Protecting my new pc?

Hey everybody!
Thanks for all your help on deciding which computer I should go with. And thanks to SouthernGirl for her tutorial for doing a clean install of win xp on my new dell to get rid of all the crap on it. I've spent alot of time reading through past threads on here and other places about what antivirus, firewall etc. is good.

(1) My dell came with a 15 month subscription to mcafee, but after reading on these and other forums it seems that mcafee isn't very good and is nearly impossible to get out of your system once you install it. So right now I'm using Avast! AntiVirus and ZoneAlarm Firewall. Do you think this is a good decision? Any input?

(2) I've been a long time Mozilla user (not firefox though)

(3) I'm not stupid with computers I don't think but I know that I'm apt to participate in some risky behavior (WinMX). Can you recommend extra safety steps I should take?

I mainly will be using my computer for: Photoshop, AutoCAD2000i, some gaming (half-life 1 & 2), everday web browsing and word processing, and I'd like to download alot of TV shows and movies from Japan (Asian winMX). In light of that I'd be greatful for any other recommendations anyone could make?

Thanks alot,
Chris Stetson

 

I use Norton Antivirus, and Webroot Spysweeper. They work excellent. I believe(if its the same one) that Avast is good.

 

Mcafee in my eyes is remarkable better than Nortan. Nortan kills your start up time and i don't know why Mcafee gets so dissed. its amazing software that has kept me protected for years.
I installed Norton to try it out and it nearly killed my computer let alone another family computer it did kill.
Mcafee Recommended.

 

if you need speed, panda av rules...

 

Mcafee or panda should be your antivirus scanners. Like nick said, norton is as you could say malware that boggs down your computer in a good way...lol

 

I have used Norton and Mcafee, I say both sucks! get Kaspersky, very fast, and updates every 3 hours, norton updates every week.. do the math.. hours and weeks
just my 2/100

 

CA ( computer Associates ) is SWEET! I have found them and the product helpful responsive and does a great job of protecting and not interfering with speed.
Also you can set the AV to check as often as you like.
(Every 1 min for an update?)

I have used the other big three and KASPERSKY and PANDA however found for the money and over all protection CA to be quite excellent.

As any FYI MACAFEE and SYMANTEC ( NORTON ) have done a great job in marketing however these two items were... disclosed last week.
http://www.informationweek.com/industries/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=175007526
&
http://news.com.com/High+risk+in+Sy...re+flaw/2100-1002_3-6004097.html?tag=nefd.top

As the first article alludes the AV world is soon to hit sweeping changes. As I understand it the HUGE Gorilla - Microzoft use CA also.

Hope this helps.
Peace,
Gm

P.S. have you tried the browser "Opera"?