Which Avast product to get?

[carney]

Is there an elegant way to set up AIS with only AV and Firewall protection, i.e., without all the other bells and whistles like Email, IM, Web, yada, yada, yada shields? I neither want nor need all the other extras.

I have yet to come across a security suite that does NOT degrade browser performance when fully enabled. I can't live with that.

[Pondus]

if you do the custom install you can select not to install email, im an yada yada yada

ibut i would install the webshield....this is what protect you when surfing and detect infected websites

download trail version and test. 

[steaming]

And email, IM, yadda, ya... I mean etc., protects your system from malicious loads in links within those, doesn't make the installation inelegant or increase the amount of resources used in any significant way.

You'll probably want to untick Google Toolbar on the free (trial?) installation package's first page, choose custom installation there, then click on "Custom" again on the next page of the install package (and untick whatever you think you won't need or use).

[carney]

Knowing that I can tick those options off with a custom install is helpful. Thanks.

[carney]

Sorry for being such a pain, but I have another question. Is it possible to configure the Avast firewall to default to deny outgoing access for programs until given permission to do so? In other words, I would rather the default not allow outgoing access to programs until I grant that access.

[Asyn]

Is it possible to configure the Avast firewall to default to deny outgoing access for programs until given permission to do so?

Yes.