you guys like all in one solutions or not?

[bhome83]

I was thinking of just buying norton internet security as an all in one solution instead of download various programs for spyware, malware, viruses, trojans, etc etc. There is too much out there to choose from. Do you guys just stick with one 'do it all program' or do you like to pick and choose? too much to choose from I tell ya!

[law99]

I build my own suite from free highly rated programs, as do many others.
Norton is often the cause of problems, there are better ones to buy & I don't mean McAfee.
I do like McAfee's SiteAdvisoer

[shadowpr]

I use a variety of programs. They seem to work nicely.

Only real suite I would personally consider is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832738042

But I think the free programs I have do just as good.

[Panama Red]

Aye! An' here's the rub matey. There is no "all in one solution"!! No single antiviurus, antispyware, or firewall/security suite will provide total protection. That's the reason so many of us do what law99 suggests and use several free, highly rated programs. Used to be many of us here recommended Adaware in combination with Spybot-Search and Destroy. Now that Adaware has become bloated and Spybot alone won't stop all the baddies, we've added new programs to our personal arsenals. There are several threads in the Software/System Security asking the age old question, "What are the best anti (fill in the blank) programs?"

[bhome83]

me did a search but didn't find anything. kinda weird cuz i only get 2 pages of threads in the system security forum total w/o doing a search...

anywho, its been a while since i asked around "what programs are you guys using to keep your computer clean?" not sure if some have become obsolete, if someone can recommend me some good ones, virus scaners, antispammers, firewalls, disk cleanup and disk defraggers etc etc.

Thanks alot for the help!

[David M]

You dont need to spend a dime to protect your computer from malware or intruders. You need multilayer protection and no one cure-all suite of pay-for-software like Norton or McAffee does that. Don't piss away your money on that stuff.

[law99]

AVG 8, Antivir, Avast are good free AVs, check them out & use the one you like.
MalwareBytes, SUPERAntispyware, & SpyBot (Immunize-maybe Teatimer) as manual scanners. + a-squared
SpywareBlaster & SpywareGuard. Blockers
ATF Cleaner or CCleaner (has a registry cleaner)
Auslogics defrag
I use ZoneAlarm firewall
FireFox browser with addons is safer than IE
McAfee SiteAdviser

http://www.mechbgon.com/build/security2.html

[Strider]

After all the years of installing anti-virus programs, firewalls, and anti-spyware programs, I have come to a simple solution for me. I go by the acronym KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid), by this I mean I only run a free Anti-Virus program (AVG) and use Windows Vista's built in firewall. That's it the only two protection programs that I run and I have been running this way for over 2 years without any major problems.

I don't use Peer-To-Peer programs (Kazaa for example) and I don't go to unsavory websites, by doing this I also believe this keeps my computer relatively safe. I know nothing is completely bullet proof, but I find this is better than going overboard. I also have had bad luck in the past with Norton and McAfee software which I won't go in to details for it would be a long story. ;)

[glc]

AVG Free 8.0 is both an antivirus and antispyware now. Between that, my router, and XP Firewall (ZA 4.5 on the 2K box), that's plenty. I do keep various manual scanners around just in case.

I do have Spybot S&D installed, and I keep the immunize up to date. I do not use TeaTimer. I also have Spyware Blaster and keep it up to date. Neither of these run in the background, they do their protection by making registry and hosts file entries.

[perkster]

like GLC i use just AVG 8 and windows Xp firewall.

I have installed:
Hijack this
ccleaner
spybot search and destroy
adaware 2007
etc.

if i need to run manual scans etc.

[glc]

Adaware 2007/2008 installs startup services. I no longer use it because of that.

[shadowpr]

Avast antivirus
Spyware Blaster
Spybot Search & Destroy
Malwarebytes CCleaner