers. Free for personal use.



5. Adaware: I run this once in a while to check for spyware. Free for personal use.

6. FireFox: I use FireFox. Internet Explorer is so widely used, spywares generally target it. I use it for another reason that I explained in a previous post.



Now let me ask you, Is my computer secure (enough)? (:confused:)