How to protect the computers in my organization from malware?
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Educate users: short, focused emails sent regularly on current threats can help quite a bit. Follow security blogs like Sneier On Security or Steve Gibson's blog, and cover those topics. When cleaning up malware, you can share ways it got in there or how to avoid it. Don't over explain. Malware isn't something exciting that people want to learn about, it's an obstacle to getting their job done and nothing more.
Principle of least privilege: don't let users be administrators. Set them up as power users or just users. For network file share permissions, start with no one having access until someone needs access. Then give them only the permissions they need to get the work done. This works best in an environment with a higher level of IT skills and staff, where the organization has the time to put solid, tested systems into use. If an organization has less IT resources, locking down machines can create more headaches than it solves. At the higher end, using group policies, machine images, and auditing permissions and object access can help tighten things up even more.
Malware software isn't a cure all, but it can cut down much of the headache. If your organization qualifies, free software like Microsoft Security Essentials can help. We use Malwarebyte's Antimalware to clean infected machines. Having Microsoft's Automatic Updates turned on and enabled helps too. (These tools have a lifespan, generally, and in a few years I'd expect there to be a better, free product on the market.)
Good luck!
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