Question: I recently reinstalled the OS (Windows XP Home) on a friend's heavily spyware/adware infected machine. It appears as though his kids (7 and 11 years I believe) were visiting sites that offered downloads for search bars, screensavers, and "cute" cartoony animations that anyone with safety in mind would never download.

Some of the concerns I noted on the machine were:

* The main account was Administrator
* Expired anti-virus software
* Lack of Windows updates
* Multiple firewalls installed

Basically, I'm looking for a guide for non tech-savvy users that would help them avoid getting infected again.

Answer: 
Here is a simple answer:

> 
> Avoid using the Internet.
> 
> 
> 

And another simple answer:

> 
> Don't install *anything*.
> 
> 
>
Exactly what do your friend and his family use the computer for? It might be that they can do just fine with Ubuntu or some other user-friendly Linux distro, and that would drastically cut down on these problems.

There are mail clients, web browsers, and office suites suitable for home use included in Ubuntu. It would very likely annoy the children by not running games, but your friend might consider that a good idea.

It's very possible that your friend is using something that won't run on Ubuntu, and that there's no good replacement for, of course, and in that case you shouldn't change the OS. However, I know computer users that would be just as happy with it, and your friend might be one.