Required Software

[sunnycalifornia]

I'm reformatting my laptop over Thanksgiving break and I want to know what you guys think are required software to have.

1. Antivirus (I use Norton 2007 right now but I think it is really slowing down my computer so any alternatives? Is free antivirus really as dependable as ones you pay for?)
2. Firewall (ZoneAlarm is the consensus right?)
3. Windows Defender / Lavasoft Ad-Aware / Spybot Search and Destroy (make it so none of these start at startup)
4. I would like some kind of utilities program, suggestions?

Any other advice appreciated

[Bremen]

I think most people in here will agree that putting Norton on your computer is almost as bad as putting windows on in the first place [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] I no longer bother with virus software as nothing is 100% to catch the buggers (and far too often I got false positives). Instead avoiding risky behavior is best imho. Don't download warez and other shady ****. Don't use IE/Outlook, Firefox/Thunderbird have far fewer holes (although not bulletproof). DO NOT OPEN ATTACHMENTS!!!!! Unless you're expecting one from said person (ie hand swaps).

I can't recommend firewalls as I use a hardware one. This is a must though. Firewalls prevent people from connecting to you that you don't want.

Also best practice is to run as a limited user. Unfortunately windows makes this kindof hard todo as the answer to many problems is to run as administrator [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]