ok well i'm sick of the viruses and all the bs i have on my comp so i've finally gotten frustrated enough to reformat, and i'm going to do it later today....i'm just asking around for any quick advice or ideas on what i should/should not install or what i should/should not do...any quick tips would help, thanks

things you should install, Antivirus (Your Choice, I recommend if you have the money NOD32) Spybot Search and Destroy, Windows Defender, Spyware Blaster, A-squared Antispyware, Unlocker(file unlocking utility), F-Secure Blacklight (rootkit finder) crapcleaner, Hijack This!.

websites for this stuff
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/home/index.html (Spybot SD)
http://www.eset.com/index.php (NOD32 Antivirus)
http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/download/ (a-squared free)
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/ (Spyware Blaster)
http://www.microsoft.com (Win Defender)
http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/#download (unlocker)
http://www.f-secure.com/blacklight/ (Rootkit finder)
http://www.ccleaner.com/ (cleanup utility)
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/index.php (hijack this)

You should also make sure to download all the drivers you'll need (e.g. mobo, GFX, Soundcard etc) and either put them on a CD or save them to a seperate partition.

You should (IMO) divide your HDD space into at elast 2 partitions, 1 for OS, another for apps.

This can be done during the Windows set-up.

Here's a helpful website:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/xp_pro_install_-_graphic.htm

oh lol...i didn't need a tutorial on how to reformat..i've done it plenty of times, i was just asking what the best combos for virus protection would be....right now i'm running AVG and my nvidia firewall (activearmor) on medium

My suggestion:

AVG Free
ZA FREE (Pro would be nice but free is just as good but with less features obviously)
AVG Anti-spyware
SpywareBlaster
CCleaner
TuneUp Utilities 2007

Thats all I use and Im good to go.

Never ever use Windows Defender for anything. Especially in Vista.

This is what I am currently using. I try to keep them up-to-date at least weekly. They do not slow down your PC at all, and do a great job together.

Free Antivirus = AntiVir Personal Edition 7
http://www.free-av.com/antivirus/allinonen.html

Free Firewall = Ghost Wall
http://www.ghostsecurity.com/ghostwall/

Free Spyware = SpyBot Search & Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

(For SpyBot S&D, make sure you enable Tea Timer, it protects your files & blocks spyware or what ever seems suspicious. It gives you full control whether you want the file accessing the network or not. It acts like a Firewall. It even blocks MS from mysteriously connecting to the internet without your consent.)

Free Spyware = Spyware Blaster
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

that ghost firewall...would that be better than the nvidia activearmor that i got running right now?? and also, for spyware...is having JUST Xoftspy good enough? it updates regularly, oh and i'm also running avg antivirus 7.5

Lets see...Right now I'm running:
Spybot S&D (activate T-timer)
SpywareBlaster
Spyware Guard
Zone Alarm
AVG7.5
EULAlyzer
Sophos Anti-Rootkit
Rootkit Revealer
Ad-AwareSE
HijackThis
HighjackThis Log Reader (to decypher those hijack this logs)
CounterSpy V2 (trial)
AutoRuns
and...PeerGuardian2 (WHEW!) Needless to say, I never get anything. Everything is updated manually, and ANY downloaded file is scanned with AVG (on the right click menu) before it gets opened. I scan my root drive daily, and the entire system weekly.

----------------------------------->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Point to Signature Link --------------------------------------------->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Payton, do you actually have enough resources left to do anything remotely useful with your PC?? lol

Seems like you just have an anti everything machine!

I just use AVG, Spybot, Adaware and I never get anything.

Dont see the need for anything else.

Oh I do use active armour on my A64 rig, dont know why its rubbish. The built in Windows firewall is just as good, maybe better.

-also points to link in signature-

DublinGunner said:
The secret is being a minimalist. Once you pare down the MS bloat, there are a lot of things you can be running. 6 of those run on my machine. The rest are just tools available. With those 6 I still only have 24 processes running, even when the browser is open. My system is still quite fast, even though I'm running only PC3200 DDR with my E6400.Remember the old Nazi in Marathon man kept asking Dustin Hoffman "Iz it safe?"
http://angryhippy.net/images/minimalism.jpg

cs: <F|V|B>MiLLzZ said:


Keep the Active Armor running, I used to have that on my mobo when I had the nforce chipset. It is really good.

Anti-virus & a firewall that can provide outbound protection, if Active Armor has outbound protection than stick with it otherwise switch firewalls (I use NOD32 & ZoneAlarm Pro).

You should also use either Adaware or spybot, only one is needed (I use Adaware).
Tried spybot on several PC's after running Adaware, but spybot has never found anything beyond log files. Adaware never finds anything beyond MRU lists whenever run. The only time I've really ever found either usefull was after a fresh install of Windows, beyond that neither is of much use for me.

Also get yourself a router even if you only have one PC, their cheap enough that everyone should have one & don't forget to password protect it!

I dunno about tuneup utilities and other stuff like that, they seem to messup the registry. Ive went to the barebones as of optimization, my own tweaks and then Anti Crap Utilities.

I have got a few different combos of AV and Firewall software installed on various computers at home. My preference at the moment is NOD32 and the Mcafee Desktop Firewall™ V 8.5 Corporate Edition which I'm using on an XP Professional setup.

This combo uses hardly any resources and once Mcafee puts out a version compatable with Vista 64 Bit I will most likely go with that combo on my Vista Ultimate setup.

Jay

yah i always have a lot of the "ms bloat" running on my comp cuz i don't know what i need, and what i don't need....nor do i know how to shut them off other than ending the processes through the task manager which gets annoying to do

cs: <F|V|B>MiLLzZ said:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm#Services
That's a pretty comprehensive list of services and your options explained. For shutting down or controlling start-up programs, auto-runs from sysinternals is excellent. You'ld be amazed how much startup stuff boots. I usually use Spybot S&D to shut off or delete startup programs though. Never use msconfig for that.