The internet is a glorious and exciting world, but unless you're properly protected with a good antivirus application, it can also be a dangerous one. We've come a long way since the days of Norton, with handfuls of excellent freeware software that can keep your computer safe from malware just as well as their bloated, more expensive counterparts. Earlier this week we asked you to share your favourite antivirus application, and today we're rounding up the five most popular answers. Hit the jump for an overview of the five best antivirus applications.

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Windows only: Ad-Aware, the hard-to-believe-it's-free spyware-cleaning app, has released a beta version that includes full support for Windows Vista and 64-bit platforms. Also included in the upcoming free version is a rootkit removal tool, faster update downloading, and an interface make-over that looks a bit more modern than the blue buttons long-time users are used to. All the ease-of-use and thoroughness that make Ad-Aware's current version part of our Lifehacker Pack of must-have downloads likely apply to this beta, as well. Ad-Aware Beta is a free download, requires a registration and email confirmation to grab.

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Windows only: Cut through the legalese to the meat of software End User License Agreements (EULA) with freeware application, EULAlyzer. To use it, just run the program whenever you're installing a new software, point it at the licence agreement, and EULAlyzer will analyse and flag the most questionable sections of the agreement. No one really wants (or honestly has the time) to read through every EULA they come across, but quickly popping a EULA into this app could save you the trouble of pop-up ads and other third-party spyware and malware you may not realise you're about to install. We've mentioned this freeware, Windows-only app once before, but having just set up a new Windows partition and installed lots of software, I figured it was worth another look.

Windows only: Lock down your PC and prevent unauthorised executable files from running with freeware application Trust-No-Exe. As the computer's administrator, you can set up a whitelist of clean executable files that you will allow to run and selectively block others. Once installed, Trust-No-Exe adds an entry to your Control Panel, from which you can tweak your whitelist and blacklist. If you're heading home to fix your mum and dad's computer for the seventh consecutive year, you might want to add this to your Thanksgiving rescue kit. It's not foolproof, but it could be a worthwhile deterrent. Trust-No-Exe is freeware, Windows only.

Windows XP/2000 only: Software firewall ZoneAlarm is offering free downloads of its basic firewall package with a spyware scanner/cleaner and a year of free updates until 5 p.m. PST today (although you'll get an email with a download link that's valid for a week after that). Program maker Check Point Software claims the free offering is made to coincide with Microsoft's monthly "Patch Tuesday" and the ensuing new vulnerabilities that hackers start working on. Regardless of the piggy-back marketing, ZoneAlarm is an easy-to-use port protector, and a little free spyware protection couldn't hurt either. ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware is a free download for Windows 2000 and XP only.

If you'd like to disable Windows Defender in Vista—perhaps you've got another spyware system that works better— tech blog Nuts and Milk has a dead simple tutorial on how to accomplish this. Here we go: get into Windows Defender, click on Tools->Options, select Administrator Options, and uncheck the Use Windows Defender box. Confirm that you do indeed want to do this, click Close, and you're all set. Wait, you don't have any spyware protection? Never fear— the handy-dandy Lifehacker Pack is here, with plenty of anti-spyware goodness.

In yet another attempt to compete with Google Docs, Adobe has acquired online word processor Buzzword, after today's Microsoft Office Live Workplace announcement. Now who's going to snap up Zoho?