Spy sweeper + McAfee

I got this lil netbook and it came wiv preinstalled 90days trial of "Webroot Spy Sweeper" and a 30 day trial of "McAfee".
Are these really useful?? I know McAfee is a nice AV software but what about SPY SWEEPER?? Considering itz a netbook, will it do more harm than gud?
Moreover i was told that MSE is better than McAfee!! Is it true??

Here's my netbook specifications:
Intel Atom N470 (1.83 GHz);
2 GB RAM;
Win 7 starter;

 

Here's an advice I hope you will take:
Remove both Webroot Spy Sweeper and McAffee from your netbook.

MSE is far better than McAfee when it comes to detection rates, it's much lighter on the system and it's completely free.

You can also download Malwarebytes (free) as an on-demand malware scanner (use only if you suspect an infection that got past the av - which can happen to any av program).

You can also consider either Avira10 or Avast5 for antivirus programs, though MSE trumps both in detection rates (and I personally haven't had issues with infections ever since I installed MSE on my system).

 

Concur with Deks on the MSE and Malwarebytes - both are much lighter and better alternatives. Also look into Spywareblaster - a blocking program for known bad sites.

 

Here's another for Microsoft Security Essentials. Light weight and high detection rate. It is much better than McAfee and is completely free. Also recommend Malwarebytes, Spybot SD and Spyware Blaster.

Spyware Blaster is for adding sites to your global and browser specific block lists. Spybot SD also does this but I find that each program tends to miss some sites so, together you have a much more complete block list.

Spybot SD and Malwarebytes are good on-demand scanners. They both use different detection methods. Things that Spybot missed, Malwarebytes found and vice versa.

 

Try the free comodo internet security and you will be amazed at what the other free Av`s miss.

http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/free-download.html

 

Okkayy.. I'm convinced... I'll go for MSE.. But why do i have to install stuff like ''spybot'' or ''spyware blaster'' or any such ''spy'' sweeper???
Isnt just one anti-virus enough to do the job?

 

McAfee is a great choice! Nice going there!

I also highly suggest buying Kaspersky for your everyday computing needs. Good luck!

 

I seriously hope you're being sarcastic!

 

Spyware blaster and spybot are not av programs.
They are specialized anti spyware/malware programs which sometimes the regular antivirus programs cannot catch (despite how good they may be).

I only use Malwarebytes for this (as an on-demand scanner - meaning I only run it if I suspect something got past the av - otherwise I don't keep it active in the background).

Malwarebytes or Superantispyware are what I'd personally recommend.
Both come in free editions and are the most effective for this kind of a thing (however they are only to be used on demand and not as always running).


As for 'nacholambre' suggestion

I have to say it's not a particularly good one because McAfee is a pretty bad option for an antivirus despite the 'improvements' they implemented into it recently (it's still relatively bloated and has a lower detection rate).

Kapersky I wouldn't recommend simply because it's resource heavy (despite it's reputation for being good).

Plus, both Kapersky and McAfee are paid programs.
Why waste your money when MSE, Avira or Avast can protect your system for free (and surpassing most paid programs in detection rates) while not slowing it down?