If you’re going to take the whole ‘computer thing’ at all seriously, there are two things you absolutely must do:

• Back up your system with an image file system like True Image
   
• Protect it with a high-quality anti-malware program

I’m going to link you to lots of nifty free tools in these pages, but if you’re trying to do this right, you really need to spend the bucks on a few quality programs.
 

Image Files

Here’s what you probably don’t know.
 

Malware

I’ve tried the various anti-spyware programs (I used ZoneAlarm for years), have tried to ‘trick’ them with worms hidden inside EXE files hidden inside Rar files, and Norton’s the ‘snoopiest’ of the bunch.  It takes a little longer for an in-depth scan of some suspicious files than the other programs, but it always finds the bad guy.

As for system fix-it/cleaner programs, the good ones are all about the same, although it’s to note that Norton Utilities has been around for a lot longer than any of them.  PC Tools is also excellent.

What’s hot about the new Norton 360 program is that it’s a combo of Anti-Virus, Firewall and Utilities, but at the knock-out price of only $79.  If you’re trying to do this right, click on the banner, buy the dang thing, download and install it.  Computer are relatively delicate things, and this purchase is the one single best thing you can do for yours.