Antivirus

Microsoft Security Essentials is a great free option. Others include AVG and Avast.

ESET's Nod 32 is Leo's pick among the paid antivirus programs. (Disclaimer: ESET is a sponsor).

In theory, a cell phone would be an excellent target for bad guys (especially with an open OS like Android). It's always on, people download random apps all the time, and it could be used to send out texts to others soliciting sites that would make the bad guy a lot of money. But they aren't often hacked. Leo can only attribute this to the fact that cell phone software engineers are aware of this and do more to protect users than desktop developers. Google also does a pretty good job of ridding the Google Play store of malicious apps.

There are several reasons why System Restore may not be working:

Leo says he doesn't need to run both. Stopzilla is not antivirus either, it's just anti-spyware software. He should uninstall Stopzilla which may not be easy. He should carefully read their support page on how to uninstall it. Spyware is old hat, what he really would want is an anti-malware tool. In fact, Stopzilla could also be the problem with accessing his email attachments. Simply Google "uninstall Stopzilla" and he should find a comprehensive step-by-step to get rid of this.

No. The iPad is very secure because it’s a closed system. Apple has to approve all apps so it’s a lot harder to get a virus past the gatekeepers. You also can’t put your own files on it and apps can’t talk to each other by design. In addition, both Apple and Google have a “kill switch” to remove suspect apps should they discover anything malicious about it. On the Android side there is a free program called LookOut, but Leo doesn't know of anything for iOS.

The truth is the Mac is just as vulnerable, but there are far fewer viruses out for them. Leo's general rule of thumb is that Macs tend to be better home computers while Windows is better for businesses. The other thing Windows is really good for is gaming, although the Mac is catching up as a gaming platform. Unless there's specific applications that Gary may need, Leo recommends that he go with a Mac. Because the Mac is less of a target to hackers, he won't have to worry about security as much.