Too Many Virus Programs?

Am running Windows XP and using NAV, SpySweeper, SpyBot S&D, Zone Alarm, AdAware and SpyWare Blaster. My question would be, am I using too many spyware and antivirus programs, if so, which are recommended to use? Have been using most of the programs for several years without any recognizable major problems but wonder if some are unnecessary. Would like to buy and install one program that does everything but am not aware of any available at this time. Thanks ...

 

My understanding is that you can have only one antivirus program but many different spyware program
Antivirus programs work to a great degree by sniffing out viruses
If another antivirus program puts away a suspected villain in an archive and deactivates it by changing the first couple letters of its exe file - the other antivirus programs will sniff it out
With antispyware programs - first they all find different things - depending on the origin of the program and their preferences
It is a good idea to run a couple of good antispyware programs
and do the updates
Be wary of sound alike names to real antivirus programs that are spyware in themselves
Spyware not viruses are the real problem now
Yet most consumers need to be reassured by having norton products onboard

 

Looks like you have 1 firewall: zone alarm firewall, 1 antivirus: norton antivirus and 4 antispyware Programs: Spysweeper, Spybot S & D, AdAware and SpyBlaster. The usual recommendation is one firewall, one anti-virus and you can run a couple antispyware programs. This may not be what you want to hear but if this combination has been working for you - no infections, no problems, "don't fix what ain't broke" Going to one solution, if I understand you correctly, would point to a security suite. I'm not a fan of the big suites - they can be resource hogs. But you've got to do what works for your computer.

 

Virus Programs, Too Many?

Thanks a million for the comments and info. Although I have been using the installed programs for many months with no apparent problems, I am still a little leery about "too much ". The other day I felt there may have been conflict between SpySweeper and SpyBlaster but not completely sure. Had not used SpyBlaster for awhile and thought that "too many" may be the problem. At any rate I plan to uninstall a couple.

Thanks again ...

 

Good idea to reduce the number of anti-spyware programs you are using. See Best Free Adware/Spyware/Scumware Remover Discussed here are MalwareBytes Antimalware, SUPERantispyware, Spybot S & D, AdAware and others. Spybot S & D and AdAware IMO are not the effective tools they once were. SUPERantispyware and MalwareBytes Anti-malware are excellent. I use them both.

 

Thanks for the tip, Runner. I'll check the out ...

 

You're welcome.

 

I have never totally got on well with Spybot & I am not sure about its efficacy any more. It missed a trojan on my laptop that SUPERAntiSpyware (SAS) found & removed. I uninstalled Spybot. MBAM is good, but can be prone to false positives. If it flags anything, quarantine it then check the Malware Bytes forums, as it may just be an f/p. I use it & SAS (SAS in my opinion is the best on the net. I use the freeware versions of both apps) You have to manually update them every day (unless you buy them) but it is quick process. They both work well with SpywareBlaster on my computer.