Recently I switched from my slow-as-molasses dial-up to a fast cable modem. I love it. However since Cable and DSL are always connected to the internet it pretty vulnerable to hackers unlike with the dial up modems. So while you sleep with the computer on {or even off} some evil hacker could be sniffing your computer for vulnerable ports. Believe me, the chances are if you have had a cable modem for 1 year you have probably been port sniffed more than once.
While browsing the internet I stumbled apon a free utility called Zone Alarm. Seeing how I have a cable I decided to give it a whirl. I installed it and was quickly asked alot of {annoying} questions like, " Zone Alarm has detected MS Explorer, would you allow it to connect to the internet?". Don't worry, after that I was {mostly} undisturbed. Was it worth it? Yes. So far its stopped 2 hackers and 1 spyware program trying to run in the background. Best of all its free, so why not be safe? You can use this while playing online games such as Counter-Strike and Quake 3.

Recommended: Yes