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.

 

[terryl965]

AVG and never had a problem with them

 

[MBuzzy]

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

 

[terryl965]

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

I hope your tend keeps going

 

[Carol]

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

 

[terryl965]

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

That must be nice

 

[Carol]

That must be nice

One of the perks of working in telecom my friend

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

 

[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.

 

[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 .

 

[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

 

[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!

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

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.

 

[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.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Thanks for everyone's advice!

 

[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....

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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 .

 

[Bob Hubbard]

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.

 

[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!"