Computer malware redundancy question

Early B.

I purchased and installed AVG 8.0 today on my computer and it contains a bunch of stuff like anti-virus, spyware, spam blocker, firewall, e-mail scanner, rootkit, webshield, etc. My question is about redundancy --

I already use the free versions of spybot and adaware. Should I still use them?

I already have a router and I use Windows firewall. Should I disable the Windows firewall?

Do I really need another spam blocker? Hotmail and gmail have been doing a great job for me over the past few years.

The reason I ask is because I noticed a slight slowdown of my system after I installed AVG 8.0 (although it could have been because I also downloaded XP SP3 today, too). Plus, I don't like to have a bunch of unnecessary software running in the background.

Thanks.

Face

Early B. wrote: »

I already use the free versions of spybot and adaware. Should I still use them?

If they find things that AVG doesn't, yes.

SKsolutions

I don't see the need for all that redundancy, unless you surf in dangerous waters. Let AVG handle the firewall, and uninstall SpyBot, and AdAware. I'd reinstall SpyBot every few months, run a scan, then uninstall.

fatchowmein

No need for redundancy and turn off MS firewall.

As for Spybot and Adaware, you can leave them installed but just make sure you don't have them and AVG scanning at the same time. If you're paranoid, you can setup AVG for auto or scheduled scan and run spybot or adaware manually if you think there's something AVG didn't catch.

Early B.

OK, thanks, fellas.

bobman1235

Both Spybot and AdAware (the free ones) are "run and done" type programs that don't run in the background, so having them installed won't slow down your system at all (unless you install some extras that come with them, like "TeaTimer" with SpyBot).

SKsolutions

Tea Timer is the fun part, but will use a small amount of resources. If you don't install that component, it won't use any until the scanner is started. Bob's correct.