i had to reinstall vista on my pc, and the spyware protection i used to have is no longer free......

i had spybot, spyware doctor, and a-squared free....

what protection does anyone here recommend ? obviously free protections are preferred....hehe....

and also what browser do you recommend?

thanks,
MILM

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"It is more about them than it is about the team...Cannot play with them, cannot win with them, cannot coach with them. Can't do it. I want winners. I want people that want to win." - Mike Singletary

Tyler Myers - Future captain of the Buffalo Sabres, and future Norris Trophy Winner

Manning the machine gun on the Tyler Myers Bandwagon - just in case any teams have an idea of prying him away from us (3 GM's shot already)

Connolly/Roy - 2 goals in the last 47 playoff games

I've been using Avira...works fine for me.

Dumb question, I know

Do use an big name antivirus software (in addition) or is all your protection free? I'm getting kind of tired of paying all this money every year and renewal is up next month. I would love to do away with Norton. I already did away with McAfee on another pc and Avast seems to be doing well on that one.

Firefox
Opera
Chrome
Safari

(anything that doesn't rhyme with "IE" is best )

I'll just get this out of the way early on...

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Well there's something to consider.
What you're talking about (I'm assuming) is a product that's all-inclusive system security (read: antivirus, firewall, file protection, malware protection, registry protection etc.).
For just antivirus, you can get something like AVG free...no cost, works as well as the paid software.
You can also piecemeal together other software packages (most for free) to accomplish the same task as the security software you run now.

If you want the complete package easily though, you're going to have to go with a paid product like you use now.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

I have a Norton subscription - it's all right, but I'm not sure that it's worth the money, honestly.

It's still quite a system hog - although this year's version is much better than it used to be. But it's memory consumption is still higher than I'd prefer.

Free software seems to do the trick for me just as well. Avira has real time virus and malware protection and scans USB media as well. It seems to be pretty comprehensive.

I also have Spybot, which is a great program, but I don't run it in the background as Avira seems to conflict with it.

The number one way to keep your computer secure is not to get viruses in the first place. If you're diligent, the antivirus program is essentially another layer of security, not the main one.

Im using MacAfee and it works just fine for me. to get the whole package you need a comcast email address though.

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Check out my website: http://www.artistzero.com

"That wasn't very nice...I do believe you killed my hat."

Driver of the FIRE LINDY RUFF Bandwagon since 2008.

This.

I've also had good results with Windows Defender. Works pretty well, not that intrusive or a resource whore.

Then again, I spend more time in OS X and Ubuntu that I probably shouldn't give too much Windows advice. (Although I just upgraded to 7 at home, and that's not horrible.)

I could never recommend paying subscriptions for the Norton's and McAfee's of the world. Too many good free anti-viruses out there that take up less system resources and even at times have higher detection rates than the pay services. If you must pay though, look up ESET Nod32 or Smart Security (if you want a firewall packaged as well). Very lightweight and one of the best anti-viruses in the business.

If you're looking for free, I suggest Avira AntiVir, avast! or AVG Free. Any of them should get the job done. I personally use Avira AntiVir, rigged up to ignore the ad that pops up because it's the free version, as well as Windows Defender just for kicks since it came with Windows 7.

But always, the best protection against viruses and spyware is common sense.

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well....i ended up going with time warner's spy/malware protection for my pc....
however, my gf has windows 7 and it is not compatible with her mc afee....so basically i am only looking for a spy/malware protection to go with her macafee...any suggestions for just that ?

and i am deciding between google chrome or firefox for a browser...i've only always used IE and i am tired of it "not responding"

_________________
"It is more about them than it is about the team...Cannot play with them, cannot win with them, cannot coach with them. Can't do it. I want winners. I want people that want to win." - Mike Singletary

Tyler Myers - Future captain of the Buffalo Sabres, and future Norris Trophy Winner

Manning the machine gun on the Tyler Myers Bandwagon - just in case any teams have an idea of prying him away from us (3 GM's shot already)

Connolly/Roy - 2 goals in the last 47 playoff games

What does she have as part of McAfee? Just antivirus? A lot of them are combined antivirus/antispyware.

For spyware protection, I'd go with Spybot.

Definitely Firefox over Chrome. Especially once you install Adblock.

I used AVG free for years, but recently bought the AVG package and it is a resource pig. I am going back to the free version. I used to have Norton, but ran an AVG scan and found Trojans that Norton missed. I dont miss IE since using Firefox. I tried Safari, but didnt like it for the PC.

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I try to think, but nuttin happens.......Curley Howard
There is no past as it exists merely as a slippery bond tying the memories of the past to the dreams of the future.............Me
If we started life as an old person and lived until we were young, we would eventually finish off fucked as an orgasm.......George Carlin

As for paid software, I think Kaspersky is the best. I have had no problems with that.

I currently use the free version of AVG on 3 different computers and it has pretty good protection.

I'm still an internet explorer guy as well. Don't ask me why.

Okay, so don't go big name. If you haven't made a decision yet. McAfee, Norton/Symantec, they both use up a TON of system resources, with little reward. I would suggest Avast as free virus scanner, because it is an active scanner (it is scanning files as they're being downloaded/used/modified, so in theory it will catch the virus before it actually infects your system). The big names are reactive; they scan at scheduled times for existing infections. I used Avira for a while, but it missed things.

For spyware/malware, use Malwarebytes.

For a browser; most definitely google chrome, with IE7 as a backup for some things that just don't work in chrome.

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I would agree with the majority of this, it's a good setup, though I will updated media player to wmp11 and install k-lite mega pack. (simply because wmp does have the library).

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VLC as a media player and foobar2000 for the music library.

As Markus said before - for paid software I also would recommend Kaspersky. Have been using it for years and I'm very content with it.

I ditched Norton, McAfee, and Webroot Spy Sweeper after years of frustration and problems - ginormous resource hogs - and now am happy with just AVG Free.

Keep things clean and perky with CCleaner and Smart Defrag.

Oh, and I won't browse with IE ever again (except to get Windows updates). At the recommendation of others here, I switched to Firefox, and it's been lovely.

I work at a local retail store and paid antivirus wise....it pretty much goes as follows...

95% of people buy Kaspersky

1% buy webroot

1% buy trend micro

3% say "because they aren't doing a lot online" antivirus isn't required. Idiots.

Kaspersky, because of places like the former circuit city, and now Best Buy, has done very well for itself in the last few years.