Avast firewall

[chrisw1]

Hi all. I am a newbie so be gentle with me please! You probably all know the answer to this, so hope someone can advise. I have windows 7 with Avast free antivirus installed. I think it is fantastic and probably the best antivirus I have had to date . And that includes paying for many of them.
I have recently had messages coming up saying windows defender needs to do a scan. So I did. Now it keeps asking me to scan. I don't even want it as understand it isn't very reliable . I would like to disable defender and rely on my Avast firewall as my computer is running really slow and I believe it could be that the 2 antivirus are at odds with each other. I am assuming it was activated with a windows update maybe? But first I need to know the following.
1. Does the firewall come with the free Avast? (my computer advises firewall on but don't know if it is defender or Avast).
2. If so, how do I turn defender off?
3. How do I ensure Avast firewall is on?

I hope someone can help me with this,
Thanks, Chrisw

[CraigB]

Avast free does not have a firewall so I guess what you do have is the windows firewall which is fine in win7.

Defender is windows default antispyware which isn't very good can be disabled by going to control panel and open Defender, click on tools/options/Administrator and untick the the use this program box.

[Dch48]

Craigb is right. Disable Defender since Avast does everything it does and more. Leave the Windows Firewall on since the free Avast does not have one.

[Para-Noid]

Here are some links for third party firewalls. None of which will conflict with avast free. 
Each are free and have HIPS (Host Intrusion Prevention Software).

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Firewall/Privatefirewall.shtml
http://www.filehippo.com/download_outpost_firewall/
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Firewall/Online-Armor-Free.shtml
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Firewall/Comodo-Personal-Firewall.shtml

[CraigB]

chrisw1 I'm not wanting to be rude and offend you but if you are in experienced in security and system software I would advise against using third party firewalls and stick with the standard windows 7 one you have already, it works well and silently

[Dch48]

I would agree, dealing with HIPS is not for the uninitiated. I don't even like it myself.

[true indian]

Oh! and by the way,Outpost free isnt for win7

[CraigB]

Oh! and by the way,Outpost free isnt for win7

That's because the standalone free version 6 was last updated in 2009

[chrisw1]

Thank you everyone for your very good advice and information . I have now disabled defender and checked to ensure windows firewall is enabled and all is well. My computer seems to me running more efficiently now and no intervention from defender. I did seem to lose my speaker volume icon and functions so did a windows update and selected standard updates (not defender!) and happy to say it has now returned. Thanks again for everyone’s help, it was very much appreciated.
Chris

[CraigB]

NP's, glad it's all running better for you now

[Dch48]

Just as a last option. The Windows Firewall does not filter outgoing connections in it's default state. It allows them all. In most cases that's fine but there is the small chance that if you somehow get infected with malware that wants to dial out and download more malicious stuff, it would be able to.  There are two free enhancements to the Windows Firewall that turn on the outgoing filtering and give you complete control over all connections to and from your PC.  One is called Windows 7 Firewall Control and the other is Windows Firewall Notifier. I have used both and they both work very well. The Firewall Control actually installs it's own module and always is running. The Firewall Notifier actually turns on the outgoing filtering of the built in Windows Firewall and gives you an interface to it which is very easy to use. It also only runs when connection attempts are made and shuts down otherwise.

The downside to both is that you will get a popup alert for every connection attempt that is made by every program on your computer the first time the attempt is made. Once you have chosen to either allow or block the connection, rules are created and no more alerts will occur. If you want to try one of the programs, I would recommend Windows Firewall Notifier. It's very easy to use and if you don't like it, you can uninstall it and the default state of the Windows Firewall will automatically be restored.

Of course another option is to purchase the full Avast Internet Security package which has a good firewall when set to ask and has no HIPS component. The choices are yours but for the great majority of people on Windows 7 especially, having a good strong Antivirus like Avast and the default Windows 7 Firewall is sufficient 99.999% of the time.