Anti-Spyware and Anit-Virus software preferences

Hey everybody. I'm currently debating on what anti-spyware/adware and anti-virus software to install on my computer. I currently have Norton AntiVirus 2005 on my computer along with Ad-Aware SE Personal edition and Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta. For anti-spyware tools I have been debating on many software solutions. I was thinking of upgrading my Ad-Aware SE Personal to Ad-Aware SE Professional but have seen in the Ad-Aware support forums that people have had problems with this software. Another anti-spyware tool I was thinking of was Computer Associates PestPatrol. For anti-virus software I have looked at just keeping my Norton AntiVirus 2005. But there's also other's out there I haven't discovered yet. What I'm truly looking for in this thread is to have people to give there opinions on what anti-spyware and anti-virus software is best and most accurate. Thanks for your time and consideration for reading this thread.

This is my spyware setup, all I get is a couple rogue cookies, if that:

Ad-Aware SE Personal

SpywareBlaster

Spybot Search and Destroy


The first one run maybe once a month; the later two just update fairly frequently. SpywareBlaster prevents some 3100 various cookies and ActiveX controls from installing, and that list is growing. Spybot does some of the same kinda thing, but also is a great scanner to complement Ad-Aware.



As far as AV goes, you'll get a lot of mixed opinions; right now I'm using NAV05 and see no reason to switch.

I opened regedit and went to Edit > Find and typed in 'bearshare.' It found a registry key with some bearhsare crap. Microsoft AntiSpyware and Ad-Aware SE didn't find this in the searches. WTF?

I have no firewall/no antivirus/no spybot thing - only defense i have is a router and it serves me well

Damn.

It's possible it's just listing the install directory, where the unisntaller is... may be nothing harmful... directly, I don't trust most P2P software, but then again I've stopped using it anyway.

If you've uninstalled it though this is probably just registry junk buildup.

I use Trend Micro PC-Cillin, Spyware Doctor, Microsoft Anti-Spyware, and Webroot Spy Sweeper. They serve me well.

I use:
Sygate personal firewall
Ad-Aware Pro
NOD32-antivirus
Registry mechanic

I used Sygate and NOD32 in the past. They're both very good.

The best free firewall I've found is Kerio.



But why pay for all of this stuff when there are just as good if not better free solutions? The only thing I paid for is NSW since it has a ton of PC maintenance things, and I don't necessarily trust free apps to run rampant thorugh my registry to clean things up.


You're a lot like your supposed uncle 000. I don't know that I'm ready to swallow that story yet.

I'm feeling a lot of resistance to the story. Look at my first posts. The grammar is a lot different. Then I went away, my uncle came on for a while. Then, I took the sn back, as the asshole he can be dug a hole. I understand if you don't beleive it. The only reason I kept this sn is because of the post count that I contributed to.

I've used NOD32 before, I've found it to be a good anti-virus program. It has trouble accessing locked files. It has some compatability issues with Webroot Spysweeper, I noticed. I had to disable it when installing.

For spyware/adware I run Spybot S&D, AdAware SE and Spyware Blaster.

For antivirus I have completely dumped NAV for Kapersky AV. After running a full scan with norton once I ran Kapersky and it came up with 8 infected files. Besides the high detection rate I also like the fact that it does not completely destroy my system setup in terms of used ressources and preventing me from booting up altogether and registry problems. Norton worked for me about 6 years ago when I was running a Pentium I, but it has gotten progressively worse, imo.

My Big 4:

SpyBot S&D, AdAware by Lavasoft, SpywareBlaster, and of course, Avast! antivirus.

I've been fooling around with AntiVir for few weeks now on a spare machine, and its not had any issues. Its somewhat more comprehensive than Avast!, but uses more resources too. I refuse to use NAV, though I WILL keep my SystemWorks disc handy as long as it applies.

The most recent rendition of Spybot is quite nice- it has a registry tool that prevents ANYTHING from altering your registry unless you allow it.

The Windows Firewall is disabled on my main rig; I use the imbedded one in my mobo software, not too mention Kerio.

What other stuff would I use if I wanted to spend the money? Panda AV is excellent, and I have 8 or 9 discs of PcCillin, though older versions. I think I have 12 discs of NAV, and I'm certain there's some McAfee System-Resource Hog lying around somewhere. I'll stick with my freeware.

On another note, lately, I've been getting updated definitions from Avast! almost daily. I run scans every 3 days on average, and nearly daily I do manual update checks ( I turn off auto-updating on everything).

I currently have Norton AntiVirus installed on my computer. I downloaded a free trial of Kaspersky SecuritySuite. When I was installing the free trial it told me that it was advised to uninstall Norton so there would be no complications. Is there an alternate way of doing this. I don't want to just uninstall Norton AntiVirus which did cost money and came installed on my laptop and I don't have the setup c.d's. How do I go about installing Kaspersky without having to uninstall Norton? Thanks.