Quick windows AVG question please

alison74

I am on my mum's computer at the moment and the only security she has is AVG, but has an expired Norton Anti Virus on it but the firewall seems to be ON

If my memory serves me right from other threads - both of them shouldn't be on should they ? Do I just turn anti virus off or have to uninstall it aswell


Thanks in advance

f1charlie

You DO want to have a firewall running at the same time as an anti-virus package. But you should only have ONE anti-virus running.

alared

You need both anti-virus and a firewall running.
Windows XP has a built-in firewall,you could use that along with your AVG and uninstall Norton.
Or you could get a free Zonealarm firewall (search Google)

Chippy_Minton

You only need 1 anti-virus running in the background, so uninstall Norton AV. Keep AVG.

You should also have 1 firewall running. Windows has one, but the free ones are better, e.g. Zonealarm. When you install the firewall it usually tells you that it has disabled the Windows firewall.

See http://www.firewallguide.com/freeware.htm for free AVs and firewalls.

alison74

Thanks for that - I was just about to ask if I should just uninstall the Norton Anti Virus.

It maybe hard to believe, but my mum knows even less about computers than me

I downloaded spybot etc for her a wee while back and I check her comp with that

Chippy_Minton

Also install and run 3/4 times a week Windows Defender, Ad-aware and SpywareBlaster.

alison74

Chippy_Minton wrote:

You only need 1 anti-virus running in the background, so uninstall Norton AV. Keep AVG.

You should also have 1 firewall running. Windows has one, but the free ones are better, e.g. Zonealarm. When you install the firewall it usually tells you that it has disabled the Windows firewall.

See http://www.firewallguide.com/freeware.htm for free AVs and firewalls.

Chippy, Just installed it, but it didn't prompt me to disable windows firewall. How can I check that it is off ?

Chippy_Minton

alison74 wrote:

Chippy, Just installed it, but it didn't prompt me to disable windows firewall. How can I check that it is off ?

Control Panel - Security Centre. Click Firewall at the top. It should say Zone alarm is on. Then click Windows Firewall under Manage security settings. The Off (not recommended) option should be selected.

alison74

Yep Zone Alarm on and windows off.

it must be on a high setting as it keeps on asking me if I want to allow certain pages access. My mum is going to panic when she sees the box coming up every time, but I have clicked the 'remember this setting box' which should hopefully reduce it a bit

alison74

Zone alarm also says that it cannot detect anti virus but my AVG is defintely on as it says its loaded and fully funtional.

Am I missing something ?

Chippy_Minton

alison74 wrote:

Zone alarm also says that it cannot detect anti virus but my AVG is defintely on as it says its loaded and fully funtional.

Am I missing something ?

Not sure, but I think it says that because you're using a different AV product and not ZA's own AV. Just ignore the warning.