[Katylar]

Hi. I'm a student, so I don't have the kind of money to buy licensed software (norton, for example, costs about 2000, here). So I'm sort of dependent on freeware.

I have a vista laptop that -although no resource-strapped (I upgraded to 1.5GBDDR2), I still like to keep as fast as possible. So for my security needs I've been using AVG Anti-Virus free and SpyBot-S&D (1.5)... Is this enough?

It's been a recommendation mentioned to me that I might benefit from installing more than one Anti-Spyware, namely AVG Anti-SW, and Ad-Aware free... Are they really necessary? If it is a good idea to install more than one, maybe I should just choose one more- if so, which is better, the AVG Anti-SPyware or Ad-Aware?

I dislike having a lot of programs running in the background. In fact, upon start-up, the only application that start are my objectdock, AVG-AV, and Spybot.

Any ideas? Thanks.

[golferbob]

i use avg antispyware free , super antispyware free and spyware balster free . you can get them all at this site.


http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads31.html

[blues_harp28]

Hi in addition to the above.
Best to have only one Anti-virus program but having more than one Anti- Spyware program is ok.
As they run with different signatures what one may miss the other spyware program may well pick up.
Having an Anti-Spyware program running in the background is also a good idea as it may block Spyware entering your system and infecting it.

[pcrepairguy]

You may want to make sure windows firewall is enabled also. By the way where do you live....2000 for norton? WOW!!

[lotuseclat79]

Hi Katylar,

Yes, definitely turn on Vista's firewall - but, that only works for inbound traffic and is not particularly easy to set for outbound access denial. ZoneAlarm Free is the best bet for that. You do want to deny outbound access if you should ever be compromised.

The only caveat against two or more AV is do not run them at the same time -i.e. it is ok to have more than one free AV (AVG, Avast!) - just make sure your firewall is activated on boot up if you are 24/7 connected to the Internet over a high-speed connection rather than dialup.

SpywareBlaster is recommended as not only is it free, but it provides passive protection - so, no performance hit.

You also might want to consider having a HOSTS file - see:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

The very best AS is SpySweeper by Webroot which is paid, but the next best thing is Spybot S&D which you already have. SpySweeper has run-time processes that are separate from its AS scan which I found very helpful when I was running WinXP Pro SP2.

-- Tom

[lunarlander]

I would keep more than 1 antispyware app because none of them can catch 100% of the spyware thats floating around.

I also like Webroot Spy Sweeper, it costs money but its among the best. And I also have SuperAntiSpyware free version.

In short, having several layers of protection is good.

One the best free way to keep malware from infecting the whole machine is to use a limited user account for surfing. User Account Control is good, but MS has said that it is not a security barrier. So using a Limited User account is still the best way of guaranteeing that malware doesnt infect the whole machine; because it does not have admin rights to write to various system folders and system wide registry keys.

[Nesjemannen]

I prefer SUPERAntispyware over Ad-aware