What should I run with Avast for good all-around protection?

[brownsfan019]

I was running Avast and Security Essentials, but those 2 do not play nice anymore together. I also see on the forums that it's not recommended to do that anyways.

I like Avast and it will be my primary, but is there other program(s) that can compliment it w/o creating errors galore on my systems?

Thanks!

[DavidR]

If you haven't already got this software (freeware), download, install, update and run it periodically.

• 1.  MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM), On-Demand only in free version http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/malwarebytes/mbam-setup.exe, right click on the link and select Save As or Save File (As depending on your browser), save it to a location where you can find it easily later.
• 2. SUPERantispyware (SAS). On-Demand only in free version.

Don't worry about reported tracking cookies they are a minor issue and not one of security, allow SAS to deal with them though. - See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie.

You can add either or both of these as on-demand scanners or if you wish purchase a one time life-time license for MBAM Pro or SAS Pro, but not both as essentially these anti-spy/malware applications follow the same guideline of only one resident anti-spy/malware application.

If you elect to have a Pro version of one of them it shouldn't conflict with avast.

[Gargamel360]

System Image backup

Malwarebytes

SuperAntiSpyware

WinPatrol

A 2-way Firewall (Online Armor, PrivateFirewall, Comodo, Outpost, native Windows FW w/Advanced Security unless you have XP or older)

Firefox w/ various security add-ons (NoScript, AdblockPlus, RequestPolicy, BettterPrivacy, etc.

Sandbox your browser, either with Avast! Pro's sandbox or something like Sandboxie.

All that together might = overkill, definitely don't try all at once, but good options there.  Definitely better than running two residents AV's like you were doing.

[brownsfan019]

Thanks for the suggestions and quick response!

[Nesivos]

Even though a lot of people here don't like Windows Defender I have had no problem running it along with SAS and avast! in Real-time

On Demand scanners that I use include McAfee Stinger (Very useful for scanning Windows Backups Image Files in case you unknowingly backed up some Malware.  It will also scan your computer's Boot Sectors including the MBR).

I have also used MSFT Standalone Systems Sweeper.  This runs from a bootable CD and/or USB Flash Drive and boots you directly to the program to scan.  

Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper Beta is not a replacement for a full antivirus solution providing ongoing protection; it is meant to be used in situations where you cannot start your PC due to a virus or other malware infection.

http://connect.microsoft.com/systemsweeper

[Gargamel360]

Thanks for the suggestions and quick response!

Welcome 

[DavidR]

Thanks for the suggestions and quick response!

You're welcome.

Never was much of a fan of windows defender (WD) so it was never installed on this XP system. That perception of WD took a further nose dive when I got my win7 netbook and win7 comes with WD installed and you 'can't uninstall it,' you are only able to disable it. Perhaps my dissatisfaction should be directed as MS rather than WD for this inability to completely remove it.

[Nesivos]

Thanks for the suggestions and quick response!

You're welcome.

Never was much of a fan of windows defender (WD) so it was never installed on this XP system. That perception of WD took a further nose dive when I got my win7 netbook and win7 comes with WD installed and you 'can't uninstall it,' you are only able to disable it. Perhaps my dissatisfaction should be directed as MS rather than WD for this inability to completely remove it.

It does use a good deal of memory which of course won't happen if you disable it.  Shouldn't cause any problems if disabled just use some HDD space.   I don't think that you can uninstall IE9 either.  You can however turn it off under Programs and Features.  Of course IE9 is not applicable to XP.

[DavidR]

Well you can uninstall IE9 as win7 came with IE8, so you would be reverting to IE8 which you can't only remove the selection of the browser element (outside the US were browser choice is selectable) as you mention not its integration.

Looks like we will see something different in windows 8 where IE 10 or whatever won't be tightly integrated into the OS. Which is what I really don't like about it (along with activeX and BHOs), as essentially even if you don't use IE you still have to get the updates.

[Nesivos]

Well you can uninstall IE9 as win7 came with IE8, so you would be reverting to IE8 which you can't only remove the selection of the browser element (outside the US were browser choice is selectable) as you mention not its integration.

Looks like we will see something different in windows 8 where IE 10 or whatever won't be tightly integrated into the OS. Which is what I really don't like about it (along with activeX and BHOs), as essentially even if you don't use IE you still have to get the updates.

The only time I wind up using any of IE9 is when I want to use Firefox addon IE Tab2 (FF 3.6+) to view a website.  It uses the IE9 engine and opens the URL in an IE9 tab.  I like this addon for several reasons.

1.  I don't have to have two full Browsers open at once to view these webpages or use IE9 rather than FF as my main browser.
2.  I can more easily control when I use the IE9 engine then by having to open IE9 to view one page and close it when I am done with the webpage.
3.  I can do it on-demand for a webpage or on a saved basis for that a webpage.
4.  I can have it set, which I do so that the IE tab opens separately from the FF tab.  This way when I close the IE tab I will still be at the website with FF.

A great addon.  There are a number of similar ones on the FF Addon website but I prefer this one

I am not sure why I can't see the complete webpage on some websites when I am using FF.  However, if I were to guess I would say that it is because of one or more of my FF addons.   The addon is blocking certain content for security reasons.  SISTO that by using this addon which renders the webpage in IE I could be exposing myself to some security vulnerability that I wasn't when I viewed the webpage in FF.   Of course IE9 has its own ways to check for website related Malware.  Though to be honest I kind of always cross my fingers when I use the addon to render a webpage in IE9.  Don't do it very often and I haven't noticed any security issues resulting from doing it.

[brownsfan019]

It's nice that a couple of those are one-time fees if you do upgrade, so that's not too bad.

[brownsfan019]

Bumping this thread as I am doing some upgrades to computers and wanted to see if the recommended free combo still is:

1) Avast
2) Super Anti-Spyware
3) Malwarebytes

Just need a combo pack of freeware for some basic computers that can play nice with each other.

Thanks for any recommendations!

[DavidR]

The combination you mention shouldn't be an issue with avast, provided 2&3 are the free versions they shouldn't be an issue between themselves.

However, many people with will go with one or the other of 2&3, but they have slightly different feature sets and SAS I feel has some good system Repair tools that aren't present in MBAM.