Once a week I use the following: Super Anti-Spyware, Ad-Aware, Spyware Blaster, AVG Anti-Rootkit, Zone Alarm, Avira Antivir PE Classic, CCleaner and PC On Point.

Am I being overly protective?

In what order should I follow for best results

Your advice and/or suggestions would be most welcome.

Edit: Moved topic to the more appropriate forum. ~ Animal

It depends on your internet habits. I expect you run IE. I think you need to make that assesment on your own. Do you find stuff weekly, that needs to be removed.
I'm not gonna tell you what I do, because I think I'd be banned from the site.
Have you tried firefox instead of Internet explorer. It is very easy to setup and offers far better protection.
In a week get back to me and tell what kind of protection then.

Zonealarm is that an anti-virus version.
Your software firewall needs to run 24/7.

Just my cents.

Not being familiar with all of those programs, I'd like to stress that you should only have one antivirus running at a time and only one firewall running at a time.

nightspydk...I have used Mozilla Firefox for quite some time now.

I use Zone Alarm as my Firewall.

I understand that Firefox's Firewall is not very good and that was reason I went to Zone Alarm.

Thanks for your prompt reply

Firefox doesn't have a firewall, bgorrah.
It's strictly a web browser, like Internet Explorer, except a lot more secure.

How often you use anti-malware applications to scan your hard drive really depends, I would suggest, on your surfing and downloading habits, and the frequency these find malicious files. If, for example, you never go on-line without your firewall and Antivirus real time protection enabled, and if you do not visit potentially dangerous sites or download files without careful research, and if you use an alternative browser to IE, then I suggest the following that a weekly schedule should include a thorough scan by your Antivirus first, and by at least two of your Anti-spyware applications (the order of the latter is unimportant), with appropriate action taken after each scan.
I would avoid the use of registry cleaners entirely, as the benefits of their use are minimal, and the danger to your computer's ability to run are great.
Regards,
John

John...I do have only one anti-virus and one firewall running at a time....Thanks

tq1911.....sorry, I thought I read someplace that Firefox's Firewall was almost useless and that's why I went to Zone Alarm Firewall.

John.....As a 'Newbie" I understood your suggestions up to your last sentence where you mentioned registry cleaners. By that, do you mean that CCleaner and PC on Point are registry cleaners and should be avoided?

http://www.pconpoint.com/

I never used this program but since it claims to be a Registry Cleaner, I would avoid using it.

http://www.ccleaner.com/features

You can use the system Cleaner but avoid the Registry Scan for issues.

quietman7.....thank you so much for your detailed answer to my question. Being new I'm scared to death to go anywhere near the Registry and for that reason I have deleted/removed both PC On Point and CCleaner.

Your welcome.

As I said though, its ok to use CCleaner's system cleaner to remove all the temp and junk files. Just stay away from the registry cleaner. If you need to learn more about CCleaner see these links:

CCleaner Tour: Using and Understanding CCleaner
Using CCleaner Demo
CCleaner FAQs

Another safe alternative for cleaning up your junk files is to download and use ATF Cleaner by Atribune.

Don't forget, Bgorrah, there is the handy Windows Disk Cleanup tool (found in the Accessories folder in most Windows versions) that will allow you to safely remove unneeded and temporary files.
Cheers,
John