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Do you usually install 3rd-party antivirus, antimalware/spyware, and firewall software on a cheaper slow Windows PC?

froggyboy604

froggyboy604

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I don't use cheap slow computers for gaming, and video and photo editing, and don't mind the slightly slower performance after installing a better antivirus, antimalware and firewall software which use up more RAM and CPU resources.

I usually install 3rd party antivirus, antispyware, antispyware, and firewall software on cheaper Windows PC because I feel there is a chance that some cheaper Windows computer makers like to bundle bloatware/3rd-party software which spy on users, or contain ads which can spy on users, make Windows more likely to get infected, or the computer may come with a virus.

I also don't like using Windows Defender Antivirus and Windows Firewall which don't have as many security features found in other antivirus and firewall software.

Plus, fixing a slower cheap computer with a virus, malware, spyware, and ransomware infection can take many hours because of the slow CPU, and hard drive, so preventing virus infections is a good idea. Reinstalling Windows can also take many hours on a slower computer with a slow CPU and hard drive, so I rather try my best to prevent a virus infection on a cheap computer.
 
I sometimes try Lightweoight Linux OS on slower Windows computer, but end up going back to using Windows 10 when I need to use a program like Skype or play an old computer game which sometimes does not have a Linux version, or does not work well in Linux.
 
On my own home PC, I use windows defender and the built-in firewall with an addon called Malwarebytes Windows Firewall Control. Does the job for me.
 
I use MalwareBytres Free, SuperAntispyware free, Avast free, Spybot, Comodo Firewall free, and Spywareblaster on my personal Windows PC. They seem to work good enough at protecting my computer from most malware and virus infections.
 
froggyboy604 said:
I use MalwareBytres Free, SuperAntispyware free, Avast free, Spybot, Comodo Firewall free, and Spywareblaster on my personal Windows PC. They seem to work good enough at protecting my computer from most malware and virus infections.
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I used to use SpyBot search and destroy back in the days, now I don't feel the need to use it.
 
Danielx64 said:
I used to use SpyBot search and destroy back in the days, now I don't feel the need to use it.
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I feel Spybot Immunization feature is useful at blocking web browsers and other internet programs from visiting malicious, untrusted or potentially dangerous websites. Spybot add enteries into the Windows Host file to block dangerous websites.
 
froggyboy604 said:
I use MalwareBytres Free, SuperAntispyware free, Avast free, Spybot, Comodo Firewall free, and Spywareblaster on my personal Windows PC. They seem to work good enough at protecting my computer from most malware and virus infections.
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I feel like one or more of those should cause some conflictions. Antispyware, spybot and spywareblaster all do the same thing right? Shouldn't avast give you a firewall? Really a need for comodo?

froggyboy604 said:
I feel Spybot Immunization feature is useful at blocking web browsers and other internet programs from visiting malicious, untrusted or potentially dangerous websites. Spybot add enteries into the Windows Host file to block dangerous websites.
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Shouldn't malwarebytes do that? Its always blocking sites for me, should I need to sail the high cyber seas.
 
froggyboy604 said:
I use MalwareBytres Free, SuperAntispyware free, Avast free, Spybot, Comodo Firewall free, and Spywareblaster on my personal Windows PC. They seem to work good enough at protecting my computer from most malware and virus infections.
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I hope you're not using all of those at once. It's not good to have multiple anti-virus software, since they'll conflict with each other and bog down the system resources.
 
Demon_Skeith said:
I feel like one or more of those should cause some conflictions. Antispyware, spybot and spywareblaster all do the same thing right? Shouldn't avast give you a firewall? Really a need for comodo?
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Most of the free antispyware/antimalware except for Avast are scanner-only, and require the user to pay to activate the paid active virus shield.

spybot and spywareblaster are made by different companies and workers, so there are most likely some dangerous sites which Spybot blocks, and some dangerous sites which spywareblaster does not block, and some sites which Spywareblaster blocks, and Spybot does not block.

The free version of Avast does not give a firewall, so a lot of people who use Avast Free use Comodo if they don't like the Windows Firewall which has fewer features.

Demon_Skeith said:
Shouldn't malwarebytes do that? Its always blocking sites for me, should I need to sail the high cyber seas.
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The free version of Malwarebytes does not have a website blocker because it is a paid feature which require a subscription to activate.
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Grungie said:
I hope you're not using all of those at once. It's not good to have multiple anti-virus software, since they'll conflict with each other and bog down the system resources.
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Only Avast Antivirus free has active virus protection.

Malwarebytes, SuperAntispyware, and Spybot require a paid subscription to activate the virus shield, and automatic virus/malware defintion updates.
 
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The only other thing that I use is Adguard, but that's more for ad-blocking than anything else (although it does block spyware domains too).
 
froggyboy604 said:
Most of the free antispyware/antimalware except for Avast are scanner-only, and require the user to pay to activate the paid active virus shield.

spybot and spywareblaster are made by different companies and workers, so there are most likely some dangerous sites which Spybot blocks, and some dangerous sites which spywareblaster does not block, and some sites which Spywareblaster blocks, and Spybot does not block.

The free version of Avast does not give a firewall, so a lot of people who use Avast Free use Comodo if they don't like the Windows Firewall which has fewer features.



The free version of Malwarebytes does not have a website blocker because it is a paid feature which require a subscription to activate.
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Only Avast Antivirus free has active virus protection.

Malwarebytes, SuperAntispyware, and Spybot require a paid subscription to activate the virus shield, and automatic virus/malware defintion updates.
[/QUOTE]

If Avast has active virus shield, it’s completely pointless to have other Malware scanning software. It’s not like wearing layered clothing for cold weather, it’s like triple wrapping your food in the fridge where one layer was already more than enough.

If you’re worried Avast isn’t good enough, get a better antivirus, even if it means paying for one.
 
froggyboy604 said:
Most of the free antispyware/antimalware except for Avast are scanner-only, and require the user to pay to activate the paid active virus shield.

spybot and spywareblaster are made by different companies and workers, so there are most likely some dangerous sites which Spybot blocks, and some dangerous sites which spywareblaster does not block, and some sites which Spywareblaster blocks, and Spybot does not block.

The free version of Avast does not give a firewall, so a lot of people who use Avast Free use Comodo if they don't like the Windows Firewall which has fewer features.



The free version of Malwarebytes does not have a website blocker because it is a paid feature which require a subscription to activate.




Only Avast Antivirus free has active virus protection.

Malwarebytes, SuperAntispyware, and Spybot require a paid subscription to activate the virus shield, and automatic virus/malware defintion updates.
Click to expand...

Does spywareblaster and spybot actually both find something when run after each other?

Grungie said:
Only Avast Antivirus free has active virus protection.

Malwarebytes, SuperAntispyware, and Spybot require a paid subscription to activate the virus shield, and automatic virus/malware defintion updates.


If Avast has active virus shield, it’s completely pointless to have other Malware scanning software. It’s not like wearing layered clothing for cold weather, it’s like triple wrapping your food in the fridge where one layer was already more than enough.

If you’re worried Avast isn’t good enough, get a better antivirus, even if it means paying for one.
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Far as I'm aware, correct me if I'm wrong, Avast, AVG, mcafee, norton, ect. mainly scan for viruses, where as malwarebytes actually looks for more malware based things like PUP.

Danielx64 said:
And in the case I would recommend ESET antivirus or ESET internet security.
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ESET?
 
Demon_Skeith said:
Far as I'm aware, correct me if I'm wrong, Avast, AVG, mcafee, norton, ect. mainly scan for viruses, where as malwarebytes actually looks for more malware based things like PUP.
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The lines do get blurred between antivirus and anti-malware. On one hand there is a difference, but depending on the software the difference can be almost non-existent. If you have an antivirus that also detects malware, there’s no point in having an anti-malware program.

I used to have both Avast and Malwarebytes and had conflicts between the two. At first it seemed like one was finding things the other didn’t, and vice versa, but then they started fighting against each other, especially if they both detected the same thing.

The redundancy made it really annoying and wasn’t like wearing a light jacket under a thicker jacket in the winter.
 
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Demon_Skeith said:
Does spywareblaster and spybot actually both find something when run after each other?
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Spywareblaster does not have a scanner. Spywareblaster only add website blocking rules to the Windows networking host file and web browser files, so you are less likely to visit a spyware infected web sites which is known to host spyware.

Spybot has a scanner for finding spyware and tracking cookies to remove. There is also an immunization program which also add website blocking rules to Windows to block websites which are known to host spyware programs.
 
Demon_Skeith said:
so why do you recommend it? As it seems pretty costly.
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I found it to be lighter on system resources than some of the other Antivirus. Things may have changed but Norton was a real hog, Kaspersky felt heavy, Didn't like Trend Micro.

Avast was good till they went down hill.
 
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