where do firewalls and virus scans stand?

[TheFiresInTheSky]

right now, im using avast virus scan and zone alarm firewall.

ccleaner, sypbot-search and destroy, and advanced windows care.

is there anything better that i could be using?

[1984]

i use ewido, ad aware and spywareblaster.

 

also tuneup 2006-though you gotta pay for it.

[Hamish+]

I use these regularly:

AVG anti-virus

Zonealarm

Ad-aware

Spybot

 

I use these to help clean up an infection:

E-Wido anti-malware

Hijack this

A-Squared (Trojan and malware remover)

 

Personally I found AVG easier to use than Avast but they are both good

[TonyKlein]

Well, everyone will inevitably have their preferences, and I'm certainly no exception.

 

However, you already have a decent AV and firewall which certainly represents a good measure of protection.

You could add Javacool's Spywareblaster, which prevents the installation of all ActiveX-based spyware in its database.

 

It is also important to stay current with ALL critical updates from the Windows Update site.

 

If you're interested in hardening your defences even more, you could do worse than invest in some kernel based application and registry protection software such as GhostSecurity's AppDefend and Regdefend. There'is however somewhat of a learning curve involved.

 

http://www.ghostsecurity.com/index.php?page=regdefend

[TheFiresInTheSky]

where can i get AVG and E-wido and ad-aware and a-squared?

are they all free?

[hazelnut]

you can get avg and ewido here, they are part of the same company, and both free.

 

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

[Knight]

u've gr8 security neighberaaron

 

but u may speed ur computer alittle by using products use smaller power of ur computer , for example u can use AVG FE , Antivir , or Comodo beta , as all of those r lighter ,

 

and u may like to read this , it will help u alot

http://www.techsupportalert.com/free-vs-paid-av.htm

[Eldmannen]

neighberaaron that is pretty good what you have I guess.

 

Personally I use the built-in Windows Firewall, CCleaner, AdAware, Mozilla Firefox and sometimes ClamWin or ClamAV.