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a) what is involved in the installation process.
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If you already have television or a phoneline with NTL, you will just have to have a run of coax cable running to a box next to your PC.
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b) what sort of PC spec I will need
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Any modern computer with USB or Ethernet ports running Windows 98, 2000, or XP will be fine for the job. Ideally having an ethernet connection is better and these are now integrated on most motherboards. If yuo dont have one on your own PC, you can pick up an ethernet network card for about £10 new.
If you are going to be wanting the best experience on the net, maybe doing some online gaming, and such, You should have a good monitor that has a good refresh rate and can be used at a high resolution.
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c) whether NTL Broadband is any good (not overly impressed with customer services thus far!)
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It is reliable most of the time and I am quite impressed with the speeds. The only thing people moan about is a CAP. Basically this is a limit to how much you can download. But for general web surfing you are fine. Its only if you are a hard core downloader of movies and such things that people run into problems if going over the limits. But this isnt a big issue at the moment.
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d) whether there are any serious security issues using Broadband on a PC and if so, what can be done to solve them (I heard Apple Macs are less prone to virus attacks etc.).
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As has been mentioned, your broadband connection means you are connected to the Internet all the time. Therfore adequate protection is needed. A Firewall can be downloaded free, eg. Zonealarm, and it will protect your PC. You should also get an anti virus software installed, such as AVG anti virus which is also free and updates daily.
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e) Whether we could/should consider alternatives like other Broadband services or dial up.
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I wouldnt consider Dial up at all. Only if you are someone that sends ONLY e-mails. Most web content now has audio and video and this would take years to load on dial up connections.
Broadband is the way to go.
You can also share a broadband connection in the event you have two or three computers as they can all be linked to a router.