PC Maintenance and Security

1.Blocking Spam in Yahoo! Email
I started with a Yahoo email address and I now receive so much spam in that email account.  After a while, I decided to open another email address under Hotmail.  In the video I learned how to clean up some of the spam I receive in that email account.  However, I wish that I would have known the differences between hotmail and yahoo when I first opened with email addresses.  Hotmail offers an option that lets you only receive emails from people in your contact list.  I wish that I would have just started with one email address and set that preference.  Then I wouldn't have had to open a new email to send back and forth with my family.  I was surprised that yahoo did not offer that same option.  Currently, I have an email address that I use when I have to give an email address and one that I use for "secure" things and it is sometime annoying to have to go back and forth. 
2.  Mozilla Firefox
Currently, I use Internet Explorer, but I have used Firefox in the past.  A while back, it was advised to use Firefox because of a virus on Internet Explorer.  Through the tutorials, I learned that it is a bit safer to use because of the settings.  However, I am surprised at how fast I went back to IE after "things were better."  I am willing to subject my internet safety for convience and what I know better.  I wish that I would have just made the conversion and not gone back.  Eventually, I would have become accustomed to the change, but I just didn't have the patience to out-last the learning curve.  I am always amazed at how we let our comfort zone get the best of us when it comes to internet security.  I think I will try to make the conversion again. 
3.  msconfig/windows clearnup!
Through a few different tutorials, I learned a lot about cleaning up my computer to make it faster.  There were some things that I already knew but don't do often enough.  Currently, we have a desktop and two laptops.  The desktop is so unbelievably slow that I hate gettting on it, but I work better in the separate room at the desk.  It the best working environment, but the WORST computer.  I had never hear of windows cleanup! but I am excited to use it and all the other FREE STUFF that I didn't know about on the internet.  I was surprised at the number of free things for clean up and security (firewall and malware).