Hi, ive been using avast! since I first got a PC but have wondered about using other applications to help protect against spyware such as the advertised spybot:S&D or Adware 2007 on download.com.Is it worth using any of those types of application or is Avast ok to handle any of those things by itself ?
While avast! will detect some spyware, it is a good idea to use at least one anti-spyware program in addition to avast! As with antivirus programs, it is advisable to use only one resident (real-time) anti-spyware program. Which program(s) you use will, of course, depend on your system and your surfing habits. A forum search will find many threads related to anti-spyware programs; this one has some good information:
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=30755.0
I hope this helps.
Welcome to the forums. 
My suggestions: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=28395.msg231962#msg231962
Both Spybot and Adware have not-high detection rate. Spybot had a great improvement since last version. With Ad-aware, the last changes, imho, were cosmetic, made a bloatware that detects very little compared to other applications.
My only concession is that when running an on-demand scan by an anti-spyware (AS) or security scan is that I pause the Standard Shield (there are some that don’t feel this necessary ;D). The reason I do this is for a number of reasons.
- to avoid possible conflict, since there is a deal of crossover in what is detected by AV and AS programs, if some malware was found that both had detections for then they may fight for control.
- when the AS application open a file to scan it this triggers avast to also scan it, this duplicates processing effort and increases the overall scan duration.
So for me it is better to avoid any possible conflict (however unlikely, etc.) and speed up the scan by pausing the standard shield.
Ok thanks for all the info, Ill also make sure to disable resident scanners whenever I try and scan for spyware/malware heh…
Your welcome.