I have on my laptop the following: AVG (new free version I think it's #8); Ad-Awarel; Spybot and Windows Defender. My computer isreally slow when surfing the net. When going back and forth using the arrows, I often lose the site and I must start all over. It is so slow...it drives me crazy!!! Am I duplicating protection??? Please help.
elfmeister
How-To Geek Forums » Windows XP
how much is enough spyware, virus protection etc.
(16 posts)
Elfmeister, welcome to the forum. How much protection is enough? That varies from person to person, but it seems that you have more than you need. You should have only ONE real-time scanner. AVG does virus and anti-spyware detection. Ad-Aware is primarily spyware detection and only runs real-time scans if you enable Ad-Watch. Spybot S&D is also primarily spyware detection with a real-time component, Resident Protection. Windows Defender has poor detection rates, so you should disable it.
My advice would be stick with AVG and disable the real-time scanners of any other security software. You can run individual scans with Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D manually on a schedule of your choice, say weekly or semi-monthly. Also, read over this wiki article that I wrote about security. A software suite is just one layer of protection and it's better to have multiple layers rather than multiple programs at one layer.
http://www.howtogeek.com/wiki/.....nd_Spyware
The Spybot teatimer usually does not conflict with the security suites and it takes very little resource. But if you want any decent protection at all, the free AVG is not your best choice - but unfortunately all the good ones cost money. If you want to check what your CPU is doing, get Process Explorer http://technet.microsoft.com/e.....96653.aspx
I'm sorry to invade this topic, but AVG is 'NOT' decent protection? I always thought it was like 3rd best overall behind Avast and Nod32.
Since definition updates for AVG7.5 Free will soon stop being made (and only being able to find AVG8 trials which hound you to purchase a licence), I'll soon be looking for a new free, and good Anti Virus. Which one would peeps suggest?
As I said, it varies from person to person. If you say that AVG Free is not decent protection, then you will either need two free scanners or a paid one. AVG Free does virus detection only, Avira AntiVir also does virus detection only. Spybot S&D (freeware) only does spyware detection. I base this on what each one claims on their websites.
whs and I agree on this point: get one from the top 10 list and that pretty much means a paid one. AV Comparatives should have a new report out this month, so it will be interesting to see where they stand. The last on-demand results are from February:
http://www.av-comparatives.org.....tives.html
@LH, what spyware scanner do you use with that free Avira AntiVir? Do you have real-time anti-spyware detection, or do you just run regular anti-spyware scans? The makers of SpyBot S&D say their Resident Protection is designed not to interfere with other scanners, but even they say that conflicts are possible:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/faq/49.html
Also, raise your hand if you want 2 scanners reading every file that you open? I'm guessing the Elfmeister doesn't have his hand up, and neither do I.
Elfmeister, some of these security suites include phishing protection. The new Firefox 3 browser will not even let you navigate to a known phishing site. The reason I say not to rely on these automated measures is because there are new schemes all the time. Here's a page on how to avoid phishing schemes:
http://www.antiphishing.org/consumer_recs.html
There are many resources with information on preventing phishing:
http://www.antiphishing.org/resources.html
well i didn't read the complete thread but here's my recipe:
- avast! home edition
- default Windows firewall
- common sense
for avast!, or any other AV products you use, you should always make sure you the signatures or patterns are always updated since this is the Achilles heel for these signature-based protections.
personal firewalls. now here's another source of "holy" wars in every forums. they always say that the firewall that comes with XP SP2 and Vista are not good enough because it only blocks incoming connections. well, isn't that what firewalls are for? to block unwanted incoming connections.
lastly, whatever and how many protection you install in your computer, all are for naught if you would click , download, and install all the pop-ups that comes along the way while you surf. the same goes to installing every softwares you get your hands on thru your DVD or USB connections.
to wrap it up, if you start with a fresh, clean install of Windows and use your favorite AV apps, Windows firewall, and use common sense you'll never have to worry about sluggish computer performance or browsers going south.
First off, welcome to the forums elfmeister. I myself joined 8 months ago and have always been treated nicely, and I am sure you will have the same experience.
Well what I use and it doesn't seem to bog my comptuer down is:
Avast
Windows Defender (looking to change this though)
I also use Ad-Aware and Spybot but do not enable real-time protection.
Anti-vir I do not use, but have heard good things about.
Personally I would not use AVG, I would go with Avast, it has many nice features and even protects IM clients, P2P clients, and Outlook.
This takes care of your virus software.
Windows Defender will take care of some the spyware, etc. although as ScottW stated it has poor detection rates, so you may want to use it as a scanner only.
You may want to use Spyware Blaster as an alternative.
Except for the fact it takes up hard drive space, you can never have enough scanners that do not run in real time. By this, I am referring to Ad-Aware and Spybot: Search and Destroy. It is true that Spybot says it can conflict with Ad-Aware but if you are careful, it shouldn't be a problem.
Finally for a firewall, Windows firewall is usually good enough, but for added protection you can use a free firewall program such as ZoneAlarm.
*Note* It is not recommended to have two security programs running that do the same thing.
- Example: Two virus protections (AVG and Avast)
- Example: Two spyware protections (Windows Defender and Spybot with protection mode/tea time)
- Example: Two firewalls (Windows Firewall and ZoneAlarm)
As a personal note, to take care of fishing, simply use the newest version of your browser and keep very close attention of the URL of any page you are one which needs a use name and password. I personally recommend using Firefox over IE, because due to my experience, the phishing filter is better in Firefox. Firefox also has numerous add-ons for security.
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