[Streuth!]

Hi,

I have just bought a new Compaq laptop (OS XP Pro) and following the security breaches on my old desktop (OS Win 98) am quite paranoid about connecting to the net without sufficient security measures. I subscribe to Norton Antivirus and have Adaware SE Personal installed on the machine.

Can anyone please recommend any other "must-have" softwares that I can install to improve my machines security as I have heard that Norton is quite good but not an exhaustive / comprehensive solution.

Appreciate any suggestions anyone may have.

Also, are there any Compaq owners out there whose machine came loaded with nearly 3Gb of Software Setup Options (in SWSetup folder). Can I delete these to free up the hard-drive as none of them appear in the least bit interesting / necessary.

Thanking you,
Kind regards,
Jess

[Advertisements]

The XP Firewall blocks incoming data, most third party firewalls block incoming and outgoing data, if necessary.

http://www.filehippo...ware/firewalls/

Zone Alarm is a popular choice, if you install it, turn the XP Firewall off

You can get anti spyware programmes here

http://www.filehippo...re/antispyware/

Spybot, Spywareblaster and Microsoft anti spyware are worth having as each do different things

Online scans are worth bookmarking so you can run them as an extra check

http://www.pandasoft.../activescan.htm

http://housecall60.t...orp.asp?id=scan

http://www.trendmicr...m/spyware-scan/

[Retired Tech]

The XP Firewall blocks incoming data, most third party firewalls block incoming and outgoing data, if necessary.

http://www.filehippo...ware/firewalls/

Zone Alarm is a popular choice, if you install it, turn the XP Firewall off

You can get anti spyware programmes here

http://www.filehippo...re/antispyware/

Spybot, Spywareblaster and Microsoft anti spyware are worth having as each do different things

Online scans are worth bookmarking so you can run them as an extra check

http://www.pandasoft.../activescan.htm

http://housecall60.t...orp.asp?id=scan

http://www.trendmicr...m/spyware-scan/

[Streuth!]

Hi Keith,

Thanks for your help and recommendations.

Kind regards,
Jess

[stallionsims]

Good job keith,
But you missed out Firefox.
Jess,May be you can go through this post
Must-Have Apps For Your New PC
Written by Robert Heron
http://www.geekstogo...w-PC-t3936.html
It's a great post!

[Retired Tech]

Hello Stallionsims,

The questions was about security and Firefox is a matter of preference rather than a " must have "