Getting ready to upgrade…
I’ve always been a fan of Spybot. When I installed Vista, one of the first things I did was disable Windows Defender in favor of Spybot, and gave TeaTimer (name correct?) a try. I quickly got sick of it popping up all the time, so disabled I that, too.
I don’t really see much need to have an anti-spyware program running all the time - IMO, a little common sense is all that is needed to avoid spyware. I just run a full scan on my system with Spybot every couple of weeks to make sure nothing has gotten by me, and I’ve not had any problems.
Since I’m expecting smoother operation under Windows 7 than with Vista, and memory won’t be as much of an issue (going 64-bit with 8 GB RAM), is it worth giving Defender a shot? Is it better now with Windows 7? Or is Spybot still a better choice?
You should use both. Eventually, you’ll notice that Defender picked up something Spybot missed, or that AdAware picked up something Defender missed.
You don’t really have to keep any of them running unless you’re scanning so it isn’t like they hog up resources.
The way I remember it with Vista, if Defender isn’t disabled it’s in memory, taking up resources. Is that incorrect?
I should be getting Win 7 tomorrow. It’s supposed to come with a program called Microsoft Security Essentials. You can go to their website and download now if you want to. It is running on my computer now (Vista 64).
It actually disables Windows defender and runs as a standalone firewall/anti-virus program. So far for me it gets two thumbs up. Super easy to set up and is not intrusive at all or a resource hog unlike some programs…cough < Norton> cough.
Give it a try if your curious how it works.
Oh yeah? I’ve been using AVG for the past couple of years, and figured I’d go with that again. Is MSE comparable?
I’d try it, but I plan to go get Win 7 within the next few hours… not much point in installing new software at this point.
Better IMHO and I’m not some Microsoft fanboy either. 
If you’re getting it in a few hours anyway don’t worry about it. I think you’ll like it though.