Time to re-up on some of my security stuff..

Hey All!

It's time to re-up on my security for my 'puter and I was wondering what is the best thing(s) to do.
I know I need to re-up on my Avast, and I will with the 30% off. But there is an Ad-watch that is telling me that they want some money too.

OK, so.......what I am doing is getting the Avast.

but.....

I would like to know if the Ad-watch is worth doing again. And if not what else is there that I should look into.

Thanks everyone....
adele

 

Ad-watch i think it better then Avast.

 

Avira Antivir is also highly recommended. It's also inside some Ad-Aware programs.

 

Ad-Watch is for malware and Avast is an anti-virus, two different animals.

I've never paid for a security app and always used free ones with nary an infection. You may be interested in this thread as people are sounding off on their favourite anti-malware apps, free or otherwise.

You will find a whole bunch of opinions on this subject.

 

And of cause Majorgeek's top freeware picks: http://majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=20

 

Why would anyone want to do that when it's all here, personal experiences in the forums, expert advice in the malware forum and free downloads too. :confused

 

:major Well ... if its security your after you need what called layered security ... for starters a Dynamic IP is great ... (usually standard these days) ... then a good Hardware Firewall ... its great if you have a modem/router with one built in but unless its turned on and properly configured its not doing anything ... (if there is an option to do so ensure that Port Stealthing and Ping Blocking is enabled) ... then you should have a software firewall ... I prefer a third party firewall but Windows does have one built in ... although you will find different opinions on its effectiveness ... and then an Anti-Virus ... I use Symantec Nortons Internet Security 09 (MUCH UPGRADED, it barely uses any system resources now for past and previous dissatisfied NIS and NAV users) ... it has both third party firewall and an Anti-Virus built in, but you said your going for Avast which is good ... after that you're doing alright, there are extras that you can add ... (I use some), such as Peer Guardian 2, SpyBot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware. Personally I use Peer Guardian 2 and Spybot ... I use PG2 because I'm a heavy P2P network user and it stops unwanted (although sometimes harmless) network activity and stray packets ... and I use Spybot mainly for its Registry protection function ... TeaTimer I believe it's called ... basically it doesn't allow any registry changes unless it has you permission to do so ... (be aware with PG2, it sometimes blocks WANTED network activity, games etc. and you will have to go into its block history and ALLOW them for next time.) And then of course, you always need MalwareBytes Anti-Malware and SUPERAntiSpyware for those troubling times when you accidentally download a virus ...... :major