Ubunto Protection (virus/firewall)

There is a reasonable firewall already built-in, if you want something a little more "hardened" have a look at "arno-iptables-firewall"; Virus/malware is rare on Linux (but does still exist, and will probably increase), if you visit (potentialy) dodgy web sites or download (potentialy) dodgy files, have a look at "clam antivirus".

Excellent. Thanks much.

Great suggestion from MrLinux, clam is great  

AVG free has a closed source version for Linux as well, check it out.

Remember you should always use verified packages from the official repositories and check the checksums and digital signatures of your downloads before you run or compile anything.

Good luck  

Firestarter is a good front end on IPtables and is also in the repo's.

Any advantages to AVG Free as opposed to Klam?

Excellent. I'll install clam and get the rootkit checkers. I think I can live without AVG.

Look into disabling all the remote access stuff and unnecessary services too  

inetd, nfs, ssh, vnc, wireless and so on should be disabled if you don't need them.

If you do need them, you'll want to block access from all IPs except your own.

If you decide to give WINE a try you should be extra careful because WINE can allow windows viruses to run on Linux. Without WINE or something similar Linux is 100% immune to windows viruses.

Good luck and keep the questions coming   [ fixed typo ]

Thanks again. Great Information.