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Black Friday is almost upon us, and the steep hardware discounts mean new computers for many. To help you during these tough economic times, we've refreshed the Download.com Security Starter Kit for 2010. Although nothing can replace common-sense browsing, this collection of freeware security tools will help you protect new machines and old from pernicious threats, large and small. Longtime readers will notice that in addition to changing up our recommended antivirus program, we've fleshed out the Web browsing safety category, and made other changes as well. If you're looking for more than freeware security programs, check out the CNET Download.com Windows Starter Kit for 2010.

In this year's version, you can expect to see Avast chosen ahead of AntiVir as our most favored antivirus app. Despite its odd interface, Avast scored higher than any other freeware antivirus in a third-party test, and it doesn't skimp on protection, either, with e-mail, network, rootkit, and behavioral guards along with its top-rated virus protections.

We're still recommending Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for spyware removal, but we've also added PC Tools' standalone ThreatFire as an excellent way to strengthen behavioral detections and prevent spyware from infecting you in the first place. Recent improvements to the program have made it incredibly light on resources, and in our days of empirical testing we didn't notice it slowing down our computers at all.

New this year is the expanded in-browser security category. We've recommended five browsing tools that are available as add-ons, and we took care to make sure that they applied to as many of the major browsers as possible. However, Firefox's deep add-on toolbox makes it naturally the browser with the most diverse collection of security tools, so expect to see it heavily, although not exclusively, represented.

PC Tools' ThreatFire.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Firewalls used to be the forefront of security, but now they're just another tool you should have. Microsoft has made the native Windows 7 firewall impressively useful, but we realize that not everybody has Windows 7, and even those who do might want an alternative. This year, Online Armor joins Comodo on the list.

In Encryption, TrueCrypt remains the gold standard. The Thunderbird extension Enigmail joins it as a must-have tool for keeping your private e-mails as you intended them--away from prying eyes. In Parental Control, we've added OnlineFamily.Norton. It's not strictly desktop based, although to use it you must use its desktop hook, called Norton Safety Minder. Symantec has created what looks to be a unique and free approach that includes an emphasis on parental education and attempts to foster parent-child communication about how to use the Internet safely. We're of the opinion that anything that helps parents realize that browsing the Internet is far more than a TV with options is a good thing.

If you disagree with our security and safety choices for the Security Starter Kit, please let us know in the comments below.

One of the biggest frustrations for most people upgrading their systems to Windows 7 is that what Microsoft calls a "custom upgrade" is nothing less than a full system install. Some Windows Vista users won't have to reinstall their programs after upgrading, but many will and all Windows XP users will, too. Here's where LapLink's PCmover Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant steps in.

PCmover Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant will transfer most of your programs, settings, and files, but it will take a several hours.

(Credit: LapLink)

For $30, LapLink will pack up your programs, settings, and data, store them as you upgrade to Windows 7, and then reinstall them using its proprietary VAN file format. The process is simple, says LapLink: install and run the upgrade assistant, upgrade to Windows 7, then reinstall PCmover and restore your programs and settings.

While that's the gist of the process, it's not quite as simple. Reading LapLink's Quick Start PDF guide (PDF download) is a must. PCmover requires 200 MB of hard disk space in addition to the 16 GB that Windows 7 will need, and you'll probably have to reboot your computer. If you don't regularly run your antivirus program, you'll need to do that, and it's a good idea to run your defragger as well. Users will need to turn off their screensavers and power management options should all be set to Never. If the computer hibernates or goes to sleep during the upgrade, it will damage the process.

The guide recommends using the Windows Task Scheduler to make sure that all scheduled tasks and programs have been disabled, and warns that you should disable your security programs. If you're not comfortable performing this kind of maintenance on your computer, PCmover is definitely not for you. ... Read more

Over the weekend, CNET ran an unscientific poll inquiring about the level of difficulty in your Windows 7 upgrade experience, and the response we received was undoubtedly strong. Nearly 11,000 people voted, and more than 50 percent of you said your Windows 7 upgrade experience was as easy as pie. (And who doesn't love pie?)

We asked people to rate their upgrade experience from one to five, with one being the easiest and five being the hardest. A total of 5,492 people evaluated the upgrade experience as a one, but the second-most popular answer, at 16 percent, was five, indicating an unnecessarily hard upgrade. Sticking with the pie analogy, that's basically having to do all the cleaning up without getting to eat any.

The third-most popular answer was two, indicating a fairly easy but not flawless upgrade process for 14 percent of voters. The three answer garnered 8 percent of the vote, with 927 votes, and four scored 809 votes, for 7 percent.

Combining the two extremes, then, we can see that more than two-thirds of voters said upgrading was easy or fairly easy, while less than a quarter said the process was hard or unnecessarily difficult. Compared to what most people remember from their Vista experience, that's a dramatic, if anecdotal, change.

If you're planning on upgrading but haven't yet, there are several tools and links that Microsoft has provided to make the change easier. Microsoft has published guides to upgrading from XP to Windows 7 and from Vista to Windows 7, and it has also rounded up its upgrade and installation FAQs onto one convenient page.

The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor is a useful tool for evaluating your current hardware situation, and it gives you a "Windows experience" rating so you can decide whether it can handle Windows 7 before you buy. Windows Easy Transfer will help most users migrate their files and settings, though there have been reports of not all settings getting moved smoothly. It won't migrate programs.

Last weekend we ran a casual, unscientific poll asking what your plans were for Windows 7. It closed Monday morning, but because of the overwhelming response, we decided to reopen it until today. Out of the 13,108 readers who voted, 59 percent (7,669) of you said that you were going to upgrade from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7.

So, for those of you who are upgrading an older version of Windows to Windows 7 this weekend, we'd like you to rank your experience for us in a new poll posted below. Please share both your horror stories and your tales of easy installation in the comments. The new poll will close Monday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. Pacific time.

The remaining results from previous poll were mostly unsurprising. Fourteen percent, or 1,856 voters, said that they were planning on buying a new computer with Windows 7 already installed. Slightly more of you, 2,146 respondents (16 percent), said they had no plans to change computers or upgrade at the moment. A small but not insignificant percentage, 865 voters, said that they were going to switch to a Mac or a Linux computer.

After we reopened the poll on Monday afternoon, we added two questions by popular demand. Less than one percent of voters said they were going to switch from a Mac or Linux computer to Windows 7, while 454 people (3 percent) said that they already had a Mac or Linux computer and were planning on also using Windows 7.

What these numbers confirmed is that a majority of current Windows users will be upgrading current systems, meaning that most people not only believe that their hardware can adequately run Windows 7, but also that they can comfortably perform the upgrade themselves. However, sizable minorities will either be buying Windows 7 fresh or ignoring it entirely, while a tiny group will be using it as an excuse to abandon ship.

The PortableApps Suite is a storehouse and management system for "portable" versions of some of the most popular freeware around. That collection used to be limited only to open-source programs. But on Wednesday it started making portable versions of closed-source freeware to users. The first batch of portable freeware includes Web browser Google Chrome, VoIP client Skype, BitTorrent client uTorrent, antispyware tool SpyDLLRemover, and three others at the time of writing. The new portable versions of these programs work both independently and in tandem with the PortableApps suite.

In a statement published on its Web site, PortableApps.com founder and CEO John Haller said that PortableApps "remains committed" to open-source software, but that closed-source freeware publishers would find other venues for USB stick-friendly versions of their programs if PortableApps didn't open its doors to them. For users that want to support only open-source programs, he said that the PortableApps directory will soon be filterable.

PortableApps is also planning to accept portable versions of commercial software, although it hasn't announced a timeline yet. Readers can check on the latest updates to the PortableApps catalog at their Web site, although we do host most of them at Download.com as well.

Generally, I've been a big fan of Windows 7. From the beta to the release candidate to the release-to-manufacturing "official" release, upgrading has been a stable, sane experience. Except for two repeated problems, that is.

From the Devices and Printers window, you can see that double-clicking on a device does not guarantee that Device Stage supports it. Also, notice the lack of driver support for the Ericsson mobile broadband card.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

In some cases, driver compatibility is still an issue. It's not as big as it was with the beta, which suffered from problems that everybody was expecting. However, as you can see from the error warning at the bottom of this image, Ericsson has yet to release a stable driver for the mobile broadband card in my Lenovo T400. The longer that Windows 7 is in the wild, the fewer of these compatibility issues are expected to crop up, but it is notable that there are still some holes that need plugging on the official release day.

Frustratingly, there's not much of a solution at this point. Always run your Windows Update first, and if that doesn't find a fix you can force a driver-specific update search through the Control Panel. Going to the manufacturer's Web site and looking to see if Windows just hasn't detected an official update is the next step, followed by looking for a potentially unstable beta version if you're comfortable with that. You should also check the manufacturer's user forums in case an update was linked to there.

The much-applauded Device Stage is the source of the second snag I've repeatedly encountered. Devices are always detected, but only devices made by manufacturers that have created the requisite XML image files will receive the visually-enhanced Device Stage treatment. Devices such as iPods, iPhones, Zunes, and Windows Mobile phones that have their own manufacturer-made interface experiences won't take advantage of the easy-to-see pictures in the Device Stage, nor will they appear on your taskbar. At least, in my experience they haven't.

Microsoft used to have a list of supported devices on its Web site, but that seems to have disappeared at some point before today. I can confirm that many HP printers are supported, as well as the Sansa Fuze, Clip, Clip+, and View Personal Media Players; the Canon Pixma MP990 Wireless Inkjet Photo All-in-One Printer; the Epson Artisan 800 Wireless Photo All-in-One Printer; and the Sony Walkman E Series and S Series video/MP3 players.

If you can confirm that a specific device works in Device Stage, or if you're having problems with one, please let us know in the comments below.

You like high-profile cage matches? It doesn't get more intense than the operating system that encompasses Microsoft's hopes and dreams, Windows 7, going processor-to-processor against a refreshed and re-invigorated Snow Leopard from Apple. Can Windows 7 move past the failures of its predecessor Vista, or will Snow Leopard turn this into a one-cat fight? See what three CNET editors think of Windows 7 versus Snow Leopard in our latest Prizefight. You better believe it's subjective.

Windows 7's Aero in pictures

Introduced for Vista, the translucent Aero skin has been heavily developed and expanded in Windows 7. See what this key design and interface feature looks like and behaves like in the new operating system.

Windows 7 officially will be released to the public on Thursday, and judging by our poll, most CNET readers have already decided to upgrade. For those who haven't, or for those who want a bit more information on just what you're getting with your Windows 7 Starter, Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate, take a look at the chart and explanation below.

This CNET-produced chart is based on a larger one from Wikipedia.

Windows 7 Starter is the lightweight version of the new operating system that only comes with Netbooks. It's not available for upgrade from Windows XP or Windows Vista, and it's fairly hamstrung. Sixty-four-bit isn't available, and the Backup and Restore Center won't work with network-based drives. It also lacks many of the key features that make Windows 7 appealing. Aero is disabled, as is the new theme manager.

Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player aren't included, and so it shouldn't be surprising that none of the more advanced features is baked in, either. XP Mode, which will allow Windows 7 to run XP-only programs, Remote Desktop Host, BitLocker Drive Encryption, and multitouch support are all not available in Windows 7 Starter.

So just what does Starter offer? Users can pin programs to the Taskbar, and the helpful jump lists remain active, too. Snap still functions for quickly resizing program windows, although it doesn't have its slick Aero look. The revamped Windows Search will work, and other under-the-hood improvements--such as better Wi-Fi and device management--are also fully functional. Users can use the in-place Anytime Upgrade option to buy an upgrade from Starter to Home Premium.

Windosw 7 Home Premium is the basic version that should appeal to most casual users, and retails for $119. Most of the big features that Microsoft wants you to know about are included here. Aero Peek for previewing programs and clearing the desktop, Aero Snap for resizing program windows, and the Aero skin with its translucent Taskbar and window borders are all in full effect. Aero Shake is also enabled, which is a quick way to clear the desktop by clicking and holding down on one program window and lightly shaking, hiding all the other open windows.

Theme switching and customization is activated, and the Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player will allow users to stream video directly to their desktops. Multitouch features are enabled, and Home Premium can be used to create a Home Group, which simplifies sharing music, video, and other files between computers that are all members of the same group. It's also available in 64-bit, but can only support up to 16GB of physical RAM. Home Premium can be upgraded using the Anytime Upgrade to either Professional or Ultimate.

Aero Peek is only available in Windows 7 Home Premium and above.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Although it sounds full-featured, Home Premium definitely offers less than Windows 7 Pro or Windows 7 Ultimate. Location-aware printing, presentation mode, and XP Mode are not available. Neither is BitLocker, AppLocker, the remote desktop host feature, nor Aero glass via remote. AppLocker is the new feature that allows system administrators to restrict program access from the Group Policy settings. You also can't use the Windows 7 Backup and Restore feature to work with network drives, just like Windows 7 Starter. That feature doesn't come in until the Pro version.

Windosw 7 Professional is the power user edition of the new operating system, retailing for $199.99. In addition to all the features in the Home Premium edition, Pro is designed to be flexible for dual use in the home and small business. It will support up to 192GB of physical RAM in 64-bit mode, it supports legacy Windows XP productivity programs via XP Mode, it can work with two physical processors, and it can back up your data to a networked drive. It still lacks the AppLocker and BitLocker features, it can't handle the pretty but superfluous remote Aero glass support, and it lacks the multilingual interface support pack.

Windows 7 Ultimate, retailing for $219.99, supports those features plus virtual hard-disk booting and a subsystem for Unix applications. Although it's possible to conceive of some home uses for Ultimate, the features that separate it from Windows 7 Pro set it in a class that's almost exclusively for intensive international or network use. For most office or home power users, it's not really recommended.

There are several other versions of Windows 7 available. Windows 7 Home Basic is for emerging markets such as Bangladesh, China, India, and Mexico, and places itself between the Starter edition and the Home Premium edition in terms of features. Aero is partially enabled, for example. Windows 7 Enterprise is identical to the Ultimate edition, but is only available via volume licensing. The Europe-only "E" version was going to come without Internet Explorer, but that has changed to the "N" version that lacks the media player.

If you're planning on buying Windows 7, tell us in the comments below which version you're getting.