Anti virus programs

[survivor]

I am running Widows XP Pro and would like to know if all three of these programs are needed. I have Spybot Search and Destroy, AVG, and McAfee.Are all three really needed? Thanks

[jlreich]

Spybot is good. I wouldn't run two AV's though. AVG and McAfee are both AV. Pick one or the other. I would pick AVG myself but the choice is yours.

Do you have a firewall installed? Is the McAfee a security suite with both AV and FW or just an AV?

Of you don't have a FW I would suggest a free one like Kerio or Sygate. Or at the very least use window's FW.

In addition I would recommend Spywareblaster. http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html


A very small free program that sets some rules and gets out of the way. In my opinion it is the most important security program after having an up to date AV/FW.

[survivor]

I have McAfee which comes with a FW and is free with AOL. I just removed my AVG program.I do have Spybot S&D.Don't know if I need anything else. Thanks

[Budfred]

Make sure the firewall is configured to manage outgoing as well as incoming signals...

You would be better off adding SpywareBlaster as suggested earlier... If you use IE, it would also be good to add IE-Spyads...

This is the prevention speech that I give to people after cleaning up a system:

This is a good time to set up protection against further
attacks. Read the article linked below about "How did I
get infected". You need an antivirus that is updated, a
good firewall (a router firewall is not enough) and a
spyware blocker like SpywareBlaster and also IE-Spyads.
All of these have good free versions available... be very
cautious about any security software that advertises in
popups or other intrusive ways, they are not only usually
useless, but also often have malware in them....

http://www.computercops.biz/postlite7736-.html