windows defender help needed, please?

[too-old-for-this]

you folks are probably getting tired of hearing from me by now...

i'm running xp home, sp3, auto-updates ON, with Avast! antivirus, Spybot
S&D, AdAware AE, and a handful of registry cleaners and optimizers. i also
have windows defender; defender seems to play nice with everything else, but
for some reason, it will not scan at 2 am each day, despite being told to do
so -- within its own scheduler, and with xp's 'scheduled tasks' manager. i
read somewhere (in a thread) that defender will ONLY work if the system is
'up and running' (not in standby) -- is this the case? i'd rather not have
it scan while i'm using the pc (the scans slow it down considerably, and eat
up ram while doing it), and i'm not going to leave everything up and running
just for the sake of 1 program (currently, it goes to standby after 5 minutes
of inactivity, and powers down the monitor at the same time). any advice,
thoughts, opinions?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

you folks are probably getting tired of hearing from me by now...

i'm running xp home, sp3, auto-updates ON, with Avast! antivirus,
Spybot S&D, AdAware AE, and a handful of registry cleaners and
optimizers. i also have windows defender; defender seems to play
nice with everything else, but for some reason, it will not scan at
2 am each day, despite being told to do so -- within its own
scheduler, and with xp's 'scheduled tasks' manager. i read
somewhere (in a thread) that defender will ONLY work if the system
is 'up and running' (not in standby) -- is this the case? i'd
rather not have it scan while i'm using the pc (the scans slow it
down considerably, and eat up ram while doing it), and i'm not
going to leave everything up and running just for the sake of 1
program (currently, it goes to standby after 5 minutes of
inactivity, and powers down the monitor at the same time). any
advice, thoughts, opinions?

Advice...

Uninstall everything you listed, dump the "handful of registry cleaners"
permanently, don't use Windows Defender at all.

After uninstalling, get CCleaner and cleanup using it, reboot and
get/install Avira AntiVirus (free is fine), use the built-in Windows XP
Firewall (the only exceptions should be only ones you know of), get/install
MalwareBytes for the occassional scan for malware. Perform a CHKDSK and
defragmentation.

Why? You'll have more free resources and your machine will be as clean (or
cleaner) as it would be with everything else you listed.

I just think you have overcomplicated things. ;-)

 

[too-old-for-this]

by "uninstall everything", you're talking about the spyware & adware stuff,
right? i already use the xp firewall, with no problems that i know about.
what is 'CCleaner', and where can i find it? i've never heard of the 'Avira'
software, but if a microsoft mvp recommends it, it must be good stuff
(meaning, i'll check it out). will the 'MalwareBytes' program get do the
work of everything, though?? i'm on the net quite a bit, and i don't need
spyware, adware etc clogging up my pc (it's only a 600 MHz mobo, with 512 MB
of ram, and a 160 GB hard drive).

 

[Shenan Stanley]

by "uninstall everything", you're talking about the spyware &
adware stuff, right? i already use the xp firewall, with no
problems that i know about. what is 'CCleaner', and where can i
find it? i've never heard of the 'Avira' software, but if a
microsoft mvp recommends it, it must be good stuff (meaning, i'll
check it out). will the 'MalwareBytes' program get do the work of
everything, though?? i'm on the net quite a bit, and i don't need
spyware, adware etc clogging up my pc (it's only a 600 MHz mobo,
with 512 MB of ram, and a 160 GB hard drive).

Yes - I meant only the stuff you were listing.

CCleaner: www.ccleaner.com
I recommend this one specifically:
http://www.ccleaner.com/download/builds/downloading-slim

Avira:
http://www.free-av.de/en/trialpay_download/1/avira_antivir_personal__free_antivirus.html

MalwareBytes:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/
If you want interactive protection, I have found the pay version does a
really good job. However - no better than common sense computing. ;-)

Given your computer specs - I stick by my suggestions... You'll use less
resources and you don't have many to begin with. ;-) You might look into
"MyDefrag" as well - mydefrag.com.

 

[Malke]

by "uninstall everything", you're talking about the spyware & adware
stuff,
right? i already use the xp firewall, with no problems that i know about.
what is 'CCleaner', and where can i find it? i've never heard of the
'Avira' software, but if a microsoft mvp recommends it, it must be good
stuff
(meaning, i'll check it out). will the 'MalwareBytes' program get do the
work of everything, though?? i'm on the net quite a bit, and i don't need
spyware, adware etc clogging up my pc (it's only a 600 MHz mobo, with 512
MB of ram, and a 160 GB hard drive).

Just to add to Shenan's excellent advice:

1. CCleaner is an excellent tool but don't use anything except its cleaning
module. Do NOT use the registry cleaner module. If you don't trust yourself
not to tinker and use it, don't install CCleaner. Just muddle along with the
built-in Disk Cleanup.

2. You may download this article I wrote for some of my clients who had
similar situations to yours. Just right-click on the article to Save As. It
is in .pdf format.

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/Too_Much_Security.pdf

Malke

 

[too-old-for-this]

well, sir (if you're not a 'sir', mea culpa), i took your advice... i found
the CCleaner, Malware, and Avira programs you mentioned, and
downloaded/installed them... SOME of the stuff i had is gone, but not all of
it (working up the courage to lose my existing A/V, Spybot, and AdAware
stuff). i haven't noticed any changes YET, but 'first runs' on the CCleaner
and Avira programs were interesting, to say the least.

secondary question: will the programs you mentioned work within a 'scheduled
scan' protocol, or does the comp. have to be up and running first? i let it
go into 'standby' at bedtime, so it's nice to know ahead of time if they can
'wake up' the comp, do their thing, then let it go back to standby mode...

 

[too-old-for-this]

it may be overkill, given what i'm running for equipment, but Microsoft MSE
was touted (an another thread) as a worthwhile program... some bad reviews
(to be expected, it's a 'beta' release!), but overall, a good program.
should i leave well-enough alone, or replace some of what i currently have
with it? (i know, EU's are a PITA!)

 

[Malke]

it may be overkill, given what i'm running for equipment, but Microsoft
MSE was touted (an another thread) as a worthwhile program... some bad
reviews (to be expected, it's a 'beta' release!), but overall, a good
program. should i leave well-enough alone, or replace some of what i
currently have
with it? (i know, EU's are a PITA!)

I don't have anything to add to what I already told you. Read the article I
wrote and stop tinkering this way. You are making your system unusable and
probably not protecting it the way you think you are.

EOT for me.

Malke