The only way to really protect yourself is keeping rotating disk clones, if your hit go back and do a bit of rebuilding. Backup current files on a flash drive that you remove when not storing info. Never clicking on those links you don't know, and never opening a file you were not expecting is the front line of defense.
The anti-malware programs do little for protection cause you invite malware on in, as opposed to it forcing itself in, for the vast majority of cases. They will find dozens of harmless problems. The use of signatures is no longer useful, the malware folks figure out how to continuously modify their signatures years ago.