[diemachinedie]

This will be the first time we have reformatted in about 5 years or longer.

What are some of the best free down-loadable security programs.
Or must have maintenance programs.

I also want a program that keeps my homepage on either my Mozilla Firefox and or Internet Explorer from being altered from what I want it.

And anything else you could suggest that I might have not thought about

I use:
Malwarebytes,
Hijackthis,
Avast,
AVG (I have the paid version AVG internet securities),
Spybot,
AdAware,
Cleanup,
I learned about SuperAntiSpyware today so I will download that once we reformat


Thanks so much for your time.
Vera

[blitzkreig]

you either use AVG or you use avast because two or more antivirus programs on the same system can lead to several instabilities and cause various errors. So far your computer security looks good except for the fact that you seem to be using both avg and avast.

[blitzkreig]

use winpatrol free edition, it keeps track of various changes taking place on your system and notifies you, it also notifies you when your homepage is altered or changed by some program, as a result u have the freedom to allow or disallow that change.
Download the latest version from here
http://www.winpatrol.com/

[diemachinedie]

I try to be careful when I use those two.
Sometimes one catches something the other misses.

I just recently installed Avast because of all the problems we were having.


Thanks again.
Vera

[diemachinedie]

Thanks again.

[blitzkreig]

dont ever use both of them.

[diemachinedie]

Thanks I won't reinstall Avast when we reformat

[perfume]

You have Avast and AVG,two A-Vs on one system and that's a bad deal. AVG is slipping down like nobody's business and Avast is better. Anyway, you should have only one and it's your choice.

Ccleaner and Defraggler from piriform.com are two excellent maintenance tools. Please don't touch the "registry"in Ccleaner. Auslogics disk defrag is another good defragmenting tool and it's quite fast. I like and use"Glary Utilities (free version)"without touching the registry. Download site:http://www.glaryutilities.com/ . You will be forced to download the "ASK toolbar". After installation,you can delete the toolbar using Revo uninstaller.(revouninstaller.com) and that's a cool touch!

I may be wrong, but you can set the "Home page" in Firefox3.0.10 as i have shown in the thumbnail. Best wishes!

[blitzkreig]

perfume,
You can set ur homepage in FF3, however the homepage is altered by malware and you need something to control. Firefox alone wont help in such a scenario.

[perfume]

I know the Crawler toolbar is there to collect info' about me. I pay that price as a trade-off for the excellent "web security guard" it offers. Anyway i don't do any monetary transactions or visit the dark websites over the net. Moreover i have configured the FF3, not to store "history" of sites visited even for one day and clear everything, everytime i close that browser. I don't use IE8. Guess i can live with that!

[blitzkreig]

diemachinedie,
I would recommend staying with AVG since you have paid for it. However, AVAST is anyday better than AVG.

[diemachinedie]

Perfume,

I agree with the AVG input big time!

But, I can say the same about Norton it used to catch everything. Then all the sudden everything was getting through. So I went and downloaded AVG free version and was in Awe at how fantastic it worked. I went out and bought the Internet securities and it worked even better than Norton ever did.


When I get the funds I will go out and buy Avast. I think they have a version with firewall protection.







Thanks a lot on all the input you posted. I will check all that stuff out that you mentioned.
Vera

[perfume]

Originally Posted by blitzkreig

perfume,
You can set ur homepage in FF3, however the homepage is altered by malware and you need something to control. Firefox alone wont help in such a scenario.

Dear Blitz,
That's why i have my Scotty (Win Patrol) on the prowl.It warns me with a bark whenever a program is trying to alter my "homepage" in any browser.Can't fool Scotty,no sir! I have an overkill of security software as another layer of protection, some in real-time and some on demand.

[diemachinedie]

Blitzkreig,

Originally Posted by blitzkreig

diemachinedie,
I would recommend staying with AVG since you have paid for it. However, AVAST is anyday better than AVG.

I was thinking about that too, but I didn't spend that much on it.
Plus I had a rebate on it also I think it was 20.00 or less that I paid.
And I think I bought it about 3 years ago possibly longer.
I know it's not as good as AVAST now with both your inputs so I am just going to go out and get it.
I might download the free version ZoneAlarm until I go out and buy it.



Thanks.
Vera

[diemachinedie]

Originally Posted by perfume

Dear Blitz,
That's why i have my Scotty (Win Patrol) on the prowl.It warns me with a bark whenever a program is trying to alter my "homepage" in any browser.Can't fool Scotty,no sir! I have an overkill of security software as another layer of protection, some in real-time and some on demand.

LOL that sounds cute. I will for sure download win Patrol.

Vera