Unfortunately that post looks sloppier than what I typed in, but at least it is still readable.
Simple and easy? What’s the guys computing level? Ubuntu Feisty is perfect for a Windows user. No AV or spyware needed!
Depends on what “simple and free” mean. Not requiring any thought or effort, disallowing any frustration or dollar cost, and imposing no learning curve? Can’t be done.
I tell them to keep the system fully patched. They won’t.
A few months ago I used to install NOD32 and Comodo firewall and tell them to use Firefox with NoScript. I tell them exactly how to use it. These are brute easy to use, though only when everything is working.
For totally zero price AVG is the best. Install AVG Anti-Rootkit Free, Anti-Virus Free, and Anti-Spyware Free. Install the Comodo firewall and Firefox with NoScript as above.
Those people WILL open phishing urls.
The AVG Anti-Spyware Free is a development from Ewido, and is probably the best spyware-trojan freeware available. Occasionally SpyBot (the TeaTimer function works well, but can drive the impatient and learning challenged crazy) or Ad-Aware find something that NOD misses.
If you are working through an unsecured WiFi connection do not use a normal browser but instead use Torpark. Torpark puts in a cryptologically secure link to an anonymising server and is secure enough if the file sharing and WiFi hookup are set correctly and one is running a low level password.