[Airmapper]

My laptop came with Norton installed on it. The trial period is almost up and I now need to do some work making sure my PC is secure.

I'm running Windows Vista Home Premium with 1GB of RAM. I'm under the impression that Norton does slow my system down and that I'm better off with something else.

I have already installed and have Avast! running, and it appears to be fine. I also went to install Zonealarm's free Firewall, but had some conflicts as Norton is still active, and as a result could not use Wireless internet. But at the same time I'm concerned Zonealarm will do this without Norton in the way.

My question is, will I be making a good move by removing Norton completely, and using a set of free programs, being:

Avast! Anti-Virus
Zonealarm Firewall
Spybot & Ad-Aware

[SouthernMail]

If I remember correctly, the free Norton software that comes with some computer is not as complete as buying a full version of Norton Internet Security. I had Norton 2007 and found it to be very good about protecting my system; I recently upgrade to Norton 2008 and so far I've had problem with stuff getting past the firewall (whether this is a coincidence or the upgrade, I'm not sure).

If I was doing it again I might look at the Kaspersky security software instead of Norton.

There's a number of other free programs that will help you protect your system. You can find many of them listed in some of the tutorial stickys on this site.

[juantamad]

Get rid of Norton- - unnstall it and say good bye
Avast.ZoneAlarm/Spybot is a good start
I prefer COMODO as a firewall personally
If you're running Vista, then you have Windows Guardian to contend with, with it's own set
of protections.
What I did (?foolishly?) is disable the Windows Firewall - 1 good firewall usually is enough

[SouthernMail]

Some other free programs you might want to consider include CWShredder, WinPatrol, Ad-Aware, SpywareBlaster, ZonedOut, and a few others. It would be worth your while to read some of the "Protecting Your System" type stickys.

[Airmapper]

I looked into Comodo, as well as Online Armor. Both looked great but unfortunately are not Vista compatible. I now have Zonealarm running and it appears to be working fine.

Norton is gone (I used the removal tool) and I have noticed a little of my RAM is free.

I've been reading the sticky topics, there seems to be more out there than when I last went looking for my older computers security programs.

Thanks for the responses.