So I run into more and more computers compromised by malware or viruses everyday.  With internet access ubiquitous and with computers connected to the internet 24/7 it's just a matter of time before some malicious hacker attempts to add your home computer to a botnet somewhere in the world.  And staying on top of all the required security updates can be daunting for a typical home user.  Our computers are supposed to make our lives easier, right?  They're not supposed to cause us headaches and give us a night job just keeping them secure.

One free tool that I have found invaluable for home networks is OpenDNS for free content filtering for the everyman.  I recommend this service to every home user.  This amazing service not only protects your computer, but it protects your kids as well by blocking viruses and malware, as well as filtering other yucky content like porn, drug references or other adult contet.  All for free if you're a home user.  They do offer businesses service as well for an incredibly cheap price.

They have great walk throughs on setting it up on their website (http://www.opendns.org), but to summarize, you configure your home router to use OpenDNS servers to resolve internet addresses instead of the DNS servers your ISP provides.  Most users will need to run a small piece of software on one pc on the network to update OpenDns whenever your IP address changes, but it's aslo very easy to set up.

I can't recommend this service enough - I've been using it for several years now.

Here is a great blog post that gives instructions on configuring many different types of home routers:

http://pixiescorner.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/otherusing-opendns-to-filter-unwanted-sites-to-your-home-network/