Seen a lot of posts about looking for security aps for windows, thought I would post a small one here. Anyone wishes to add to this and possibly make it a sticky be my guest 
Anti-Virus
Everyone basically needs one of these, here’s a few in no particular order.
1)Symantec Norton Anti-Virus www.symantec.com (not free, but a solid A/V)
2)McAfee Anti-Virus www.mcafee.com (not free, but a solid A/V)
3)Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus www.grisoft.com (solid one, free version available)
4)Alwil Avast! Anti-Virus www.avast.com (very solid, free home version available)
5)Panda Anti-Virus www.pandasoftware.com (another solid A/V)
Firewalls
This is a must anymore, especially if you run broadband internet
1)Zonelabs Zone Alarm www.zonelabs.com (Very good Firewall, free version available)
2)Norton Firewall www.symantec.com (very basic firewall much like windows xp firewall)
3)McAfee Firewall www.mcafee.com (very basic firewall like Norton)
Trojan Scanners
Most anti-viruses scan for trojans, but there are some very sneaky ones needing a scanner designed for it. Only one I have to mention here, Moosoft’s The Cleaner www.moosoft.com (30 day free eval) run it once a week myself.
Spyware/Malware
This is big worry anymore with quite a few offerings
1)Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware SE Personal or Pro www.lavasoft.com (international) www.lavasoftusa.com (US) www.lavasoft.de (Europe) One of the top 3 available
2)Safer Networking’s Spybot Search and Destroy www.safernetworking.com excellent free spyware remover loaded with features including a resident scanner, and can immunize Internet Explorer to keep spyware out, run alongside Ad-Aware and spyware is no worries
3)Microsoft’s Anti-Spyware Beta (Formerly GIANT Anti-Spyware Beta http://download.microsoft.com not a big MS fan myself but have to give credit on this one, runs resident, immunizes IE, schedules daily or weekly scans, and keeps itself updated automatically, even has Internet Track Erasers, anti-browser hijacks, the works #1 on the list.
Combination Packages
1)Symantec’s Norton Internet Security www.symantec.com (Anti-Virus, Firewall and couple others in one)
2)McAfee Internet Security www.mcafee.com (Anti-Virus, Firewall, and couple others)
3)Zonelabs Zone Alarm Pro with Anti-virus and spyware protection www.zonelabs.com (Zonelabs’s excellent firewall package with pluged in anti-virus and spyware protection)
Browser Hijacks
This is also getting to be a real nuisance, yet there are programs to fix this
1)Hijackthis. can be found at www.tucows.com www.download.com www.majorgeeks.com . This is a registry scanner in truth, but it does detect browser hijacks this and a way to fix it.
2)MS Anti-Spyware Beta (see link above) can reset browser hijacks back to IE default, the ms website, then set IE back to what you had.
Registry
The windows registry is essential to it running, and many times after installing and removing applications, files, etc it starts getting fat, plus, a good cracker can hijack a computer, get into this database and really hose things up. Enter registry scanner/cleaners that help maintain a healthy registry.
1)V-Com’s Fix-it Utilities www.v-com.com has an excellent registry mechanic app
2)PC-Tool’s Registry Mechanic www.pctools.com is another excellent registry fixer
3)MaceCraft’s jv16 powertools www.macecraft.com this one has everything but the kitchen sink when comes to the windows registry including a scanner/cleaner, startup list, listing of installed software, an uninstall app, file and temporary file tool, etc a very solid app.
/edit Sygate error fixed, thanks there Droid
