Too much protection?

  • Thread starter Thread starter redpenner
  • Start date Start date
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redpenner

Hi, I need an expert opinion. I'm running Win98, IE 6.0 and OE on a
56K dialup. My disk space, RAM and speed are nothing to write home
about, either. I keep my Microsoft patches up-to-date. I do some
surfing, some eBay, and a lot of newsgroup reading.

I am also using the following to keep my system safe, clean and
running as fast as possible:

-Spybot S&D including Teatimer
-AdAware
-AVG Free Edition
-ZoneAlarm Free Edition
-Daily junk file deletion with Easy Cleaner (Toniarts)

I also do these "as necessary":
-Registry check after any install/uninstall
-Weekly scan & defrag
-"Spider/Spider Bite" program (clears url references from index.dat)
-Pop-up Stopper Free (I only run this when I'm getting bombarded with
popups)

I don't want to slow down my computer any more than I have to, just to
keep it safe & clean, but I don't want to miss any malware either.
Should I quit using any of these?
 
redpenner said:
Hi, I need an expert opinion. I'm running Win98, IE 6.0 and OE on a
56K dialup. My disk space, RAM and speed are nothing to write home
about, either. I keep my Microsoft patches up-to-date. I do some
surfing, some eBay, and a lot of newsgroup reading.

I am also using the following to keep my system safe, clean and
running as fast as possible:

-Spybot S&D including Teatimer
-AdAware
-AVG Free Edition
-ZoneAlarm Free Edition
-Daily junk file deletion with Easy Cleaner (Toniarts)

I also do these "as necessary":
-Registry check after any install/uninstall
-Weekly scan & defrag
-"Spider/Spider Bite" program (clears url references from index.dat)
-Pop-up Stopper Free (I only run this when I'm getting bombarded with
popups)

I don't want to slow down my computer any more than I have to, just to
keep it safe & clean, but I don't want to miss any malware either.
Should I quit using any of these?
Click to expand...

No, continue using all of them. I would also recommend that you try these as
well.

--
Download, update and use the following:

Spyware Blaster
http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
http://www.net-integration.net/tools/spywareblaster.html

Spy Sweeper
http://www.webroot.com
 
Hi, I need an expert opinion. I'm running Win98, IE 6.0 and OE on a
56K dialup. My disk space, RAM and speed are nothing to write home
about, either. I keep my Microsoft patches up-to-date. I do some
surfing, some eBay, and a lot of newsgroup reading.

I am also using the following to keep my system safe, clean and
running as fast as possible:

-Spybot S&D including Teatimer
-AdAware
-AVG Free Edition
-ZoneAlarm Free Edition
-Daily junk file deletion with Easy Cleaner (Toniarts)

I also do these "as necessary":
-Registry check after any install/uninstall
-Weekly scan & defrag
-"Spider/Spider Bite" program (clears url references from index.dat)
-Pop-up Stopper Free (I only run this when I'm getting bombarded with
popups)

I don't want to slow down my computer any more than I have to, just to
keep it safe & clean, but I don't want to miss any malware either.
Should I quit using any of these?
Click to expand...
If you stop using Internet Explorer and use Moz/Firefox/Opera then you
have no real reason to use Teatimer and you can set AdAware to just do
manual scans once a week. It may find the odd tracking cookie but
that'll be your lot.
 
Hi, I need an expert opinion. I'm running Win98, IE 6.0 and OE on a
56K dialup. My disk space, RAM and speed are nothing to write home
about, either. I keep my Microsoft patches up-to-date. I do some
surfing, some eBay, and a lot of newsgroup reading.

I am also using the following to keep my system safe, clean and
running as fast as possible:

-Spybot S&D including Teatimer
-AdAware
-AVG Free Edition
-ZoneAlarm Free Edition
-Daily junk file deletion with Easy Cleaner (Toniarts)

I also do these "as necessary":
-Registry check after any install/uninstall
-Weekly scan & defrag
-"Spider/Spider Bite" program (clears url references from index.dat)
-Pop-up Stopper Free (I only run this when I'm getting bombarded with
popups)

I don't want to slow down my computer any more than I have to, just to
keep it safe & clean, but I don't want to miss any malware either.
Should I quit using any of these?
Click to expand...

See my web site for suggestions.


Art
http://www.epix.net/~artnpeg
 
All the same here, I used Win98 with 32 RAM for years.

Same here, now using Win98SE, with faster, bigger computer.
However, my primary browser is Firefox so I don't get popups
nor malware onboard. I've also had a replacement OE for
several years. Thunderbird wasn't available then, or would
probably be using it today. Like you, I prefer freeware and
never recommend commercial programs. Others may spend their
$ anyway they like.

http://texturizer.net/firebird/features.html

Personally, with Firefox, Adaware is sufficient for my needs.
I tried SpybotSD for quite awhile but like Adaware, it never
found anything, so I decided to remove it and not update to 1.3.

I prefer Avast but have AVG as a backup. I left ZA years ago
for Kerio 2.1.5.

If you enjoy checking out freeware etc, like me, you may want
to look into Total Uninstall. You can easily restore your system
to 'pre-install' condition, no cleaning required.
http://www.geocities.com/ggmartau/projects/projects.html

With your present setup [IE/OE], I would continue using them.

I would also consider adding WinPatrol. A very nice, small program
that monitors important areas on your system.

http://www.winpatrol.com/winpatrol.html

Also you didn't mention whether you use a HOSTS file. More protection
and like Spyblaster, it puts NO additional load on your system.

http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.zip
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/restricted.htm#Why

Host File Monitor is an excellent way to keep your HOSTS up-to-date.

Available at http://mvps.org/PracticallyNerded/Software.htm
Fourth item on the page, and like all my recommendations, it's FREE!

BoB
 
Mozilla might be useful, however it does tend to render the gui a bit slowly
on low spec machines.

What you need depends on what websites you are going round. I am on dial-up
so I don't use any "protection". But ofcourse you should always

1) get the latest windows patches
2) Have an anti virus solution at hand even if it's not active.
3) Use a hardware firewall if you use widndows 2000 or above.

The last bit of malware I got was due to the mshtml exploit, I am not sure
where I contracted that. But in the last 5 years I haven't had any bother.
However, spyware and what not is all about the place, just don't install
stuff that is bundled with dodgy advertising add ons. Or if you plan to use
a product a lot, find out about it first on the net.

Use spyware scaning programs once in a while. It all depends on how you go
about your surfing. In general I mostly go to reputable websites so I don't
tend to have a problem.

The number of programs you use seems quite high to me. But then again I have
a different style of surfing, and am well versed in malware, so if it works
for you so far carry on the same.
 
The number of programs you use seems quite high to me. But then again I have
a different style of surfing, and am well versed in malware, so if it works
for you so far carry on the same.
Click to expand...

Well, it works, but something is really slowing things down (more than
usual). I think it's the ZoneAlarm, or the Pop-Up Stopper (when I
have it running).

Thank you everyone for your advice!

redpenner
 
<snipped>

Switch to Firefox 0.9.1 and just use Adaware and Spybot every week (or
more often if you have the time). Every sunday night I make sure I
have the latest av defs, spyboy and adaware settings and then i scan
using adware spybot and then an av scan. After this I do a chkdsk and
defrag. It takes a while but imo is worth it. I just watch tv or read
a book while it is doing this and then if i have anything i need to
sort out it will tell me. normally it is 100% clean tho :)

I also do a reg clean every few weeks but it depends if i
install/uninstall much.
 
I don't want to slow down my computer any more than I have to, just to
keep it safe & clean, but I don't want to miss any malware either.
Should I quit using any of these?
Click to expand...

You can happily stop using zonealarm. If you don't have file and
printer sharing installed then you need to do nothing more than
uninstall your resource guzzling, do little or nothing, firewall. If
you need file and printer sharing installed then you will need to
unbind it from the tcp/ip stack of your dialup connection. You will
have no tcp/ip ports in a listening state and consequently no need to
stop access from the Internet to those ports.

Of course, you won't have the outbound notification of programs trying
to connect to the Internet but this is of miniscule use as you seem to
be already aware of potential threats and are running a good variety
of malware seeking software.

If that doesn't speed up your system enough, you might also stop using
the anti-virus on access scanner and settle for some form of scheduled
on demand scanning.


Jim.
 
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