Best Security for new Vista?

Got myself a new Vista! Love it, so far. Got a nice 22 inch LCD screen. Love that for sure! It came with McAfee. I usually prefer Norton, but I have a 90 day free trial on this one. Seems to be doing it's job and I'm liking the notices it gives me of spam and stuff. Did some research on comparing virus checkers, free and otherwise. McAfee is 3rd in the lists. Thinking of staying with it. I'm just wondering now if I need anything else to protect this new baby. I used to run AdAware on the XP. Should I get it for this one, too? I know we can't be too careful any more with all that **** floating around the net. Would just like a little input on security features I should be using. Any hints would be greatly appreciated.

 

I'd go with CounterSpy from Sunbelt. You have to pay for it but it's not really expensive and it is rated very highly. As for Ad-aware, I've dropped it myself although I know many others like it. In the years I had it, it rarely came up with anything anyway. Spybot Search and Destroy is another great free program (although you can give a donation to help support the program). Congratulations on your new acquisitions.

 

Go with Norton 360

Been reading a few tests of virus programs lately. Ease of use and a lot less resource hungry than previous Norton's seemed the main comments.

Norton 360 seems to be the top one at the moment . You can take it for a 15 day trial run and as a previous user you would get a discounted purchase price.

I have tried many over the years and many are good. The only ones I have ever requested a refund on are McAfee and Zone Alarm suites.

 

Some excellent choices put forth already I'll add a couple.

Before I do that tho, Ad-Aware 2007 is not yet Vista capable, so you'll need to wait on trying that one. And based on all the complaints with the latest version, I can only imagine the headaches that will crop up on Vista.

You can add SpywareBlaster and WinPatrol 2007 Build 3

To avoid known malware infested sites from loading in IE install IE-SPY ADS.
And MVPS Hosts File will provide another layer of protection.

Another thing I would suggest, is to install SiteAdvisor. It gives sites a few different 'ratings' and while not fool proof, a good additional layer of information about many sites.

 

I entirely agree with TeMerc's suggestions. In fact, Site Advisor is something I have for all my browsers.

As for AV, last year I used NOD32 and this year I found a great deal in BitDefender (2 licenses for two years for only $39 on Amazon). That's $10 a year for a top-rated AV program which updates hourly and does not require a huge chunk of your system's resources.

As for Norton, I personally would not touch it.

 

Thanks! I have quite a few choices now and will need to decide what I like best. I really appreciate all the help.