Some months ago I made the effort to read the credible (I know enough to disregard the ones poorly diguised as buy something here cos we get commision) reviews on antispyware and Super was raved about and there was clear daylight between it and the next best. I tried the free version then for only a few pounds bought the Pro version. Since then I have monitored it - bear in mind I don't know much - and all I get from Pro is tracking cookies flagged up as a threat when they're not and can be easily deleted with say CCleaner. Occasional real threats are "dangered up" by Avira paid for which I am very happy with. I know Windows Defender isn't well thought of but it does a perfectly competent job on a friend of mine's laptop. I've reset Pro not to fire up on start up and close and it does one scan a day. No difference in result to restrictive settings earlier and laptop still seems slow to start up. Im thinking of uninstalling it.

Any advice? Thanks

Access

I have a feeling that these software companies prey on fear, so that people buy extra security when they already have sufficient protection.

I purchased XoftSPYSE by Pareto Logic in a similar way, having read reviews. It certainly found some spyware that my Virgin Media software did not find, but nothing that was serious. I have not bothered with this extra software when the licence was due for renewal, as the latest VM PCGuard appears to be pretty good.

As a note of interest, since I have stopped using Internet Explorer and now only use Firefox, I don't appear to have the same level of security issues. I moved to Firefox, when there was a security issue with IE, for which there was no software update immediately available. There are a lot of people in the IT world that have issues with Microsoft and I have a feeling that the security of their software is subject to more malicious attacks i.e viruses.

I don't know much about CCleaner or Windows defender to comment. Personally if I did not have the VM software, I would go for Norton, which I have used before and it gets good reviews.

Huckster

Thank you, I was thinking of just letting the subscription lapse and now will do so. FIREFOX! - You and every experienced person I know - admittedly not that many - says exactly what you said. I've tried it a few times over the years but can't get on with it. The actual lettering of the site is not as clear, I don't like the favourites but I accept "no one" that knows has a bad word to say for it. Having said that I do like IE... well I've got 8 by accident and don't have security issues. Should I really make an effort and try it again?

Thanks

access:

Should I really make an effort and try it again?

Thanks

If you download the latest version of Firefox, it is much better. You do not have to make it your default browser. If you still do not get on with it, you can revert to IE8.

Huckster

You might also want to seriously consider using Google Chrome as a browser.

I used to use Opera, but that got very bloated. I switched to Chrome, and it's been great.

Is Google Chrome as safe, secure and fast as firefox?

My IT manager says it is safer than firefox.

Guess i'm switching when i get home tonight!

My IT Manager knows a bit about Management and very, very little about IT...

My IT manager is the managing director of my web hosting company - so I guess he knows more about it than I do!

Skywalker:My IT manager is the managing director of my web hosting company - so I guess he knows more about it than I do!

Skywalker, do you own the company - My?

I am a Director and co-owner yes.

Skywalker:I am a Director and co-owner yes.

Certainly a good trade to be in, if you are not parted with your hard earned money by contractors. The company I worked for hired a number of IT contractors to work on a new system build and they were being paid up to £4k a week. That was about 10 years ago. I suspect that a lot of software is now written in Asia for a fraction of this, so perhaps they are no longer doing as well.

Huckster

Yes I know what you mean. We don't hire contractors. My company does web based managed hosting on cloud platform technology.

I have no idea what it means; but it seems to be popular! I am not a techie as you can tell. :o)

Hence the username - Mr. Cloudwalker.?

: -- )