Secure Windows Vista (the hard way)
There are 2 roads you could take to secure your beloved Vista. You could download the shiny “Secure anti-malware + anti-spyware + anti-virus + firewall + virtual sex partner” program, and feel “secure” 
or..
you could follow this guide. And download the Windows Vista Security Configuration gude, written by the security community in collaboration with Microsoft(tm), and BE secure.
Get it here (as in here), at MS or at NSA
You will need at least basic system administration knowledge to apply it, and.. don’t forget to make a backup of your system *before* you apply it. I would say “Read the documentation first, apply knowledge second”, but we all know you would like to apply first and read the documentation second 
so… In the folder “Security Templates” there are some .inf files. Copy them to c:\windows\security\templates, click on Start, Run – mmc – Add/remove snap in – Add “Security Configuration and Analysis” and “Security Templates” snap-ins.
You should see your new template in the list of the Security Templates snap-in. You can edit it’s settings from there, don’t forget to save it in the script original location, not only in C:\windows\security\templates.
To review the template compared to the current settings on the box, right-click on “Security Configuration and Analysis”, choose Open Database, type newsecurity in the file field, choose Open (this will create a new configuration database). Right-click on “Security Configuration and Analysis” again, choose Import Template, and select your custom template. Right-click on “Security Configuration and Analysis” again, and choose Analyze Now.
You could change the settings you don’t like, and then instead of “Analyze Now” you would need to choose “Configure Now”, and your computer will be configured with the new security settings.
But you have been warned: read the documentation first! And make a backup!