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Trojan horses, malware, viruses, spam and hack attacks, they have all joined their forces to break into our systems. Because of that, security companies from all over the world struggled to build new solutions or to update the existing ones, just to prove the consumers that, somewhere beyond these attacks, there's someone who can protect them.

Many people think that installing an antivirus application is enough to protect the computer, but it has been proved several times that a simple Trojan horse can easily invade your system and access your sensitive information. All they need is a software vulnerability, which could be used for connecting to the computer and executing a malicious file. From this point, it's all up to the attacker.

I guess we have all understood that an antivirus solution is not enough to defend a vulnerable system. So, what do we need to be sure that an unauthorized person is not able to compromise our system? Well, there are several applications that must be installed on a computer in order to be sure that there's no way to access the data: an antivirus application, an anti-spyware product, a firewall, a anti-spam filter and a secure browser. Easy as that!

As 2007 was one of those years full of threats, I've decided to present you some of the best applications in each category, many of them being rated by security experts as top products in their side of the industry. So, enjoy reading and check out the pictures attached under every application to see it in action.

Part One - Long Live the Antivirus Solutions!

Sophos Antivirus is one of the good guys on the security market. It has been rated as one of the most powerful and most efficient antivirus application ever created as it was able to detect and block an impressive percentage of unknown menace. It even managed to beat other top and famous companies such as Symantec, McAfee, Kaspersky or ESET. Discovering no less than 80 percent of the new infections included in the test, it's obvious that Sophos Antivirus would be one of those solutions able to defend your extremely important information.

Kasperksy Antivirus has always been regarded as one of the top antivirus products on the market as it includes excellent detection features providing a pretty smooth performance on most computer configurations. The application comes in several flavors for both individual computers and workstations, so it shouldn't be a problem to install it on your system. Even the security researchers admitted that Kaspersky Antivirus is pretty efficient when it comes to blocking computer infections. For example, Kaspersky Antivirus 7.0 achieved the highest certification in the latest AV-Comparatives tests which underline the efficiency of the application.

ZoneAlarm is an application currently installed on million of computers from all over the world, because it's pretty popular on the firewall market. Check Point, the developer of the application, described ZoneAlarm as "The best free firewall on the planet" and many users really believe it. "ZoneAlarm is FREE for individual and not-for-profit charitable entity use (excluding governmental entities and educational institutions)", is the phrase which attracts everyone's attention. This means you can use the application without any limitation as long as you install it on your home computer.

Comodo Firewall is probably the most powerful ZoneAlarm rival as it is available for free and contains lots of powerful features which may help you protect your computer. As you can see, it comes with an eye-candy interface but in case you're not an advanced user, you may found it pretty difficult to use.

Windows Defender works amazingly easy and scans your computer in a matter of seconds. As you can see in the next pictures, the Microsoft security solution allows you to scan your computer for spyware threats, but it is also able to analyze the running process to see if there's anything suspect in your system. The preferences menus are quite rich and provide lots of options for configuring the application. In addition, you get a history function which helps you track a certain suspect file found on the computer.

AntispamSniper seems to be the perfect solution for every computer user out there. Being developed by GoodVein, AntispamSniper comes in several flavors available for TheBat!, Outlook, Outlook Express and Windows Mail. 'Too bad this program doesn't work with Mozilla Thunderbird!' you may say. Well, this is the only major problem of the application because AntispamSniper works quite fine. Beside lots of filtering rules and statistics supposed to let you analyze the email traffic, AntispamSniper comes with an impressive attachment policy which enables to block malicious files from reaching your computer.