How important to upgrade to latest av sw?

Ok, my av software is Trend Mirco's 2002 AV. since the subscription ran out I manually update the files on a frequest basis. So, how important is it to upgrade to the latest and greatest version? I run zone alarm, ad-aware, spybot s&d, mailwasher etc.. so I'm not sure if I want to upgrage to the new security suites? pro's and con's?

 

I AGREE

Keep all the things the PeteC mentiond UPDATED. AVG I know for sure has updates almost every day.

PeteC mentions ZA But ( I believe ) Firewall would be better. If I did not know that ZA stood for Zone Alarm I would be confused.

BillyBob

 

I agree with PeteC...to me it is very important. I always buy the next version on Symantec AV as soon as it hits the shelves. Yes it does cost but (1) I always have the latest version (2) With the discount ($30 to $45 Mail In rebate depending on the software) it only really costs me about $15 to $20 dollars per year. I can live with that.

You can add the free Trojan scanner "SwatIT " to your list of software or Ewido Trojan Scanner suggested by Charlesvar in this post. Scroll down to #14.

 

I used to be fairly cavilier about anti-virus programs. Some of them think everything's a virus.

I run the free version of AGV and set it to update daily. I also do a daily scan with MicroTrend online, as well as run Spybot and an an onlie Trojan scan.

 

Like I had said, I do update the virus patterns on a regular basis, does the AV engine make that big a difference? what might be an example..

ps. thanks for the additional suggestions. I do have spywareblaster downloaded, but didn't install it yet ..

Hijackthis is loaded as well Regseeker.. and very important I try to keep informed on what's happening by reading this forum...