PC Problem Please Help

[DJ_one]

I need some recomendations/help with internet security programs, I'm currently using Norton Internet Security 2005, but having a lot of problems with it though, at the moment its decided to block my internet connection when Norton Firewall is enabled, disable it and it works again, just started happening when I installed service pack 2.

Also keep getting some stupid dialogue box stating that Norton does not support a repair feature whenever I start windows and whenever I open MS Word.

Other problems are the system wont shut down, I've had to manually reset or turn off the power.

I'm using XP Pro with SP2.

[setrict]

Ditch Norton. Total crap imo. McAfee is pretty annoying too. Corporate stuff is pretty decent.

Do you have a router, if so a firewall will probably do you no good at all. check your ip address. if it looks like 192.168.x.x you're probably using a NAT router, which automatically blocks traffic from the net your computer didn't 'ask' for. The only thing a firewall is going to do is protect you from other machines on your internal network (if any).

If you are cable/dsl and don't have a router.... get one. Just use the default xp SP2 firewall.

For Spyware I'd suggest the Microsoft Antispyware (free) or Ewido Security Suite (not free, but nice). Other alternatives are Spybot and Ad-Aware. The first two seem by far the best, though no one program seems to catch them all.

Antivirus: Free I'd pick AVG (search google for avgfree) or Avast Antivirus (avast.com). Personally I like Avast because it can do a preboot scan that helps remove difficult infections. Pay software I really like EZ Antivirus from computer associates (without the firewall addon). It seems to have very little impact on system performance. www.ca.com

[Overkongen]

I know a lot of 1337 PC people, and they all say that Free AVG is da shit, fo real.

[FireWolf238]

hehe, i have a mac....so spyware works on my comp ans same with viruses..... i'm also behind 2 routers XD a main router and a an airoport base station.
em i don't remeber shit about pc's so can't help there

[NERD]

MAC for the win. :p Avast works really well for WIN XP though, easily beats out more expensive, corporate crap that comes with a lot of baggage and suck a lot of power from the memory. I used to use Norton for Mac, now talk about being useless and a piece of crap at the same time!

[DJ_one]

I'm using a cable modem, I dont know anything about it, I used to use ADSL and setup the connection myself using my ADSL modem and router that both had NAT firewalls, but always compliment a hardware firewall with a software one, I'd use my router but theres not really much point as its only going to one PC and it would be a waste of power, I'm also using MS AntiSpyware beta, I'm thinking of using F-Secure Internet Security, or any other good security suite that works like Norton, something that I can just install and forget about.

For some reason without any windows updates just using a fresh copy of XP Pro SP1 things are fine, a few updates later and Norton and my system start going up the creak, I have the same setup on my other PC accept with service pack 2 and it works totally fine from a complete system update and then I install Norton and that works fine.

None of it makes sense as to why one system is fine and the other is totalled after a few months and needs to be re-installed, only reason I didnt have SP2 on my main PC is because I use P2P programs and didnt want the restricted connections, but I have no viruses or spyware on my system.

[co_delphi]

hehe, i have a mac....so spyware works on my comp ans same with viruses..... i'm also behind 2 routers XD a main router and a an airoport base station.
em i don't remeber shit about pc's so can't help there

Viruses and spyware are designed to cripple and annoy the typical computer user. What could a malicious coder possibly do that would cripple a mac any worse than it already is?

(nice for graphics, but not exactly a great game selection compared to PC)

As for virus scanners I simply use only virus scanners like trendmicro. Had too much experience with viruses killing the scanner to trust installed versions anymore.

[co_delphi]

None of it makes sense as to why one system is fine and the other is totalled after a few months and needs to be re-installed, only reason I didnt have SP2 on my main PC is because I use P2P programs and didnt want the restricted connections, but I have no viruses or spyware on my system.

Just a thought, but I know XP got to be rather obnoxious in requiring microsoft signed drivers after SP2. Just for the hell of it, try going to the motherboard manufacturer and download new drivers for it. Just a hunch.

[EmilyElle]

I third.. or maybe fourth... AVG. Defo. use that, run spyware scans, defrag. Don't do anything to the registry unless you know what you're doing... I had a wicked assload of spyware a while back and had to tweak the registry for hours... it was painful but worth it.

I don't know why your computer won't shut down but try and solve that. My computer crapped out on me after I kept shutting it down manually because I was lazy. Heh.

Good luck.