anti-virus/firewall software

[Widewing]

PC Tools suite of anti-virus, Spy Doctor, Threatfire, firewall and Registry Mechanic. Three licenses for one fee and it all works flawlessly.


My regards,

Widewing

[Fulmar]

NOD32 for anti-virus

Home network:

D-Link DCM-202 Modem -> AMD XP 2700+ ClarkConnect 4.3 Linix Box (Firewall, DHCP, FTP, File Storage) -> D-Link DI-524 Router (acting as wireless access point/switch) -> rest of network

[gyrene81]

Norton and McAffee are notorious for not stopping known threats...and being resource hogs. If I had a dollar for every system I've had to do a complete reload or virus removal on, that was running either system, I'd own a Hummer right now. Both corporate and home user versions are proven to be easily shut down by many known viruses and malware. Tren Micro's PC Cillin is a little better, but still a resource hog.

If you're not comfortable with freeware versions of anti-virus get a paid version of Avast, Avira Antivir or Nod32...then supplement with Spybot Search and Destroy (immunization, tea timer, IE hosts features)...as well as WOT (Web of Trust)...along with not opening suspect emails/attachments...you're system will stay pretty safe.


Otherwise, stay off the russian and chinese domains, no P2P file sharing, and don't surf the porn sites...or else be ready to completely reload your computer.

[Ruler2]

I'm using AVG 8.0 Free,Superanti spyware,and Windows Defender,they work PRETTY good but every now and then I get some stuff

[Qrsu]

Avast!
MalwareBytes
Spybot Search&Destroy
SuperAntiSpyware
Ccleaner
Firefox 

[TheZohan]

our Company uses the follow programs and has worked well

Avast!
Malwarebytes

those two together work well and for 99% of the people shouldnt need to run anything else.
i recommed purchasing the lifetime 24.99 license from Malwarebytes for 24/7 protection.

[eagl]

You might want to give the new and free microsoft security essentials AV kit a try.  It seems to have a pretty low footprint and the interface is more flexible for feature customization than you might expect from MS.

The military doesn't have a corporate edition available for win7 (just vista and XP, avail for free to military members and their families) and I already put win7 on my laptop, so I put the new MSE software on the laptop.  It's pretty much transparent as far as I can tell, and it supposedly is full featured including the now common proactive measures that should "notice" unusual system activity and check for updates to see if there is a new virus out there.  Yea that might bug some people who are really concerned about privacy, but you can turn it off if you don't like it.

[eagl]

I almost forgot...

DO NOT USE GOOGLE to find the new microsoft security essentials!!!  The top hits were purchased by malware developers, and on the launch date for MSE, clicking on either the top or the paid search hits for microsoft security essentials would earn you a malware download.

If you want to try MSE, go directly to microsoft.com and find it there using the MS downloads page search.  It was in their top downloads list so you can get it straight from the microsoft downloads homepage.

[Masherbrum]

Avast missed a couple of malware hits when I used it from 2004-2006.   AVG is a virus/trojan within itself.   Try and uninstall it completely, you'll come across components and files at a later date.   

[Mustaine]

Unless you are intentionally browsing "naughty" websites a simple AV should be fine...

I HIGHLY recommend NOD32, buy it.

If you are technically capable and at least running a home network like normal people you probably have a linksys router.

Upgrading it to DD-WRT firmware makes it as powerful as the firewall used in many business
http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv3/dd-wrt/about.html

There are many ways to do it, and many ways to configure it, but I can say I haven't run active anti-virus or anything else for over 3 years. My rig is clean as of 3 weeks ago as a precaution I installed and did a full scan.

Look into it, it will save you running a lot of unnecessary anti-this and than in the background and free your PC to run smooth.

[OOZ662]

Mustaine, would you happen to be able to provide a quick compare between HyperWRT and DD-WRT? If not, I'll go see if I can dig one up.

[TwinEng]

I would again argue that one does not have to spend ANY money in order to have excellent protection.   You just need to do a little research.

PC World did a very complete comparative review of all of the free AntiVirus programs just over a month ago.   And AVIRA won by a big margin over all the others.   It is a really excellent product, and is 100% free.

Here is a link to the review:

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/product/290836/review/antivir_personal.html


If you combine Avira, with the outstanding Comodo Firewall that I mentioned earlier, you will really have a great protection package.

You can add then additional free software, like SpyBot Search and Destroy, Lavasoft Ad-Ware, SpyWare Blaster, and/or WinPatrol if you want even more protection.

But you simply don't have to spend $60 to $70 a year for protection, like the big AntiVirus companies want you to.


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[MrRiplEy[H]]

Or you could just boot into linux when you want to surf. Windows for games, linux can do everything else more securely.

[Masherbrum]

I would again argue that one does not have to spend ANY money in order to have excellent protection.   You just need to do a little research.

PC World did a very complete comparative review of all of the free AntiVirus programs just over a month ago.   And AVIRA won by a big margin over all the others.   It is a really excellent product, and is 100% free.

Here is a link to the review:

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/product/290836/review/antivir_personal.html


If you combine Avira, with the outstanding Comodo Firewall that I mentioned earlier, you will really have a great protection package.

You can add then additional free software, like SpyBot Search and Destroy, Lavasoft Ad-Ware, SpyWare Blaster, and/or WinPatrol if you want even more protection.

But you simply don't have to spend $60 to $70 a year for protection, like the big AntiVirus companies want you to.

I'll take ESET's NOD32, Malware and A/V over what I used to use.  Sygate Firewall and Avast.   Ad-Aware and Spybot are jokes. 

[TwinEng]

ESET is probably indeed one's best bet if you want to pay for Virus/Malware protection.  It costs $60/yr for one PC, or $70/yr for up to 3 computers.

I guess I just don't like buying software on a subscription basis.  Especially when I have found a decent alternative for free.  The whole concept of only having the right to use software for a subscription period has just bothered me, for some reason.

Norton is definitely not worth paying for, in my opinion.  Avira scans way, way faster than either Norton 360, or the AVG software that I also tried.

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