So you’ve upgraded to Vista or got it with a new PC. Main applications apart, what else do you need?

In this feature we’ll look at Vista’s capabilities in the fields of security, disk management, file management, internet and system tools. In each category we suggest software that fills some of the gaps in Vista.

We’ve tested each of our suggestions on Vista (Ultimate, 32-bit) and found no significant problems. Unless stated, all these programs can be found at www.pcw.co.uk/downloads. Many are free for personal use and all the rest offer a free trial or demo version.

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Anti-virus
Anti-virus software isn’t included with Vista but it is essential. Some of the best anti-virus applications are free for personal use. A good anti-virus package should be efficient, unobtrusive and keep itself up to date with the latest threats. We find the free version of AVG meets these criteria admirably.

It’s strictly for non-commercial use and low on frills, but it monitors incoming and outgoing mail, scans your system periodically and keeps itself up to date with a minimum of fuss. Various pay-for versions add free 24-hour technical support, Spyware and Spam protection, and a firewall. Also worth considering are Avast! Home, Avira Antivir Personal Edition (both free) and Kaspersky Anti-Virus, for £24.

Anti-spyware and adware
Spyware collects personal information from your PC and Adware serves you unwanted advertisements. While not classed as viruses, they can change your browser’s home page or your default search engine.

Windows Defender is an integral part of Vista and provides real-time protection against malware trying to install itself, as well as a tool for removing existing infections. It also monitors programs that start up with Windows. Spyware definitions need to be kept up to date and Microsoft offers optional membership of Spynet – a community to monitor and compare new threats.

We were unimpressed when we reviewed the XP version and some analysts maintain that the original Vista Defender stops only 16 per cent of spyware. You can use more than one Spyware eliminator – often one may catch malware that another has missed. We recommend the veteran battler Spybot Search and Destroy. This not only has an excellent reputation for rooting out Spyware but also includes tools to immunise and preserve system settings.

Another highly reputed Anti-Spyware product is Lavasoft Adaware 2007. At the time of writing, it was not ‘Vista Ready’ but appeared to work correctly.

Firewall
The Vista firewall, like its predecessor in XP SP2, is all most users will ever need. Unlike the XP firewall, it offers outbound protection, so malware can be prevented from opening a ‘back door’ to a hacker. However configuring the outbound protection is extremely complicated.

The free version of Zone Alarm for Vista is much easier to configure. Mostly, all you have to do is respond to alerts, of which Zone Alarm produces two sorts. Firewall alerts appear when unauthorised contacts are attempted from outside. These are automatically blocked and you can turn the alerts off and protection will continue.

Program control alerts report outgoing calls that could be a result of malware or a virus. You can override an alert if you know the program to be safe and it will then be added to a list of permitted programs. You can easily alter the permissions from the list. Our only quibble with Zone Alarm was that it didn’t recognize our Antivirus program, AVG.