After my Gateway was infested with viruses and who knows what else, it died...for now.

I picked up a $298 Emachines from Walmart. Its simple but all I do is surf the web so it will get the job done. It came with the 60 day trial of Nortons and something called BIGFIX that monitors for problems.

I need to buy a GOOD all-around antivirus/firewall/keep-the-damn-spyware-out software. I've had good luck with the Nortons, until I let it expire for a couple of months. Is the BitDefender anygood? What do the mods/experts here use to defend their PC?

What about programs to keep things clean and erase unneeded junk....any recommendations?


I guess what I'd like to know is....what do the experts here use to keep everything running properly?

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

I use AVG, ZoneAlarm, Superantispyware, and AdAware. These are all free and many of our members and staff use them. Both AVG and Zone Alarm are active and update regularly.

I use zonealarm, avast anti virus, adaware and spybot. I personally do not like Norton, they take up a lot of resources and slow down your computer. I had BigFix, a long time ago, it was a free program that would let you know if there were any updates for your computer as far as security and some programs. It wasn't bad, but I have'nt used it in years.. I don't know anything about bit defender... sorry...

On XP I used AVG, Windows Defender, and the last freeware version of the Sygate Personal Firewall

On Vista 32 bit, I used AVG, Windows Defender and the PCTools firewall

On Vista 64 bit, I use Avast, Windows Defender and the Windows firewall

Also have AdAware, SpyBot Search and Destroy - along with a couple more security apps

On XP I used AVG, Windows Defender, and the last freeware version of the Sygate Personal Firewall

On Vista 32 bit, I used AVG, Windows Defender and the PCTools firewall

On Vista 64 bit, I use Avast, Windows Defender and the Windows firewall

Also have AdAware, SpyBot Search and Destroy - along with a couple more security apps

Big Fix lets you know if updates are available for your system - but I'm of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it school" so I don't update drivers unless I'm having issues.

I have two systems.

On one I use Avira Personal Free, Windows Defender, and SuperAntispyware. I just changed yesterday from AVG Free to Avira on this system.

On the other, I use Avira, Windows Defender, and AVG Spyware.

I've used the much-maligned NIS and NAV for about 5 years. I've also used Panda Plat 2006, Comodo AV, and various others through the years.

They all do the job on my systems, it just comes down to a (momentary, for me) user preference thing.

Louis

These free "gems of protection" may be found here....

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic3616.html




And here.....

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic405.html