I have AOL and I'm sick and tired of it's AOL Safety & Security Center bogging down my computer. Starting up is a nighmare...it seems like it takes 5 minutes for the software to launch and uses up almost 100% of my CPU. It's frustrating when I need to quickly get on my computer. It does protect my computer pretty well. But are there any better options for Antivirus, Spam & Adware protection and a firewall?
for antivirus i like Norton and Zone Alarm. Look at the sunday paper or Fry's ad's in the paper. They usually come free with rebate Spysweeper is a good spyware remover or download Ad-aware for free....
its not really about a best one. you need though to have about 3 of them to cover your bases. just run them every couple of weeks on a schedule and your set.
A O Smell? Try AVG and Spybot... then get a better provider that doesn't have so much of it's own resource hogging spyware built in as part of their "service." Or not. AOL may be just fine for you... But a basic no frills dial-up provider was better in my experience. NetZero was even better.
I had AVG Free until it didn't pick up a spyware I ran. Had to use Kapersky trial to get rid of it. After the trial I'm going to use CA internet security I bought that will make me money after rebate.
use this trial for the spyware it worked wonders for me http://us.trendmicro.com/us/downloads/home-and-homeoffice/index.html
Agree on using 2 or 3 anti-spyware programs. They're FREE so you're not losing anything, and gaining extra protection and "coverage". Just use a different one each time like mentioned. Anti-virus, better stick with one. Firewall absolutely just use one. So, cuz I been looking up stuff myself, Anti-spyware: Ad-aware. Spybot S&D. AVG anti-spyware. Windows Defender. yep, all you need Anti-virus: AVG anti-virus (all I used so far of the free ones. not too shabby) Firewall: I use Sygate cuz its light on resources and easy. But its been discontinued after it got bought over by the Norton people. I'm sure it hasnt passed all the lastest "leak" tests like the newest firewalls so I'll be trying out others again. Temp folder/Excess file washer: CCleaner. Free Internet Window Washer 2.1 90% of spyware and spamware are in the temporary internet folders. So erasing those out removes the majority of it anyway, and enables the anti-spyware scans to run faster. Or, definitely give the online virus & spyware scanners a try, if you're not too worried about "privacy". There's more of them now and they seem to find a lot of crap the software programs dont for some reason. The reputable ones like Trend Micro, Bitdefender and Eset/Nod32 that remove them after they're found (some are just scan-only for some reason). And as always...lookout for those "false positives"
