Enough spyware safety - moved by Tom

[robadar]

Do these two progrms provide me with sufficient spyware safety? Trend micro has anti-spyware in it.
RB

[wolflmg]

Never heard of Trend Micro, I did do a search for it and it appears to be one that you pay for. There are other free ones out there like windows defender, that work just as good as ones you would pay for. Such as Spy-bot, Adware AE, Yahoo anti-spyware.

[robadar]

Yes, I bought Trend micro yesterday, $39.99. The current issue of Consumer Reports rates it the highest of anti-virus programs. Norton is way down, so I removed it. So far so good. It took several hours to download the updates with a few kinks along the way.
RB

[mervin]

Trend Micro is good software and they've been around for years. DON'T rely on free software to protect your computer against spyware. Free spyware programs are better than nothing, but they'll only detect about 50% of the infections on your system at best. If you want complete protection you're going to need to get a program like spysweeper, or spyware doctor (to name only a few). Antivirus software doesn't pick up spyware very well, and if you're going to use trend micro in association with some free spyware detector than you're living with a false sense of security. And if you're really concerned about complete protection than you're going to need a firewall too. I'm not sure if trend micro's software comes with a firewall or not? ZoneAlarm 6.5 Pro is a great choice if you're looking for a program that offers good firewall protection.

[Tom]

I use free protective software on many computers, both to trial as well as for regular security needs. But let's just move this thread over to the Applications forum where the use of applications are addressed.

[mervin]

I use free protective software on many computers, both to trial as well as for regular security needs. But let's just move this thread over to the Applications forum where the use of applications are addressed.

I agree with you that some free software works great. CWS sherdder and HijackThis and some others are must have programs, but programs like spybot search and destroy and older versions of ad-aware personal are somewhat lackluster programs that give people a false sense of security primarily because they don't detect rootkit infections and they don't remove a lot of the malware that they detect. But ok, I was wrong before when I said they'll only detect about half of the number of threats on your system; they might detect more than that on average but I still don't trust them. They're better than nothing, but they simply don't compare to some of the other software programs that are on the market in terms of the level of protection they offer, and no one should be using programs like this as their primary, first defense mechanism to protect their computer against serious threats in my opinion. Unlike their anti virus counterparts, most spyware software doesn't let your remove the threats they detect with their trial versions, but I do like using trial version software too from time to time. Still, people who want real protection are going to have to pay for it. I also think that you shouldn't rely on "all in one" programs. Anitivirus programs should be used to protect your system against viruses, and you should have separate programs that are used for spyware.

[Lord Xathrus]

Yes, I bought Trend micro yesterday, $39.99. The current issue of Consumer Reports rates it the highest of anti-virus programs. Norton is way down, so I removed it. So far so good. It took several hours to download the updates with a few kinks along the way.
RB



Maybe this might shed some light on the subject: (Link) (http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/)