One for the technical gurus...

[druadan]

Just ordered a new laptop; can someone recommend me some decent free protection?

Running AVG anti-virus and ZoneAlarm firewall at the moment. I've heard AVG is good, but also been recommended Avast...any opinions? Also, ZoneAlarm does have an anti-virus function which I have turned off (as AVG is doing that)...I'm sure I would have done this for a reason (it was years ago), is the ZoneAlarm anti-virus not as good?

Alternatively, anyone got better firewall and anti-virus programs?

Should I have anything else running as well? I've heard adware and spyware are both good things to have, true or waste of time/resources? If true, any recommendations?

I'll be running Vista (at least initially) if that makes any difference. Anyone know of any problems reformatting a dual core computer and installing XP instead (it's on 32-bit Vista, not 64)?

Many thanks...

[SO19]

Hello mate, I've never used Avast, but I have used AVG in the past and always remember being happy with it. If you're already running ZoneAlarm however, I would reccomend staying put with it's scanner, purely because then you have one less program to worry about bogging you down. I can't comment on it being inferior to AVG as I've never come accross that before.

I'm running McAfee Total Protection these day's for both anti-vuris & firewall as I've found it the most responsive out of all the other big packages, plus I've never experienced the slow down you get with the likes of ZoneAlarm, or Norton. I also believe McAfee now have a free scanner too.

All I would say is try to stay away from over bloated applications and try to have one program that deals with everything. Can't help with your reformatting question, but providing your comp can handle it, stick with Vista - it does grow on you.

[druadan]

Cheers mate, the computer should be fine with it (2.5Ghz Duo 2 Core with 4Gb RAM), more worried about compatibility issues etc (eg. my phone software doesn't work with Vista). I'll give it a whirl and see how it goes.

What do you mean by slowdown with ZoneAlarm? Connection speeds or using excess resources?

Anyone any comments on adware/spyware?

[SO19]

Yeah, I just found it to be a system hog, that's all - you probably won't even notice it on your new machine anyway.

As for spyware/adware, I'm pretty sure ZoneAlarm has that one covered mate, as do most other virus proggies.

[Wholley]

AVG is a great anti-virus prog.
I use AVG 8.0 which is not free but works a lot better than Norton.
Spybot is another I have used previously.
I have Vista on my lap-top and XP on the desk.
Not much difference really.

[davidemmerson]

Wholley, I've had a look around for Spybot and tried downloading it but got a lot of broken links. Did you buy it or do you know a working URL where I can get it from?

Thanks.

[SO19]

http://www.download.com is good for all sorts of stuff...

http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-D ... 22137.html

[Beast]

AVG is ok for home use.
Avast gets my vote along with BitDefender.

[druadan]

Ta muchly.

Got Windows Firewall running along with Windows Defender (spyware/malware) at the moment, plus AVG, just to get me started. Will look around some of the other suggestions.

Have been recommended elsewhere something along the lines of Protowall or Peerguardian, which appear to block mass attacks or something. One problem...wtf?! Anyone care to explain?

[jabcrosshook]

I use Avast and it's the shizzle.

[Beast]

Protowall or Peerguardian are other types of Firewalls.
Windows own protects you to a certain level and is really average for the home user.
Most 'Internet Security' packages now include Anti-Virus and Forewall software and run together as one instead of running multiples copies of software hogging up system resources.
Have a look into BitDefender Internet Security 2008 which i use for my home PC. Its cheap for a yearly licence of £20.49 and puts your mind at rest.
Electronic download and its done.
http://www.bitdefender.co.uk/site/Buy/d ... -2008.html
I well recommend it.
Careful with other complicated packages like Norton which hogs system resources like mad and slows down your PC.
Goodluck in whatever you choose.

[Sully]

I'd agree with SO19 about bloated protection programs - I have seen them really slow down a box. I use AVG 8 (free) anti virus and Zonealarm (free) firewall although I think I probably don't need the firewall on the Vista machine - as Vista has an in and out protection now (XP used to only be inbound protection). I usually only have Zonealarm remember the obvious programs like firefox and thunderbird (email) - so it lets me know if any other programs are trying to connect to the net. Apart from all that I think the best protection I have is provided by my wireless router because it blocks all unused ports.

The best thing I have come across is Winpatrol http://www.winpatrol.com/ It's free although I paid for the plus version because it's that good. It doesn't check threats against known exploits (by definition the cowboys will always be a few steps behind the indians) it just lets you know if a program is doing something that it shouldn't or if any program is behaving strangely - so it's approach to protection is to man the gates rather than continually searching the inside. I've never had a virus infection.

Vista is a resource hog but I think that's because of the 'pre-fetching' that it does so it should speed up tasks that you do a lot. If you switch off the aero desktop and the widgets then it should be ok. I'm thinking of dual-booting my Vista computer with XP because of some compatibility problems running older programs. I was going to use this guide http://www.pronetworks.org/forum/about88231.html I've set up dual boot computers before but only XP/linux. I've read that the Vista bootloader can be tricky but if you have disks for both operating systems then you can play around and if it doesn't work you can reload whichever operating system you like - make sure that you have the XP drivers for your laptop hardware before you load XP (if you do).

I have heard that if you bittorrent then Peerguardian 2 is a must. I'm not aware of it being used as a firewall as such, it blocks IP addresses that are known to be used by music industry companies and groups opposed to filesharing. You can subscribe to other 'block' lists that block IP addresses of other unsavoury entities like microsoft, government and spyware/adware merchants. I don't think you can use it with Vista yet.

[lostplanet]

I vote AVG 8, spybot, spywareblaster all free....

you could add another which prevents nastys getting on you system through your browser.

I have been using it for a long time.

spywareblaster: it monitors places you visit and attempts to control bad content downloading automatically. it has to be kept up to date regular to work well.

if you get it from here they also do lots of other free and useful stuff.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/SpywareBlaster_d2859.html

you can also get spybot from here too.

another nice app is CCleaner which gets rid of crap that builds up over time slowing down your lappy.
get the slim version here without the yahoo toolbar

http://www.majorgeeks.com/CCleaner_Slim ... d4191.html

set not to remove cookie all the time so you keep ya passwords intact.

Also I have seen a hell of a lot of a problem called AV2009, smitfraud and variants. a good program to keep on drive but not install until you need it is this:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Malwarebytes_ ... d5756.html

for more info on PCs and comps in general and any questions you may have visit this excellent site:
http://www.pcmech.com/
http://www.pcmech.com/forum/

and last but not least an excellent site for removal and advice on unwanted malware/spyware/adware etc:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/
be patient in the forums, they are run by volunteers:
http://www.spywareinfoforum.com/

HTH

[lostplanet]

I'll be running Vista (at least initially) if that makes any difference. Anyone know of any problems reformatting a dual core computer and installing XP instead (it's on 32-bit Vista, not 64)?

Many thanks...

Stick with 32 bit vista/XP for the time being, you won't really notice any real world difference between 64 bit and 32 once you have it filled up with grot.
there is less support for 64 bit software at the moment.

as regards reinstall of XP, if you have a copy of XP it will be fairly easy to install.
you can buy a genuine copy of XP home for about £60 ring them to order if they get shitty about a piece of hardware try Scan below instead.
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spec ... ?MS-WXPHVU

Xp Home alternative site:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebP ... ce=froogle

a problem you may come up against though is finding XP drivers for the laptops internals. I've had this with a couple of Dells recently but fortunately some friendly people had put a pack of drivers out there to get the thing running.

The dual core CPU bit doesn't care what operating system you have, guessing it's an Intel there will be a driver available as part of the chipset driver pack.

when you enter 'task manager'(maybe not vista??)right click task bar> choose 'task manager'>performance>you will see 2 windows in CPU usage history. this tells you that the CPU is running Dual core.

check device manager (after XP install) to see what needs installing by yellow warining sign next to it.
start>right click mycomputer>properites>Harware tab>Device manager> anyhting not happy will have an exclamation mark next to it. theres a way to find out what it is, which i can post here later on.

In fact its probably best to do a good search around to see what drivers are avaiable before you do the reformat. Vista will come good and if it runs ok i'd leave it on. Update it with all the latest microsoft patches and service packs....
The only reason i'd switch to XP is if you have a particular program that won't run on Vista or you just hate vista.

HTH