Okay, what I want you to do in this thread is to provide the users of this forum with some insight and good tips on how to prevent infections from computer viruses, worms, how to protect your privacy, and so on...
Fell free to suggest antivirus, anti-malware, and firewall softwares. I'll add them as a list. Maybe then this topic will be promoted to sticky and help users to get rid of their problems easily.

1 - If you think you got infected, try this:
(I would recommend you to start your computer in "Safe Mode with Networking", its optional though)

• Run Malwarebytes.
  
• If that doesn't solve it. Run SUPER antispyware.
  
• It that still doesn't solve it, run Combofix
• Wow if that still doesn't solve your problem, then try a system restore by selecting a day prior to infection! (Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore)
• Now pick an(other) antivirus, update it and fully scan your computer. You can choose one from the list posted on this topic.
• Also feel free to try Spybot Search & Destroy: http://www.safer-networking.org/

2 - How to stay Safe While Emailing and Browsing:



Never trust a suspicious email such as the one above.
In case you really want to download one small strange attachment to find out what it really is, don't run it straight away! Even if your antivirus doesn't find it suspicious it can still be a virus, a trojan, a worm, or what have you... Always have your antivirus updated and use a supplementary scanner such as the Clam Antivirus.

My little "secret" to stay safe from strange files is using these two online services that will scan the file against a multiscanner engine and then provide you with the results... Its a really nice concept, try it out:
Virus Total Multi Engine Scanner - http://www.virustotal.com
Jotti Malware Multi Engine Scanner - http://virusscan.jotti.org

Oh and btw, you can still get False Positives in those 2 websites, so consider your file harmful only when MOST antivirus consistently identify it as malicious...

Another great tip for you guys: Always use Sandboxie to run some suspicious files in a controlled virtualization, even if they don't get listed as viruses in those 2 websites, you know, just in case its a new virus, not yet listed.

Most of us often forget about getting a good firewall. Even good Internet Security suites such as Norton Internet Security 2010 fail to provide you with a decent firewall. I suggest you to get Comodo Firewall (its free), and its by far one of the best firewalls I've seen.

Don't use Internet Explorer. By now you should be aware that Internet Explorer could be one of the biggest security holes on your computer. I suggest you to use some of these nice browsers:

If you want fast browsers try Google Chrome, Opera or Safari
If you want extended functionality (tons of addons) and maximum customization then try Mozilla Firefox.


Remember: always play safe. Even if you're using a Mac, or a Linux distribution, you shouldn't trust blindly all of the files, so always double check them before running or sending them to your friends (specially if they're Windows users). ALWAYS BE SUSPICIOUS if you want to stay away from some of the nastiest problems in the IT world.


3 - List of security software:
(please suggest more, I'll keep adding them to the list)


Before picking an antivirus, it might be a good idea to check out some comparatives at http://www.av-comparatives.org/

Free antiviruses:
Clam Antivirus - http://www.clamav.net/lang/pt/about/win32/
Avast free - http://www.avast.com
Avg free - http://free.avg.com
Avira free - http://www.free-av.com/
Microsoft Security essentials - http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
Dr.Web CureIt! - http://www.freedrweb.com/

Paid antiviruses:
Kaspersky - http://www.kaspersky.com
Norton - http://www.symantec.com/
G-data - http://www.gdatasoftware.com/
BitDefender - http://www.bitdefender.com/
Avira - http://www.avira.com/
Panda - http://www.pandasecurity.com/
McAfee - http://www.mcafee.com/

Anti-malware/adware/spyware:
Malwarebytes - http://www.malwarebytes.org/
Combofix - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/comb...o-use-combofix
Ad-aware - http://www.lavasoft.com/
Super Antispyware - http://www.superantispyware.com/
Spybot Search & Destroy - http://www.safer-networking.org/

Online antivirus Scanners:
Virus Total Multi Engine Scanner - http://www.virustotal.com
Jotti Malware Multi Engine Scanner - http://virusscan.jotti.org
BitDefender online scan - http://www.bitdefender.com/scanner/online/free.html
Panda Active Scan - http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeuse...ns/activescan/

Firewalls:
Comodo Firewall - http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/
ZoneAlarm - http://www.zonealarm.com/

Sandbox Virtualization:
Sandboxie - http://www.sandboxie.com/

Anti-spam:
SpamAssassin - http://spamassassin.apache.org/

Encryption & Privacy tools:
TrueCrypt - http://www.truecrypt.org/
TOR - http://www.torproject.org/download.html.en
PGP keys - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy
OpenDNS (secure DNS servers) - http://www.opendns.com/
Disk Wipe (permanently wipes your HDD) - http://www.diskwipe.org/

Recover damaged disks, lost partitions and erased files
TestDisk - http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
Recuva - http://www.piriform.com/recuva

Bootable Recovery CD's
UBCD4Win - http://www.ubcd4win.com/
Hiren's BootCD - http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd
SARDU (Multiple tools/ boot using USB flash) - http://www.sarducd.it/
Supergrub Disk (fix your boot) - http://www.supergrubdisk.org/
Dban (permanently wipes your HDD) - http://www.dban.org/
Dr. Web Live CD - http://www.freedrweb.com/livecd/

Last update: (check edit date below)

Very, VERY informative thread.

+rep.

Sticky-ing this

Good information for EVERYONE.

EDIT: I find myself clicking +rep for Genki a lot on this board, only to be confronted with the "Must spread out rep more" message

i got the same message Jak, he's a very helpful guy as it would show. i agree with this thread because more people need to be informed on how to deal with problems themselves rather than pay a tech to do the work which they have to pay a large amount of money when they're done. where as they could have just taken the time to use a bit of this thread to fix the problem.

none of this stuff is that hard to do either all it really takes is a bit of reading then doing what you read.

anti virus programs are pretty straight forward honestly, but some people still need help and reassurance in knowing they've actually fixed the problem i guess..

Also Comodo has a antivirus. It's free. http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/free-download.html
I found out when i was DL'ing their firewall.

Their firewall is really good... But I don't know about the antivirus, though. I wouldn't trust it before reading a nice review and a comparative.