BleepingComputer.com: Vista Premium & Kaspersky Internet Security.

Have a new computer with Win.Vista home premium that came with 90 day McAfee suite installed. I feel that Kaspersky Internet Sec.7.0 might be better. Received Kasp.Int. Sec vers.6.0 as gift. I want to know if I should try to down load this version eventhough it makes no mention of supporting Vista, or go to their site and download vers.7 and try to get year update with my 6.0 activation key? Emailed Kas. tech support twice and no response! Seems a ligitimate ques. Read through the various appropriate topics here, and just get more nervous about attempting this! I'm old, but a novice[dummy].Can I completely get rid of McAfee or will pieces linger and interfere?
Thanks.

Here is an announcement from Kaspersky that version 6.0 and Vista are supported.

http://usa.kaspersky.com/vista/

I would definitely get rid of the McAfee. If you want to be certain you have removed everything, follow these directions:

http://www.pchell.com/virus/uninstallmcafee.shtml


Good luck.

DR

McAfee usually behaves fairly well after you uninstall it - but there are uninstallers available should you need them.
As for the Kaspersky - Vista is fussy about what it likes. Only use it if it says it's Vista compatible.

Thanks Guys. Your Replies made me feel a lot better. I'm disappointed in Kaspersky's tech support. Must be Russian Mafia or something. Thanks again.

The pure design of Vista basically negates the need for any antivirus system. Rather like on UNIX based systems, the only viable reason for a virus scanner is to make sure you aren't holding viruses.

Because the system behaves in a manner similar to principle of least privelages, adding an antivirus scanner into the mix can just cause trouble. Windows has built in tools i.e., Windows Defender to protect against trouble. Not to mention IE7 protected mode and the UAC, I find it hard how anyone should have malware trouble on Vista.

If you absolutely must use an AV program, use NOD32.

We get quite a few Vista PC's at work that are infected to different degrees.
Vista has, in it's Security Center, a section that monitors your antivirus protection - why put it there if they didn't think it was needed?

In the days before antivirus programs became common I had one infection - and spread it to many other computers via floppy disk. Since the advent of commonly available, reliable antivirus protection, I've only had 3 or 4 pieces of malware on my system - and none have infected it (they were downloads that hadn't been opened).

Why is this? Well, IMO, it's because of 2 things:
1) I know how my computer's supposed to behave - so if it starts acting strangely I can stop it fast.
2) I know how viruses are spread, so I don't do any of the things that will get you infected.

I also work with tech's who don't use any antivirus/antispyware protection. But they all store their downloads away from the system drive, and they've all got images of the hard drive so they can start over when they get infected.

meisinscotland, too many Vista users don't like the new design, so they disable the built in protection. "By design", doesn't interest the user who wants it now and won't wait.....

I've seen, and worked on my fare share of Vista computers with malvertising, viruses, Trojans and bots.

I understand that, but to turn off features like IE's protected mode would be just stupid, and thus the person would deserve the infection.

Sorry - I run a tight ship on my machines and the user profile that is used for everyday use has mostly read only access to the system. This prevents spread of malware or attack. People have a choice between ease of use and potential computer insecurity, or computer security and one or two compromises. I know which I'd take.

Thanks again for all the input. I appreciate being able to read the discussion. Some details may provide different thoughts:

Gateway GT 5438
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E430
Dual-core 64-bit
Intel EM 64T Tech.
Each core @ 1.8 GHz,shared 2MB L2 Cache,800MH FSB
Intel Graphics Accelerator
Hard Drive 320 GB SATA II
Memory Dual -channel DDR2
CD or Disc making ability

This was an off the shelf Circuit City unit that was a stock item in June 2007.They were changing models so it was $750.It
came with Mcafee 90day,Napster 90 day,Gateway Game stuff,Digital Image starter.
I haven't knowingly turned off Windows Defender or made adjustments to it.Perhaps McAfee does this.I stay current with manually loaded updates for Windows including Defender;McAfee;Adware; Spyware Blaster; SuperAntispyware.. All of them occasionally find things that the other seems to miss.I realize some have different goals, but some overlap in their mission.