[snarfblast]

I'm running AVG antivirus, Adaware anti-malware, and Zone Alarm firewall on my Win7 x64 machine. That's what I used a long time ago and recently switched back from Comodo and Avira. I just started using port forwarding software again (PFconfig), and it wasn't compatible at all with Comodo and/or Avira.

So now, my system is running much, much slower and is crashing at least once a day. Is this because AVG and Adaware are on the same machine? I used a registry cleaner, and it didn't help. I remember back in the day Adaware used to only target adware, so you also needed an antivirus. It seems like these days software kind of does everything.

So that's a roundabout way of asking: Do I need Adaware plus an antivirus? Is my setup leading to increased instability?

Thanks!

[dvk01]

newer versions of adaware include an antivirus component so it is very possibly clashing with AVG. However ZA also has limited antivirus capabilities & AVG does have a basic firewall component built in

on a 64 bit computer all those programs seems to be more problematical & I sugggest using windows firewall & the Microsoft Security Essentials Antivirus
with UAC set to always alert & that is a sensible protection

It is always better with W7 to run day to day as a Limited ( standard) user & then UAC will prompt for username & password of the admin account when installs are needed

That way it is virtually impossible to get infected, unless you deliberately install a malware

[kotje]

i suggest you to remove all thirth-party protection besides windows built in security.
then check if all security in windows is active except antivirus offcourse,
and use the free avast @ http://download.cnet.com/Avast-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10019223.html?part=dl-85737&subj=dl&tag=button

^^^^home use only^^^^

to my understanding will win 7 security + avast 6 free replace all your protection and more
if you only use > avg , adaware , zonealarm

PS: replacing 3 security programs by one that protects you more will surely increase your system preformence

any comments by anyone are welcome as im not really an expert but if it comes to having a clean running system i really havent had any major issues even when i was only a 14 y old brat

[dvk01]

Kotje
your link may well be innocent but redirect links that go in such a convoluted way are always suspicious so have been removed for safety reasons

[Phantom010]

AVG doesn't behave well with Windows Defender if you are running them together. Besides, AVG has been nothing but trouble lately. And, Windows Defender is useless.

Ad-Aware is quite outdated and should be replaced with much better alternatives like the free versions of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware or SUPERAntiSpyware.

Free antivirus: Microsoft Security Essentials

Paid antivirus: ESET NOD32 (my personal favorite) light on system resources.

Firewall for Windows 7: Windows Firewall

I see in your computer specs that you have a meagre 512 MB of RAM. That will never be sufficient for Windows 7. It's even low for XP!

[snarfblast]

Originally Posted by Phantom010

AVG doesn't behave well with Windows Defender if you are running them together. Besides, AVG has been nothing but trouble lately. And, Windows Defender is useless.

Ad-Aware is quite outdated and should be replaced with much better alternatives like the free versions of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware or SUPERAntiSpyware.

Free antivirus: Microsoft Security Essentials

Paid antivirus: ESET NOD32 (my personal favorite) light on system resources.

Firewall for Windows 7: Windows Firewall

I see in your computer specs that you have a meagre 512 MB of RAM. That will never be sufficient for Windows 7. It's even low for XP!

Oh wow, those are my old system specs. I will update that ASAP.

So I took off Ad-Aware and AVG, and installed Avast. Kept the Zonealarm firewall. This has greatly improved system performance.

BUT

Now my computer does a hard lockup at least once, sometimes twice a day. Not happy about that. I may just go back to Vista, as PFConfig and Chaoslauncher gave me way fewer problems with Vista. With all these nasty lockups I'm due for a reinstall. Not looking foward to it, as I only did it five months ago.

[kotje]

I'm glad to hear your system runs a bit better with avast,
alltho going from win 7 to win vista seems for a few lockups

could you reply the log file of hijackthis and the text from systeminfo

hijackthis : http://software-files-l.cnet.com/s/s...HijackThis.exe

sysinfo : http://static.techguy.org/download/SysInfo.exe

btw ; does these lockups happen randomly ???( be so specific as possbile )

i would still suggest to remove zonealarm ; it may well be that the win 7 firewall has problems with it
alltho this is just a though
i assume you can still re-install it if you really want it ; just check it for a few days orso

allso if i look at all the posts you made here it seems you do not have any programs looking for malware
therefor i would suggest to use "malwarebytes 'antimalware" for a full system scan
( avast should not interfere with this program if its up to date > 6.0.1000 on win 7 to be exact,
no idea if zonealarm would interfere with the scan, remove as suggested or disable temp. if so)

malwarebytes 'antimalware: http://software-files-l.cnet.com/s/s....50.1.1100.exe
PS: during setup of malwarebytes make sure you check the option to update
when the program starts just choose a full system scan and select all

PS2: double check if comodo is removed
>>>> http://www.techsupportforum.com/foru...do-283578.html

heres a list of all possible comodo software (free) >10 different programs orso
comodo free software list : http://www.comodo.com/products/free-products.php

PS3: are you sure that avira is completly removed?
have you used the removal tool from the avira site below
avira removal tool : http://www.avira.com/en/support-down...r-removal-tool

(edit) PS4: in windows 7 ; In System security select advance properties. the go to firewall settings , there you'll find inbound and outbound option and ports selection options
___________________________________________________________________________ ____

and please don't go back to vista

<<win95=bad ; win 98=good ; win 2000=bad ; win xp=good ; win vista=bad ; win 7=good ; win 8="fill in yourself">>

<<just my thoughts>>^^^

[snarfblast]

Thing about Vista vs 7 is that I've had way more problems in general with 7 than Vista. Vista was always more stable for me.

[kotje]

i understand your frustration and i cant blame you
but if you give up for every pc problem , thats your choice

still if you have any fight left in you read and do my previous post

greetz kotje