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AVG antivirus has never let me down either free or commercial (I have the paid version). However the internet Security Suite which I also paid for turned out to be a dissappointment. The firewall is a real pain and does not look that it protects more than the Windows firewall. The Anti-spyware appears to be as effective as Defender which is free. Also when it decides to block access to a program it wil never allow you to run it which I don't agree with. The Anti Spam simply sucks and the Outlook spam filter seems to work better.

I tried to use the free NOD32 but I don't agree witha registration of a free program. I also tries Avast and did not like it. As for the other two (Norton/McAffee) are a waste of money, slow, intrusive, inneffective and do protect you since they block all access in/out of your computer which pulling the cord may work better.

My current options are to continue with a paid subscription to Avg Antivirus and perhaps try several free options for Anti-Spyware and decice if I should buy whichever works best. As for firewalls, I have tries my 5th one and am back to Windows. I feel taht once I choose to allow a program access I do not need to ask again. I will try yous suggestions and will share my experiences with you.

Honestly this has been by far the best forum I have ever been a part of. The times I have asked questions ot contributed opinions have been answered with honesty and the replies have been welcomed in the same manner. I thank you all for taking your time on this topic.

[augie]

I personally don't like suites which is one reason I got rid of Zone Alarm and replaced it with PCTools which works, on the outside at least, the same as ZA and the main reason for using a 3rd party firewall is to catch unauthorized outgoing traffic which XP's firewall does not have.

As to the anti-spyware apps I mentioned, you can't buy them but you can donate to the makers. BTW, ever since I started running these I have never had my browser hijacked, be it IE or FF, and scans no matter what type, have only produced a list of cookies, which I don't care about anymore.

BTW, I visit some really bad sites at times and as long as I don't click on what they offer, I'm always clean, and no, not pron sites either!