Recommendations
Antivirus
AVG from Grisoft. It’s fast, it works, and best of all, it’s free. The only thing you lose out on compared to the paid-for version is the ability to create your own custom schedules, and your updates run off of a slower set of servers. I’ve also been really happy with the antivirus software from TrendMicro, and Avast.
On the Mac side, I’d stay away from both of the Norton and McAffee products. Both have a reputation for causing weirdness that should have also been earned on the Windows side as well (I’ve run into some totally showstopping bugs over the last few years). If you NEED an antivirus there is a graphically-driven version of ClamAV for the mac that is free, and will scan files.
Routers
For home gear I would generally recommend stuff from Linksys. Their stuff seems to generally work more reliably than equipment from Netgear or D-link (though they generally also work well), and it is readily available. It also tends to upgrade fairly easy.
Wireless
If you’re willing to spend the extra money, the Airport WAP/routers from Apple are high-quality pieces of equipment with excellent security, signal strength, and ease-of-setup features, as well as allowing their use as a repeater, and a decent Windows/Mac print server for USB printers. The repeater functionality is especially slick and well done. Otherwise, I’d usually go for a Linksys.
Browsers
Windows: IE7 is a huge improvement in many ways. It is somewhat safer from hijackings, has tabs for browsing, and best of all for all too many people I’ve known, finally fixes a printing bug that would cut off the right side of wider web pages.
That said, in combination with all of the various security updates and antispyware and firewalls and such, Windows starts running like a crippled turtle with IE7 on it unless you have a lot of RAM. 512MB, even 756MB, no longer cuts the mustard.
So if you want a browser that won’t punish your system as much, and is still more secure, nevermind more extensible, do yourself a favor and use Firefox wherever you can.
Mac: A matter of taste. While there are other good options available such as Camino, you really can’t go wrong with either the built-in Safari, and Firefox for those occasions where Safari just won’t work, or vice versa. Firefox is slower but far more flexible, and on the newer intel-based Macs, the differences are far less noticeable.
Memory
As much as is humanly possible. Neither an up-to–date copy of XP nor OSX run comfortably with less than a gigabyte of RAM. Check out 8004memory.com for good prices and a great return policy. Another good place to check out is crucial at crucial.com.
