BleepingComputer.com: Anti Spyware - Malware Tools

Vista Home Premium - SP1 - 32bit,

I use firefox and sometimes IE7

Hi, I have read all about the the free tools on here, but as some products serve different purposes and use resources differently, I was hoping someone more knowledgeable and experienced would help me build a good layer of protection to compliment what I already have. Which is.....


Mcafee anti virus, firewall, and antispyware...... and Windows Defender.

Would Ad-Aware, and spybot without the tea timer be all that is necessary, and what about A-squared, seems to be one to have as well as spyware blaster....just not sure what holes are filled there.

This part is a lot more fun than dealing with the malware....TIA

Hello,

Have a look at this page http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Wind...lls_.2F_IDS.27s
Typically you should have...

one firewall
one antivirus
one or two anti spyware products

Hi,

You should also have at least one real time protection such as SpywareTerminator/spybot S&D with tea timer.
I would install Superantispyware rather than ad aware or spybot.
I suggust installing superantispyware and spyware terminator in addition to what you have allready.
Try not to install to much protection because it slows down your computer espically if your computer is allready slow.
1 firewall, 1 or 2 antispyware programs,1 realtime protection and 1 anti-virus program.

Regards,
Extremeboy

nigglesnush85, on Jun 2 2008, 09:15 AM, said:

Thanks for the link...it is now in my favorites, but will be a a new study in itself.

extremeboy, on Jun 2 2008, 03:53 PM, said:

1 Firewall - McAfee
1 Anti-Virus - McAfee
2 Antispyware programs - McAfee + Windows Defender(includes real time protection) so I dont need the tea timer. unless I disable or uninstall WD,

So I guess all I really need is a scanner to use once in a while that doesnt hog resources....I Like SAS, I just dont know why it isnt really one of the
ones you see recommended very often. Although A-squared is. I'll have to look into that.

Thank You.

No problem, glad to help.

On the same topic. I use:
- Spybot S&D
- AVG 8
- Ad Aware
- COMODO

Is that good enough?

-Thanks

Quote

Yes that's good enough. you have 1 anti-virus program,1 firewall, 1-2 anti-spyware programs
I would suggust installing Superantispyware and take out ad-aware or spybot, if you have tea-timer enabled for spybot than don't remove it because it provides a real time protection. Superantispyware's database is huge.

Regards,
Extremeboy

Don't forget to add SpywareBlaster. It doesn't take up resources since it doesn't run in the background but still is a very effective preventative program. That, along with the programs you already have installed should be fine. Especially if you practice safe/safer surfing habits. Prevention is so much easier than trying to cure after the fact.

As a Vista user, be sure to leaver UAC enabled. It may be annoying but helps a lot in keeping your PC infection free. Vista doesn't need as much armor compared to earlier OS's. Keep in mind that many of the recommendations on this site (and many others) were written a few years ago when XP was fairly new and 98 was still commonly used. Also the anti-virus companies didn't do much with infections that weren't worms or true viruses. A lot has changed since then. So if you concentrate on preventing infections you don't really need all those protection modules (like TeaTimer) that come with anti-spyware. With McAfee, WD and your firewall you should have enough protection running in the background and just use the other programs for their scanners to check that you are still infection free.

So I wouldn't worry about A Squared. SuperAntiSpyware as a supplement to WD should be enough. If, however, you engage in high risk surfing, you can install as many scanners as you like such as former stalwarts Spybot S&D and Ad-Aware. These last two are included since they are still of the very few completely free anti-spyware applications. But since their latest versions can be unstable, especially on older systems, you can do without them as well. If SAS and your other apps don't find an infection, you either aren't infected or you need help with manual removal. In the latter case is what BC forums are for.