I just have an ordinary, Windows 8 laptop; I have no idea what kind of security features it has or if it's secure; I don't know if I've ever been hacked or had a virus. I have no idea if it's safe to set up a wallet on my computer. What can I do? What can an average computer user do to set up a safe, secure Wallet and keep their Bitcoins as hack/scam-proof as possible?
Do you have antivirus software installed? Do you have a two-way firewall installed? If not then consider your computer as insecure and don't use it for anything important or valuable. If you don't know then consider it insecure.
Good, free, easy to use software packages are AVG anti-virus and ZoneAlarm firewall. Other products are available.