how many of these programs do I need?

Hello,

Since getting my new computer a few months ago I've been finding out about all the nasties out there I need to protect myself from. The thing is, the more I find out, the more programs there seem to be that I need to have. I have Norton anti-virus, Zone Alarm, Sbybot S&D and Cookies Manager. I pretty much understand what all these do. When reading up on Sbybot I found a recommendation for Spywareblaster, so I got that too. So far so good. I mostly understand how that works but I would appreciate any tips for my internet security settings concerning ActiveX now, perhaps I can disable some of the constant prompts about whether I want to allow ActiveX/scripts?

Anyway, my main question is what other programs do you experts recommend for a secure computer? I like to understand what all these things do. Do I need Ad-Aware as well as Spybot? It seems that people recommend SpywareGuard as well, can someone explain how this is different from the other stuff? What is HijackThis?

Sorry, loads of questions, but I'm eager to learn. Can't remember even half the programs I have seen recommended in various places. Basically, I'd like to protect against as much as poss without getting four programs that do the same thing and take up space and memory unnecessarily.

Thanks

 

Hi boac,

More reading: http://boards.cexx.org/viewtopic.php?t=957
Security settings are expleined pretty well there, among other things.

Regards,

Pieter