Solved Questions on firewall and antivirus apps

[FDM]

Questions on firewall and antivirus apps I am new to win 7 and trying to climb the learning curve.

I have a new laptop with built in wireless lan and am using a Netgear wireless router at home with Comcast as my internt provider.

I looked to see my security settings on the laptop I was surprised that the Windows firewall was off as was the network firewall.
When I turned the Windows firewall on I was unable to access my internet browser Firefox or get my GMail.

Q. Should I turn off the firewall inasmuch as I have a router protecting the laptop at home and only turn it and the public network firewall on it and when I use it at a hotspot?

Also there was also a notation that having multiple antivirus applications running would slow down windows.

I have initially installed Avast and thought that it was my only antivirus app but I saw in Security that Windows Defender was running as well.
Win XP cautioned against having more than one antivirus app running as major conflicts/problems could arise.

Q. Is Win 7 different in the sense that multiple antivirus apps will only cause slowdowns and not conflicts? What are the pros and cons for having Windows Defender and Avast running concurrently?

TIA, Mary

 

[zigzag3143]

Questions on firewall and antivirus apps I am new to win 7 and trying to climb the learning curve.

I have a new laptop with built in wireless lan and am using a Netgear wireless router at home with Comcast as my internt provider.

I looked to see my security settings on the laptop I was surprised that the Windows firewall was off as was the network firewall.
When I turned the Windows firewall on I was unable to access my internet browser Firefox or get my GMail.

Q. Should I turn off the firewall inasmuch as I have a router protecting the laptop at home and only turn it and the public network firewall on it and when I use it at a hotspot?

Also there was also a notation that having multiple antivirus applications running would slow down windows.

I have initially installed Avast and thought that it was my only antivirus app but I saw in Security that Windows Defender was running as well.
Win XP cautioned against having more than one antivirus app running as major conflicts/problems could arise.

Q. Is Win 7 different in the sense that multiple antivirus apps will only cause slowdowns and not conflicts? What are the pros and cons for having Windows Defender and Avast running concurrently?

TIA, Mary

Mary

1-No you should have the win 7 firewall (at least) on at all times. The router firewall (and NAT translation) is meant as an additional layer.

2-Multiple AV's can cause slow downs, conflicts, and in some cases crashes. You should decide on which AV you want to use and stick to it. Current wisdom is MSE has a small footprint and works fairly well.

3-Afraid that defender and avast can either play well together or create slowdowns, and conflicts. ANy reason you want both defender and avast?

Ken

 

[CarlTR6]

Mary, though I haven't tried it yet, I understand that you can run Avast and Microsoft Security Essentials together and they work well. In general, you are correct. You should only run one antivirus application at a time.

I suggest that you download and run MSE. When you install MSE, it should turn Windows Defender off as it does what Windows Defender does and more.

I can't advise you on Windows Firewall as I have never used it. If you are behind a router and have the hardware firewall configured properly, you are well protected. A router firewall is far superior to any software firewall.

 

[CarlTR6]

Ken types faster than I do!

 

[Corrine]

Hi, Mary.

Congratulations on the new laptop!

Personally, I would recommend both a software firewall along with the router. The following two tutorials may help with the problem you had with Firefox and Gmail. I suggest starting with restoring the default settings. I found that the Windows 7 Firewall worked "out of the box" with Firefox.

• Windows Firewall - Restore Default Settings
• Windows Firewall - Add or Remove an Exception

Also, just a point, Windows Defender is an anti-spyware software not an antivirus software. Thus, if you decide to keep Avast, the two should play well together.

 

[manhunter2826]

I second what Corrine advised: I use Avast and Defender (not MSE) together without any problems/conflicts whatsoever. I think many others here do too.

 

[tw33k]

Some suggested reading:

http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/72070-whats-best-anti-virus.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/security-basics/76173-whats-best-anti-malware.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/security-basics/75541-free-software-firewalls-windows-7-a.html

 

[HMonk]

I use Avast and MSE on one of my machines without any issues.

Monk

 

[hackerman1]

Avast and a-squared (now renamed to EAM) works fine together.
i don´t notice any difference in performance with only EAM or both together.

 

[kucing13]

dont forget about ESET

 

[FDM]

Many thanks to all responders for the info/suggestions provided. Mea culpa on the multiple antivirus question - went back and revisited the security information and discovered that I had two antispyware apps running not two antivirus apps (only Avast is running) - Defender and Ad-Aware Ad Watch Live. I will discontinue one of them - any suggestions on which is more robust?

Mary

 

[manhunter2826]

Many thanks to all responders for the info/suggestions provided. Mea culpa on the multiple antivirus question - went back and revisited the security information and discovered that I had two antispyware apps running not two antivirus apps (only Avast is running) - Defender and Ad-Aware Ad Watch Live. I will discontinue one of them - any suggestions on which is more robust?

Mary

IMO Avast + Windows Defender (both which u have) + Malwarebytes are a good mix.

 

[Corrine]

Many thanks to all responders for the info/suggestions provided. Mea culpa on the multiple antivirus question - went back and revisited the security information and discovered that I had two antispyware apps running not two antivirus apps (only Avast is running) - Defender and Ad-Aware Ad Watch Live. I will discontinue one of them - any suggestions on which is more robust?

Mary

Hi, Mary.

The only thing I can say about Ad-Aware is that I stopped using it over five years ago (and I used to be a member of Team Lavasoft and an Admin of the original AAW support forums).

You can run two antispyware applications. Since you already have Windows Defender, you could add Malwarebytes for occasional scanning.

It may have been mentioned previously, but you may also be interested in my favorite security software, WinPatrol which includes the features described at WinPatrol Features. It is a great system monitor.