Beirut,

That's actually not really my field of specialisation, seeing as I've using things other than Windows for some time now. My general setup whenever I install XP to play games or whatnot is:
  • Avast!
  • Firefox
    • Adblock
    • NoScript
    • CookieSafe
  • No flash


I am behind a router, which acts as a firewall, and I've not had any viruses with it for quite a while - however, this is with very sane browsing. Whether such a system could hold up to a stress-test is hard to say.

There is a method that I intend to try out next time I install, which works by "freezing" your files into the state they are, and only allowing the changes you want to actually be saved. For instance, any changes to .exe files can immediately be considered bad - those files just aren't meant to be modified.