Advice please about security programs

[madasahatter]

Can you advise me please? I have McAfee VirusScan Prof.and Firewall 4 installed. Also Spyware Blaster, Spybot,AdAware,Cookies Manager and Pop-up Stopper. Everything seems to be working okay but can you tell me if it is advisable to have so many on one computer and could they 'interfere' with one another and cause problems for me?

[Paranoid2000]

Welcome to the forums Madasahatter,

Any program that is only run "on demand" (this would include AdAware and Spybot) should cause no conflict. Those which run all the time as background tasks should be OK if they are doing different things. So running 2 anti-virus background tasks could be a problem (since they typically scan whenever a file is read or modified, they could end up tripping over each other) as could 2 firewalls (which can cause system crashes).

As for your setup, I see nothing there to cause conflict but would suggest using another browser than Internet Explorer (if you are not already, like Firefox (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/) or Opera (www.opera.com)) since it has so many security vulnerabilities. Similarly for Outlook Express (check out Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/) for a free replacement).

If you have a cable or DSL connection, getting a router (with its own firmware firewall) would be beneficial - this firewall would protect you from the majority of worm-based probes leaving your software firewall free to focus on controlling outgoing traffic. It would also allow you to share your Internet connection in a far more reliable fashion than Windows' own Internet Connection Sharing feature.

Software firewalls are only as good as their configuration. Take the time to go over yours to ensure that it is only allowing what needs to be allowed and blocking everything else. Check its ability to block malware from sending data out by looking at some of the leaktests available on GKWeb's (http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jugesoftware/firewallleaktester/eng/categories.htm) site and use an online scan site like PCFlank (www.pcflank.com) or GRC (http://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2) to check its ability to block incoming probes.

Anti-virus software has less to configure - but needs to be kept updated (at least weekly given the spread of viruses nowadays - and more often if you use IM, IRC or P2P applications).

If you feel yourself to be at increased risk (if you download from IRC or P2P a lot) then a specialised anti-trojan may be a good investment. An application firewall like System Safety Monitor (http://maxcomputing.narod.ru/ssme.html?lang=en) would also be a good addition to the arsenal of an experienced user.

There is lots of information posted here and elsewhere about all of the above so I would suggest familiarising yourself with it and, if you have more specific questions, do feel free to ask!

[bigc73542]

-{ Quote: "Can you advise me please? I have McAfee VirusScan Prof.and Firewall 4 installed. Also Spyware Blaster, Spybot,AdAware,Cookies Manager and Pop-up Stopper. Everything seems to be working okay but can you tell me if it is advisable to have so many on one computer and could they 'interfere' with one another and cause problems for me?" }-
I believe that I would add spywareguard to go along with spywareblaster.

[10390bc]

Madasahatter

I have most of the programs you listed, and a whole lot more on my computer without any problems. 8)

[Dazed_and_Confused]

-{ Quote: "Any program that is only run "on demand" (this would include AdAware and Spybot) should cause no conflict. Those which run all the time as background tasks should be OK if they are doing different things. " }-
Well put, Paranoid2K.

If what madasahatter has on his box would cause problems, my Dell would be smokin' by now! ;D

[Paranoid2000]

-{ Quote: "my Dell would be smokin' by now! ;D" }-Try swapping the power supply or motherboard and it certainly will be! (http://www.duxcw.com/dcforum/DCForumID3/436.html)

[Dazed_and_Confused]

-{ Quote: "Try swapping the power supply or motherboard and it certainly will be! (http://www.duxcw.com/dcforum/DCForumID3/436.html)" }-
Wow! But not a problem here. That type of mod is way above my head! ::)