Sandboxie

I could not live without Sandboxie. I recommend this to anyone who uses the internet often. Running your browser in Sandboxie means that all malicious software downloaded by the browser is trapped in the sandbox. As soon as you close down the sandbox, the malicious software is completely gone.

Sandboxie also provides (quoted from site):

- Enhanced Privacy: Browsing history, cookies, and cached temporary files collected while Web browsing stay in the sandbox and don't leak into Windows.

- Secure E-mail: Viruses and other malicious software that might be hiding in your email can't break out of the sandbox and can't infect your real system.

- Windows Stays Lean: Prevent wear-and-tear in Windows by installing software into an isolated sandbox.

I've used the virtual space of Sandboxie to surf (and open email) in for many years now. If not I would have had already tons of malware on my notebook. Especially what you get by visiting hacked or fraudulent websites. The "drive by" picked up malware. Of course most of it would probably have been detected by my anti-malware software, but maybe not all of it.

This is how it works: http://www.sandboxie.com/index.php?HowItWorks

For a long time I utilized the excellent free version, but finally paid for a life-long license, as it offers the option to set it to do a few things automatically. I just had gotten lazy... so I saved myself from having to click a few times every time. But the free version is otherwise the same as the paid version.

The free one is still available I just found out on the Sandboxie forum:
http://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=*******&p=*******&hilit=free#p*******

Highly recommended.