Security for new system: prevent cookiegrabber/keylogger/hacking

My friend has an older computer and last night he found out that someone gained access to his account at an online game site and also his yahoo Instant messenger (for sure). I do not know what else they might have info for. The likely culprits are a keylogger or a cookiegrabber.

He is buying a new system and wants to to be safe from such an attack. I've read that you need to avoid IE and with Mozilla or Netscape you should turn off javascript.

Q. What type of software should be on a system to make it safe? This is to be the main priority. Moreso than memory or soundcards, etc.

Q. Is Mozilla or Netscape safe with Javascript turned on? I've found that too many things I access do not work without javascript.

Q. Is IE safe if you have all the latest updates?

Thanks...passwords were definately not given out or discovered....we are both hoping that the hacker/scammer stopped at online gaming theft and IM harrassement of his contacts. I am quite concerned to think of the info that someone could get from my system should this have happened to me. Thanks for any advice that can be offered.

 

If you look right at the top of this forum there are several "Sticky" threads...one of these threads titled How To Protect Yourself From Malware should answer most, if not all of your questions.