which protection software?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Talal Itani
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T

Talal Itani

I am re-installing XP on a clean drive and would like to know the protection
software I should have. On my current installation I have Windows
Defender. I also have a old version of VirusScan. Every few months I run
malware detection. Do I still need all this stuff? Do I need to buy an
update for VirusScan? Is Windows Defender a firewall? I am confused about
all this stuff. Please help.
 
Talal Itani said:
I am re-installing XP on a clean drive and would like to know the
protection software I should have. On my current installation I have
Windows Defender. I also have a old version of VirusScan. Every few
months I run malware detection. Do I still need all this stuff? Do I
need to buy an update for VirusScan? Is Windows Defender a firewall? I
am confused about all this stuff. Please help.
Click to expand...

Talal,

My recommendations would be:

AntiVirus - Avast
Firewall - Sunbelt Kerio or ZoneAlarm
Spyware/Adware - AdAware

All of these have a free version.

Ed Metcalfe.
 
Talal Itani said:
I am re-installing XP on a clean drive and would like to know the
protection software I should have. On my current installation I have
Windows Defender. I also have a old version of VirusScan. Every few
months I run malware detection. Do I still need all this stuff? Do I
need to buy an update for VirusScan? Is Windows Defender a firewall? I
am confused about all this stuff. Please help.
Click to expand...

You need three types of protection software, Software Firewall, Anti-Virus,
AntiSpyware (and other forms of non viral Malware). In addition to these I
suggest you install a router that has NAT with SPI (Stateful packet
inspection). This is the first line of defense.

Firewall (use only one):
XP comes with a built in firewall
3rd party firewalls I recommend are
Kerio Personal Firewall from Sunbelt Software (free and paid)
Comodo Personal Firewall (free)

Anti-Virus :
Avast (free; I use this one)
AVT (free)
NOD32
Note: If you want you can have more than one AV program installed but only
one should be set for real time protection. Use the other for manual
scanning as a confirmation.

Anti-Spyware: More than one of these programs is needed. Scan's should be
run regularly (all malware scans should be done in safe mode; all are free)
Windows Defender
Ad-Aware SE plus (new version will be out soon)
Spybot S&D
Spyware Blaster (not a scanner; it protects against certain things
getting installed)
AVG AntiSpyware (formerly Ewido; I have not used it but have seen it
recommended by folks I regard)
 
Ed Metcalfe said:
Talal,

My recommendations would be:

AntiVirus - Avast
Firewall - Sunbelt Kerio or ZoneAlarm
Spyware/Adware - AdAware

All of these have a free version.

Ed Metcalfe.
Click to expand...

I was told that XP has a built-in firewall. If that is the case, why do I
need another firewall? Do I turn off the XP's firewall if I use the one you
recommended?
 
Ed Metcalfe said:
Talal,

My recommendations would be:

AntiVirus - Avast
Firewall - Sunbelt Kerio or ZoneAlarm
Spyware/Adware - AdAware
Click to expand...

Do all these programs run in real time?
 
Rock said:
You need three types of protection software, Software Firewall,
Anti-Virus, AntiSpyware (and other forms of non viral Malware). In
addition to these I suggest you install a router that has NAT with SPI
(Stateful packet inspection). This is the first line of defense.

Firewall (use only one):
XP comes with a built in firewall
3rd party firewalls I recommend are
Kerio Personal Firewall from Sunbelt Software (free and paid)
Comodo Personal Firewall (free)

Anti-Virus :
Avast (free; I use this one)
AVT (free)
NOD32
Note: If you want you can have more than one AV program installed but only
one should be set for real time protection. Use the other for manual
scanning as a confirmation.

Anti-Spyware: More than one of these programs is needed. Scan's should
be run regularly (all malware scans should be done in safe mode; all are
free)
Windows Defender
Ad-Aware SE plus (new version will be out soon)
Spybot S&D
Spyware Blaster (not a scanner; it protects against certain things
getting installed)
AVG AntiSpyware (formerly Ewido; I have not used it but have seen it
recommended by folks I regard)
Click to expand...

So, the Firewall, the Anti-Virus, and the Anti-Spyware run in real time on a
PC, right? If that is the case, would they not slow down my PC? Thanks.
 
Talal said:
I was told that XP has a built-in firewall. If that is the case, why
do I need another firewall? Do I turn off the XP's firewall if I use
the one you recommended?
Click to expand...

To answer your second question, you should never run more than one
firewall at a time.

To answer your first, the Windows firewall only works for incoming
traffic. Most other firewalls also can block outgoing traffic, which can
be helpful if your PC has become a "bot":

http://netsecurity.about.com/od/frequentlyaskedquestions/qt/pr_bot.htm
 
So, the Firewall, the Anti-Virus, and the Anti-Spyware run in real time on
a PC, right? If that is the case, would they not slow down my PC?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Some run in real time, the firewall and at least one active AV scanner,
there would be no point otherwise. Defender runs active. Ad-Aware has a
component called Ad-Watch that runs active but it's only in the paid
version, and I don't use it. I'm not sure about Spybot, I believe it has an
active component - Tea Timer, but I don't run that. Spyware Blaster is not
active. Anything that is running uses system resources, so it's important
to choose well which programs . That's one of the basis for what I
recommended, and why you should avoid things like the Norton security
products, McAfee, Panda and any of the large suites.
 
Talal Itani said:
Thanks. So, within XP, is there an option to deactivate the XP's built-in
firewall?
Click to expand...

DUH!!!!

You seem to be using a lot of newsgroup space trying to learn - at the
expense of other folks time - what you can learn by reading on your
own, and using Google to search for your answers.
 
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