computer help: do i need anti virus and a internet protection to keep my computer - Help.com

If your PC seems like its slowing down and having a hard time surfing the web or just doesn’t seem right. If you think that you have a virus or bug. You need to clean it out first to find out what’s causing the problems. Here’s a few programs that I use regularly and they take very little time and skill to run.
You should go to http://download.com and get these programs.
AD WARE AND SPY WARE REMOVERS:
AD-Aware: http://www.download.com/3120-20_4.htm…
Spybot search and destroy: http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search…
CCleaner: http://www.download.com/CCleaner/3000…
If you don’t have an Antivirus program you can use.
Avast: http://www.download.com/Avast-Home-Ed…
or AVG: http://www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Viru…
and for your firewall a good program is
Zone Alarm: http://www.download.com/ZoneAlarm-Fir…
Install these programs and run them regularly. This will keep your system clean and running properly. These programs are free and Download.com is a part of CNET (the site that your posting on right now). Hope this helps :-)

I was in the process of writing a reply when The Clue popped in with everything I was going to tell you. So…I’ll not repeat it. Good job The Clue!

Yeah, you don’t really need all that sh!t, until you actually notice a difference in performance, because those programs are more often than not WORSE than the actual virus itself.

But of course, it all depends on how paranoid you are.

If you are connected to the internet, you need to install the programs that “The Clue” is talking about. Mr Anonymous above me either hasn’t gotten a bad virus (the worst ones can disable your computer) or doesn’t care about identity theft. In any event, if you are smart about the programs that you have running in the background, (i.e. disable the ones you don’t need) then the programs that you do have running won’t noticeably impact you.

Note that The Clue mentioned Avast OR AVG. Sometimes running two Anti-virus programs together isn’t a good idea.

I agree with Gimli also on this I’ve been running avast and zonealarm together for a couple of years now and neither causes problems for the other. I’ve not had a virus or adware problem since I started but I had those problems with other programs I had paid for. (McAfee, norton, etc.)

I use AVG and Clamwin for antivirus. I use Comodo for firewall

These have caught everything that’s come my way so far.

That is the combination that I run also Avast and Zone Alarm never had a problem. Those other programs that I mentioned do not run until you want to clean out your system and do a good job. I run Ccleaner once a week to clear out my Internet cache and all of the other garbage and the others once a month. Its just basic maintenance. I run my systems 24/7 at 100% usage so any little slowdown that happens I can tell. :-)