As for th mouse issues… sounds like a driver conflict. Try uninstalling the drivers and reinstall using the latest drivers (from the manufacturer’s DL site). Don’t forget to set your security software settings to “allow” the new software if necessary – or if it asks for permission.
I forgot to mention… As a word of caution for using multiple AV on the same system… make sure one is disabled while the other is working… Typically, one AV should be good enough… but some like to use the scanner on one while using real-time detection on the other for whatever reasons. If you are using two AV’s at the same time and they happen to pick up a virus at the same time… Depending on how you have your AV settings… they could lock up the same file caught and you’d end up with no access to the file (in other words, unable to delete)… worse scenario would be if one AV locked the other AV out in a confict, forcing you to do some surgery on your system or one of the AV’s to be uninstalled… or even worse both AV’s end up locking up an essential Windows service – then you’d be royally fuxd.
Everyone with a computer can afford a router. You won’t need to pay more than TWD1000 as long as you don’t get wireless. Really, this should be an absolute requirement of anyone connecting to the Internet.
A router will act as a hardware firewall which will prevent any incoming attacks from reaching your computer. Only connections initiated by your computer, or specifically configured in the router will work. Also since it is a hardware router, it will still work even if your computer is compromised by (for example) an email virus which tinkers with your software firewall. And if your computer gets compromised it also makes it harder for an attacker to remotely control the computer. It basically adds a separate strong layer of protection between your computer and the Internet that makes it harder for your system to be attacked.
If you have the [system] resources available… I’d use both software and hardware firewall for max security. But if you plan on using only one, I’d go with the hardware firewall (router).
A few advantages of hardware firewall:
Chances of your hardware firewall conficting with existing software is minimal, if at all. Software firewalls might automatically place “safe” items in the danger zone and block access to them until you change the security setting manually. Another thing is that routers dont interfere with installations / uninstallations like software firewalls [that come with component control] do. But… thats not necessarilly a good or bad thing depending on what exactly is being “interfered”…
Hardware firewall can provide much more complete security than a software firewall when configured right.
A router can be used to protect several systems at a time… where as software firewall protects only the system that it is installed on (and usually requires a unique license each).
Routers / hardware firewalls are typically independent of the OS, thus incompatibility is usually not an issue.
They do not hog resources such as CPU power, memory, etc, since they are seperate from your system.
I must say however, some routers come with weak default security settings for sake of user friendliness which might allow “all” connections to be wide open from the get go (including unnecessary and/or unused connections). This will leave you open for attacks… That said, the only disadvantage of hardware [compared to software] that I can think of would probably be configuring it right for optimal security + having all your “allowed” traffic / connections work at the same time… It might take a bit of trial and error to get it right but it’s really not that hard to figure out.
