Posted by Colin Wilson on 04/26/07 11:28

> So far I ran the sysclean from trend, installed the Avira antivurus and
> dl'ed but not yet installed Zonealarm. Add to that Windows firewall and
> Windows defender (unless you can reccomend a way round them) and I feel like
> I've got a decent selection of tools.

How come you ended up with Windows Defender ? (I have two systems
here, and it isn't installed on either)

As for bloat, apart from installing most of them, you don't need to
keep them running all the time - a monthly check should suffice.

SpywareBlaster just needs installing, updating, enable all protection,
then close it and forget about it for a month or two.

Spybot S&D shouldn't need to be used very often - every month or so if
you feel the urge.

Firefox, a firewall, and a half-decent antivirus in combination with
the above should mean you're pretty much bullet-proof in normal
circumstances.

One other you might like (and I use this DAILY) is CrapCleaner
(http://www.ccleaner.com) - just don't bother with the toolbar it
offers to install.

It will clear all the browser caches, recycle bin, temp files, old
windows update downloads, log files, and so on. The first time I ran
it (with an empty recycle bin and with the caches already clear) got
rid of around 60Mb of crap from my system, and I tend to run a fairly
tight ship.

You can select cookies to exclude from the cleanup if you use
particular sites regularly and want to keep them.

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