I guess coastie was talking about me. I have been using Avira Free in Vista and XP, for some time now. Coupled with

a paid version of SUPERAnitSpyware Professional . But, this is a ONE time fee. No more yearly fees.

For Firewall I use the PC Tools Firewall Plus Free .I have been Malware free ever since

I have been using this confuguration.

I use this configuration mainly for it's protection capability but, a rewarding side effect is a Very small footprint on your

resources. My XP machine has only 1 Gig of ram and doesn't feel the effect of these security apps.

To give you an example of the resurces this all takes , take a look at what Task Manager reveals.

These numbers were generated using the "Show All Processes" tab.

Avira Free : The first two entries are for Avira :

There is another entry which is : This is the scheduler :

Now , for the Antispyware : SUPERAntiSpyware :

And finally the Firewall : PC Tolls Firewall Free :

Now, if you were to add these numbers up the total in resources would be

22.124K = roughly 22 megs of ram for your protection. If you take a look at

Firefox's numbers, you can most definitely see that this configuration doesn't

hog Any resources.

So , it's up to you but, I have put the numbers in front of you so you can get an idea

on what to expect. A suite is never recommended. No matter who makes it. I wouldn't

buy a suite from Avira or any other. With this configuration , you know you have the best

of in each class or layer of protection.

Hope this will help in your decision .

FLASHORN.