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Cheap and easy to maintain security for a new HP Vista computer?

Okay, I just bought a really decent Vista equipped computer that I have yet to set up on the internet. Have friends that swear by Ad-aware, crap-cleaner, and spybot plus a windows firewall. 1-are those three programs good enough to protect me? I'm not a computer expert, but not a dummy either. I want something to protect against junk on the web as I will have broadband connection, however I don't want the programs themselves to slow me down to begin with. 2-Are these programs free? How do I know they don't come downloaded with spyware/malware of their own? 3-If I hook my PC up to the net and go download the programs as the VERY FIRST THING I do on the net, will I be for the most part okay as long as I run each program to sweep for whatever might have gotten in while my PC was unprotected?? 4-Do you have any other suggestions of freeware that is good to protect a computer? I'd like to have mine for years to come, cause it certianly cost enough!! Any questions cause PCs seem to get complicated really fast, email me: j.romanoli926@yahoo.com Thanks!

Public Comments

1. 1. Yes they are enough to protect you, but in keep in mind that they actually don't protect you, they REMOVE things AFTER they've already entered your computer. If you want to prevent malware from getting on your computer in the first place, you might want to consider getting an antivirus however (the most recommended free antiviruses are AVG and Avast), but as you said, they can slow you down because they are always running in the background and scanning stuff etc. or you can try Spyware Blaster. 2. Yes they are free. You can find them on download.com. They don't come with spyware/malware of their own because it has been tested by professionals (like CNET.com) and they would not be so popular if they were not safe. 3. I don't understand why everyone is so paranoid about catching things. You won't catch anything if you're careful and don't download stupid things. So you will be completely fine if you use the Internet without protection for a few minutes to download these programs. It's practically impossible that you will catch ANYTHING during this time.
2. If you must connect to the internet to download, make sure you have Windows Firewall turned on at the very least. Don't connect otherwise. Better still get a friend to download this stuff for you and install it on your pc. You will need antivirus software - I recommend Avast or Antivir but only one Get them here (safely) for free http://www.filehippo.com/download_avast_antivirus/ or http://www.filehippo.com/download_antivir/ Once the antivirus software has downloaded, disconnect from the internet; then install the antivirus software! I prefer Spybot Search & Destroy to adaware; you can also add Spywareblaster which works well with Spybot. http://www.filehippo.com/download_spybot_search_destroy/ http://www.filehippo.com/download_spywareblaster/ CCleaner is an excellent tool which you should run regularly; make sure you close your browser IE or Firefox when you run it http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/
3. switch to linux
4. AVG free for anti virus and anti spyware Zonealarm free for firewall Windows Defender for anti spyware. www.grisoft.com/free AVG www.zonealarm.com Zonealarm www.microsoft.com Windows Defender Also running crap cleaner from time to time should help your computer run, and adaware will get anything AVG and windows Defender miss. Spybot if fairly good, but takes up too much resources and slows boot time, and has way too many popups. These programs dont have spyware if you download them from their companies website. As for No.3: Yes you will be fine. Normally, I leave a computer online about an hour before I restart for the zonealarm installation, and nothing has ever come through.
5. Avast is the answer you seek. I swear by it, I love avast more then any other program because one, its free, two it will tell me WHILE downloading the exact moment something with a trojan or virus pops up so I dont have to have it sit on my computer for 24 hours eating away at files, and then quarintine my entire harddrive because the program does not do its job. did i mention it was free? oh and i have mine set up to download updates every day cant get much easier then that