Compaq Presario 5000, Model 5BW220, Made 7/19/00, Windows XP Pro, 15 Gig master drive, 37 Gig slave drive, 512 MB RAM, 631 MHz Intel Celeron processor, Compaq 06C0 motherboard


I have a number of antivirus software questions. I included all the questions I have in one post because it’s easier that way. Answer whichever ones you feel like. What’s the difference between anti virus scanners like AVG, Avast, Norton, etc. and firewalls like ZoneAlarm, Comodo, etc.? Don’t the scanners operate constantly just like the firewalls? How many scanners are adequate? I’m using AVG and Avast. I also have Symantec. Doesn’t Symantec interfere with Avast? Symantec keeps turning back on after I disenable it. Symantec regularly quarantines Trojan Horse viruses, so is Symantec worth keeping? I also have AT&T Online Protection. Do I need this? Should I just delete it? I am currently using these anti virus programs and utilities: Free Internet Window Washer, Spyware Blaster, Ad-Aware, CCleaner, Spybot Search and Destroy, IE Spyad, MVPS Hosts File, Winpatrol. Are these sufficient or overkill? Do you recommend others? Thanks for any replies.

You need to sort through all that software (especially bundled applications) and get down to:
1. One Anti-virus (resident and turn on for real-time protection.
2. One Firewall that will scan both incoming and outgoing packets. Firewalls operate entirely different than AVs; the latter will only look for defined malware, while a Firewall scans all packets for legitimacy and will also "mask" your computer to the outside world.
3. Two or three (depending on your browsing habits and whether you are cautious about where you go) anti-spyware applications, any of which may have some sort of real-time protection.

Multiple AVs will slow down your computer, and often report the other's definition file as an infection. Multiple Firewalls can also slow down your computer, and produce serious conflicts when trying to handle packets.
Regards,
John

this thread of yours

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic145743.html

suggests that you have gotten infected FROM having multiple antivirus programs installed simultaneously ; OR maybe you do not understand what each of the programs you HAVE got 'does'?

I maybe going off the topic but i just wanted to get this out of my chest, what is really meant by real time protection???

thank you

A quick read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time_protection

thank you