How much protection is enough?

[sonic]

Just wondering how protected are you?

I have on my comp the following..Avast/spybot/adaware/Advanced windows care.

I was just on my phone with HP tech support about a back-up issue i am having & he told me i have "too many" virus/spam programs that may be slowing down my system. I always though the more the better?

He said i should just keep Avast & make sure my ISP provides a firewall.

Whats up with that?

[Silver Bullet]

I personally just run AVG AV free version and that's it. If you careful about what you open and click on, you don't really need much at all.

[hades]

I have McAfee Security Center 2008. Cost me 5$. Never had a spyware/virus/etc problem.

I'm not going to install 1548 pieces of software, that many programs will have the same affect as the malware they are designed to protect.

hades

[CheapScotsman]

I run a hardware firewall and a couple of times a year I run spybot and a online virus scanner. Never had a virus, etc.

[ipxxx]

If you careful about what you open and click on, you don't really need much at all.

+1

[TotallyKiller]

Things to have:

1) Firewall (always on)
2) Anti Virus (always on)
3) 3 different Spyware/Adware tools (none are good enough by themselves - these would mostly be run on a scheduled task, not taking up too many system resources)
4) Trojan detector (Stinger is a good one - again, only run when required)

With these you'll have all you need and only the Firewall and AV would be running in the background.

[zoolander]

Porn will bust ya sooner or later

[darius_m5]

Just be careful when doing p2p stuff. Limewire is a hacker's dream come true for spreading botnets.
If you aren't careful on what you click on, then download the Noscript plugin for Firefox. After installing it, go to whatever "Free Serialz" or "Direct Download Warez" site you want.

[board123]

Porn will bust ya sooner or later

Only if you run around in circles on random TGP sites.

[CSAgent]

I personally just run AVG AV free version and that's it. If you careful about what you open and click on, you don't really need much at all.

Yep, all I got too.

[teknoluv]

I agree very much with others who said its your "online LIFESTYLE" that dictates how much protection you need.

[Andrewm]

www.ubuntu.com

No viruses, no spyware, no sluggish system registry.

and heck, I even play TF2 and Spore on it.

[JAC]

www.ubuntu.com

No viruses, no spyware, no sluggish system registry.

And seemingly random system support between versions.

[ShadowVlican]

I personally just run AVG AV free version and that's it. If you careful about what you open and click on, you don't really need much at all.

+1 except i use AntiVir instead of AVGFree

[gordholio]

I just bought a router (Linksys WRT54GL for doing the Tomato thing for faster torrents) and will setup the firewall through it.
I also have NOD32.
If you frequent porn sites and other shady sites, then you have a higher risk of problems.

My neighbour is trying to push Ubuntu (Linux) on me, but I don't like Linux, except for just experimenting with it a bit in the past.