# Who do you use for your antivirus and firewall internet security?



## Brian R. VanCise

So who do you use for your antivirus and firewall internet security?
I have used Panda for quite a while but never again after there
poor customer serivce and downloading software issues.


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## terryl965

AVG and never had a problem with them


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## MBuzzy

Norton......just upgraded, still undecided.  Never had a virus though.


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## terryl965

MBuzzy said:


> Norton......just upgraded, still undecided. Never had a virus though.


 
I hope your tend keeps going


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## Carol

Symantec Client Security (it's the corporate workstation version of Norton)


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## terryl965

Carol Kaur said:


> Symantec Client Security (it's the corporate workstation version of Norton)


 
That must be nice


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## Carol

terryl965 said:


> That must be nice



One of the perks of working in telecom my friend   

It almost makes up for the hours...almost :lol: :lol:


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## Jade Tigress

AVG is the BEST. I use AVG, AdAware, Spybot S&D, and Zone Alarm. All free. Never have any problems. Though, our old desktop got a virus when we had Norton. Had to do a full restore on it.


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## Sukerkin

AVG for anti-virus and Comodo for firewall.  

As a word of warning to the Norton users, they have one of the worst detection rates going for virii - I heartily recommend using another anti-virus to scan you system and see what pops out.

Edit: I see Pam gave a similar warning at about the same time .


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## Andrew Green

AVG and Avast are the two anti-virus programs I tend to reccomend.

Zone Alarm is probably the best option for a software firewall, hardware firewall is better though IMO. Windows Firewall is useless.

Norton's stuff tends to be nothing but problematic for me.

Best option - Linux or a Mac


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## MBuzzy

sigh...I have been told that before - I'm also not real happy about how much RAM Norton takes up.....but it is simple and very user friendly.  And since I don't know much about my computer, it is good for me!


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## Brian R. VanCise

MBuzzy said:


> sigh...I have been told that before - I'm also not real happy about how much RAM Norton takes up.....but it is simple and very user friendly. And since I don't know much about my computer, it is good for me!


 
Simple and user friendly sounds good to me.  After Panda I want simple and particularly user friendly.


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## Bigshadow

I use AVG for virus stuff, and I use a hardware firewall (Linksys).  At one time I was using an older computer running Smoothwall as a firewall.  It worked very well.  I really liked it, however I needed wireless network access and I wanted Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI).  About to get a corporate firebox for home, compliments from work, not sure what I want to do about the Wireless access with that one.


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## Brian R. VanCise

Thanks for everyone's advice!


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## Gemini

I just had an IT guy come in and attempt to clean up my machine. AVG shut down 4 times in a row. We ran a Symantec Corp version of spyware to try and find what's killing it. He then told me to get Norton Anti Virus, but not the full blown Norton as it will bog down the machine. Spybot S&D ran successfully, but couldn't grab everything. It's a work in progress....


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## Brian R. VanCise

It really is pretty confusing.  One professional that I know recommends Panda the other one that I personally know recommends Norton. (both make their living off of computers, repairing, sweeping, cleaning, selling, etc.)  Believe it or not neither of them recommend AVG. :idunno:  I have done Panda for a long time and it is a* real* pain to deal with.  So no more Panda for me!  So I am going with user friendly this time and will run another virus scan from another service every now and then.


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## nathan3

I've used most everything on the market at one time or another, and I continue to encounter a lot of things as I troubleshoot various computers.  At this point, I'd rather run without protection than use anything with the Norton name attached.  It causes more problems for my clients than it solves.

My new favorite is Microsoft Live OneCare.  It's about $50 from your local store, will protect up to 3 computers in your house with one license, and covers most everything.  Viruses, spyware, general clean-up tasks, backups.  It's all there.  And it's from Microsoft, and I trust them to protect their own operating system more than I do Norton, AVG or anyone else.


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## Sukerkin

When it comes down to it, *Nathan* has the right of it.  Regardless of what some people may say, NORTON is not the first best choice.  We're entering the same situation in computing as is extant in medicine where some will say "Use this!" solely because they have a vested interest to say so.

AVG anti-virus is free (for now, tho' not for long) and is amongst the most effective.  What one member mentioned about AVG having problems, I would guess that to be down to an invasive worm targeted to kill it.  Yes, that sort of thing happens (which is part of why NORTON (sorry to shout twice but it needs highlighting) is next to useless.

As some know, I work in a very high security IT environment (I am personally responsible for the control software of the substation that supplies Buckingham Palace, the House of Commons and the House of Lords) and I can say with clarity that the only way to be properly secure is to be 'invisible' and not to allow anything into your system when you don't know what it is.  

My company will not give any Norton product houseroom and it is only through market pressure that we will even give Microsoft OS's houseroom (because they are so vulnerable).  Thankfully we run on an isolated network so even Microsoft's weakness doesn't harm us as you need certain codes and certain frequencies to be able to bridge into the network {tho' in best 'conspiracy theory' tradition I can breach it with a mobile 'phone (of a specific network) and a laptop :lol:}.

Where I am heading with this I suppose is that I would fully recommend that you have a PC dedicated solely to internet access.  Don't have anything on it that you can't bear to lose ('cos you may need to 'burn' it) and don't let it network to any other machine you have (the ultimate firewall is non-connectivity).

For the moment, I am vulnerable because I've recently gone 'broadband' and so my Net PC is also my 'best' (as in "gaming") PC but that will soon change as soon as I have the spare few hundred pounds to put a new disposable on the end of the line .


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## Bob Hubbard

Jade Tigress said:


> AVG is the BEST. I use AVG, AdAware, Spybot S&D, and Zone Alarm. All free. Never have any problems. Though, our old desktop got a virus when we had Norton. Had to do a full restore on it.


Same here.


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## jks9199

Like others, I've had various programs recommended by folks I trust.  Sometimes the same one that one guy is recommending is the one that another is saying "never use."

It's a mess.  Even worse than the "which martial art should I study" question!

Currently, on a work laptop, I use Norton because that's what "they" put on it.  On my home PC, I use McAffee because it's free from my ISP.  But I've had problems ever since I switched over to McAffee, and am seriously considering changing to another, even if I have to pay.  But I just can't figure out which one to use...

As Vinny Barbarino used to say... "I'm so confused!"


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## crushing

I've had pretty good luck with AVG Free Edition for antivirus and Sygate Personal Firewall.

I'm cheap.


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## fireman00

Norton is a memory pig that has caused major issues on friends/ family member's PCs and laptops.

Not a fan of Symantec.

Anti-virus: I use AVG 7.5 which is a free program for personal users that will check Outlook and other email apps for viruses in attachements and will scan the drives for viruses.  Download it from http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1   The program will automatically check for updates daily and over the last 3 years I've had 0 viruses (knock on wood).  

Firewall: I run ZoneAlarm as a software firewall.

Some folks think if one is better then two or three must be great so don't run multiple firewalls or anti-virus programs on the same system - they have a tendency to work against one another and can bring your system to its knees.  This issue can also come into play when trying to remove one of the bloated pay-for-protection apps like Norton that are a PITA to remove completely from a computer.

Lastly, make sure you change the password on your router so that you won't have to worry about someone getting access to your system.   NOTE/ Warning - if you aren't comfortable doing this have someone that knows PCs do this 'cuz you can lock yourself out!   You can usually get into the router by bring up your Web browser and type either http://dslrouter or http://192.168.1.1 in the browsers address window and hit the ENTER key.


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## crushing

fireman00 said:


> Lastly, make sure you change the password on your router so that you won't have to worry about someone getting access to your system. NOTE/ Warning - if you aren't comfortable doing this have someone that knows PCs do this 'cuz you can lock yourself out! You can usually get into the router by bring up your Web browser and type either http://dslrouter or http://192.168.1.1 in the browsers address window and hit the ENTER key.


 
Excellent information fireman!  

In addition to that, if you lost your documentation and don't know your router's default password, check out this website:  http://www.routerpasswords.com/

I think most home routers have a little reset button that will set it back to the factory default settings if you lock yourself out of your router.  Also, another popular address for a home router is http://192.168.0.1.


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## Bigshadow

Another thing that I just remembered and thought would be great to point out.  I do keep ZoneAlarm installed on my laptop.  I will run it when I am connected to an untrusted network (ie, any network other than mine or my work).  So even if you have a hardware firewall, a software firewall is still beneficial for when you may be using a publicly accessed network.


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## tellner

I used Norton for years and finally ditched it. It was just too much of a hog and didn't offer better protection than a number of other options. McAffee stuff didn't quite cut it and was nearly impossible to remove. After a couple others I settled on Kaspersky at the advice of a friend who is one of Intel's top InfoSec guys and head of their Capture the Flag team. It isn't quite as heavyweight as Norton and updates hourly.

Microsoft's anti-malware products are practically malware themselves.

The Mac doesn't have any extra protections, just the patches that come from Apple. 

The Linux boxes have their own firewalls (IPChains), AppArmor, Bastille, somewhat fascist security policies, and one of them is tricked out as an IPS/IDS/sniffer.


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## Shicomm

As i get around 3 systems a day infected with spyware / adware or viruses , it's nice to know the best ways to fight back  
A few opinions about the stuff out there... 

Norton ( all stuff , exept the corp. editions ) : Slow , expensive , needs quite a load of RAM to run, slow in updates,  way to low catchrate ...  ; Need to say more ? 

McAfee : Was at the same level as Norton but is getting better. It still eats a lot of RAM and the updates come in a slow matter.

AVG : It's free but the catch rate is a point of doubt with me , the update frequency is also quite low. Is light to use ; points on that  

NOD32 : A very good product ; it's light , get's frequent updates and only uses a little bit of RAM. Downside ; doesn't have a firewall.

Panda : Multiple versions to choose from ; ( the titanium version is best value for money ) , very good catchrate , needs somewhat more RAM to operate really fast but since 2 of the 3 products do have a firewall that's only a minor downside. 

Kaspersky : The biggest b#tch against all kinds of viruses! 
The catchrate is by far the best of all products that i've tested for my customers. Updates come in as fast as every 2 hours (!) . Good for both beginning users ( software does all the work and doesn't interfere at all ) and advanced users ( all the settings that you could wish are there ) 

---

2 others worth mentioning are Trend micro ( Japanese origin!  ) and Bitdefender.
They offer some installable software but they also have very good online scanners.
They are free to use and offer very good results.
It's a good idea to check with them if your computer is still clean...  

For the scanner of trend micro  Click here 

For the scanner of Bitdefender  Click here  ( Only for internet explorer )


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## Softix

I am using AVG and avast in my pc right now because it was not lagging up my pc and you can removed trojans with it. And also it can detect trojans and removed them by not lagging up my pc.When it comes to securing my pc I do used Comodo this 3 software are indeed great because it is not just free but also reliable.


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## AceHBK

I use ZoneAlarm the full suite.

Norton is too much of a resource hog for me.

I have heard nothing but good things about Kapersky.

NOD32 is the best by far.  Extremely light when it comes to installation and amount of resources it uses and it easy to use.


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## Xue Sheng

I will tell you later


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## Doc_Jude

> Who do you use for your antivirus and firewall internet security?



I use Mac OS X Version 10.4.11  :ultracool


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## tellner

My only problem with the security products is that they tend to become the biggest pieces of malware on my system. The number of things they have to do and keep doing all the frickin' time slows things down, constantly interrupts other processes and generally turns the computer into nothing but a machine dedicated to maintaining its own security.


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