Vista 64 bit

Hello old friends,

After many years of safe computing on XP, my old Desknote laptop finally succumbed to...............a spilled cup of coffee courtesy of my 7yo daughter!

So I splashed out on a new desktop system
core 2 quad 6600 8Gb ram vista ultimate 64 bit

Anyway, it has Trend Micro Internet Security Pro 2008 and Windows Defender is running, but I haven't installed any other security apps yet.

I used to run Ewido (AVG) anti-malware and still have a licence, but not sure about the 64 bit compatibility, Anyway I notice that it's now bundled with an AVG antivirus and no longer a stand alone app.

Spyware Blaster?
Spybot S&D?
Adaware?
Are these still viable apps worth having?

Anyway, any advice on some apps that I should be running. I'm a bit lost on Vista.

Thanks in advance.
Cheers,
Brad.

 

You will hear a dozen different reasons to run a dozen different AV's. Myself I prefer norton 2008 with antispyware. And I love Vista

The new spywareblaster is nice, works well. Nice new GUI. The other two you mentioned I would pass on myself though I imagine someone still uses them.
The UAC feature in Vista is a nice security feature, I suggest you leave it enabled. There are some that really load up on security apps but I have learned that a good minamalist approach works well in Vista. Norton AV+antispyware,spywareblaster, windows defender, and common sense.I also use a hardware firewall (not a router) and Opera Browser.

bigc

 

Last I remember ewido/AVG AS did not have 64-bit support.

The first one I leave up to you; I personally dont care for immunization.

As for Spybot and Adaware, theyre obsolete. SUPERAntiSpyware and a-squared are better if you want ondemand scanners.

 

Vista64

- router FW (Nat/SPI no DPI)
- LUA in quiet mode
- Avast 4.8 free
- HauteSecure
- Defender (things that HS checks set off)

I have bought PRSC also runs on Vista64, but like BigC says less is more. Son is happy with gaming performance on dual core @ 3,2 Ghz and OC-ed 8800GTS

 

I'm running x64, so maybe I can help you out a bit...

I'd skip spybot, but spywareblaster runs great. I have SuperAntiSpyware (paid) running flawlessly, along with Comodo's firewall (Defense+ active), winpatrol free and Avira free. I'm also running this behind a router with DD-WRT firmware running NAT and SPI, wireless disabled.

As for prior experience, I tried AVG 8, and it was a mess on my computer, I'd advise against it based on personal experience. I had a free license for a year, and I still tossed it. I have a 3 year license for Kaspersky internet security, and while it ran well for the most part, there was a HUGE issue with slowdowns while browsing *certain* sites; Anandtech's forums, for an example. Their forums would take 1-2 minutes to load fully, if it did at all.

If I were doing this all over again, I'd stick with Spywareblaster, SAS Pro (I'm a fan of the realtime protection), Comodo (at least until Online Armor comes out for Vista) and either Avira or Avast.

For the record, I'm running close to the same setup as you (vista home premium, 8GB ram, 3.2Ghz CPU after OC) and I've had NO performance issues with my current setup.