Well...turning off the security really decreases its effectiveness.

Yes, it certainly does. It's a Dirty Harry question - "Do I feel lucky?" My answer is always, "No".

Those two security suites are flawed, IMNSHO. You ought to be able to run programs you write, either directly, or by telling the program to allow it. There are programs that allow this; I use Avast! antivirus and Outpost firewall, among other things. Works for me; as always, YMMV.