How much is enough / too much? (long)

General Topics
1

How much is enough / too much?

I am a semi, all most full blown, paranoid-probably more OCD. I am also a freeware shopper. I have acquired what I have thought to be decent to good freeware programs to protect my computer. I have however wondered if I have reached the point of diminishing returns. I am also fairly unsophisticated when it comes to even the most elementary, technical make-up of computers etc. Learned by hammering previous computers.

So given that disclosure I am asking for some opinions as to what I have; hardware and software relative to my computer. Specifically – DO I HAVE TOO MUCH protection, or are programs competing with other programs? etc …

This is what I have: (from BelArc)

Operating System System Model
Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (build 2600) eMachines
Processor a Main Circuit Board b
2.15 gigahertz AMD Athlon XP
128 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: First International Computer, Inc. AU31 PCB 1.x
Bus Clock: 166 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD TCB427G 05/12/2004
Drives Memory Modules c,d
164.69 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
150.83 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

   960 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot ‘A0’ has 512 MB
Slot ‘A1’ has 512 MB

I use: Outlook Express (MSN) for email, IE and Mozilla Firefox as Browsers … Uninstall Nortons this week as well as installed SP2.

My ‘protection’ is:
AVAST (recent convert from Nortons)
Avast Virus Cleaner
AdAware
Bazooka
SpyBot
Spywareblaster
Spywareguard
CleanCache
EasyCleaner
Empty Temp
Reg Cleaner (just DL’d jv16) : duplication?
Stinger
TweakNow Regcleaner
RegScrubXP
WinPatrol
Pop-UpStopper Free Edition

I just DL’d SPAMfighter as I have been getting several somewhat camouflaged but obviously undesirable emails. I have heard that SP2 is addressing that.

All of these are run at least 1x week, sometimes more; depending on computer use. I have very few problems but really want to know if this is overkill or ??? I am not apposed to streamlining if needed. Any help advice would be much appreciated.

Tim

2

looks like you are a little paranoid about cleaners to me IMHO but i see no other issues i wouldnt have myself .I use ccleaner from www.ccleaner.com and leave it on default settings and it does a great job for temps and regiistry.it depends on the user i guess and what you want to do .
have a nice day ;D ;D

3

I got the number of a good psychiatrist if you need it ;D

What you need is:

  • anti virus software
  • firewall (preferable is a router with hardware firewall)
  • Ad-Aware
  • Spybot s&d
  • never login as admininistrator for daily use, always use a limited account
  • change passwords on a regular base

In addition you may want to use HijackThis.

This is enough protection.

4

what if i told you i WAS a psychiatrist? :o jk … but close. the pruning shall commence. I can feel the fog lifting already — but they are like my children … nahhhhhhhh

5

Hey no one.
looks good. No compatibility problems I guess. Just a bit too much regcleaners. If I were you, I’d keep the JV16 and throw away the others. They all do the same and the JV16 is the safest to use.
Stinger won’t be necessary having Avast! but on the other hand it won’t hurt if you keep it.
I’m very happy to see you use WinPatrol. It’s my favorite ! People who use this program don’t need shrinks ;D
Wooff

Bye

6

no one

Avast anti-virus has ‘Avast Virus Cleaner’ built into it, so you don’t need them as seperate systems software :wink:

Also i have never really seen the point in spywareguard, its only good for detectinting bho’s/toolbars, which hijackthis can deal with just fine.

–lee