Sick of Symantec...what firewall and antivirus software do you use? (1 Viewer)

[Marty Christion]

I've been using a trial copy of Symantec Personal Firewall and Anti virus that came with my router, and my computer takes forever to load and shut down now. Plus I see all sorts of Symantec stuff running in the background.

What are the recommended alternatives on both fronts? Of course Zone Alarm seems ubiquitous, but I've also heard good things about Tiny Firewall. And Zone Alarm now has Anti Virus as well, from what it looks like.

It's for a 1Ghz laptop running XP pro.

 

[Mike Fassler]

I highly recommend F-secure products,Althou I never waste my resources with a software firewall, F-secure makes some of the best products on the market.


http://www.f-secure.com/index.shtml

 

[Chris]

http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archi...ducts.xml?table



The Virus Bulletin will give you good details of which software performed well, which didn't.

 

[Todd Hochard]

I'm using McAfee Viruscan, and the WinXP SP2 firewall seems good enough to me.



My computer starts up very quickly, but the shutdown is LONG. Athlon XP 2600+, too, so that's not it.

Probably viruscan, but I can live with it, since I walk away on shutdown, anyway.

 

[Tekara]

I use AVG for antivirus and Kerio for a firewall. Both are free and work fairly well. I particularly like them because they are quite a bit lighter on resource consumption that norton.

 

[Nathan_F]

AVG for me as well. I use Sygate personal firewall. Again, both are free and do a good job.

 

[GarySI]

I wiped all of my machines clean of Symantec software. I love AVG from grisoft.com. It is free, but be considerate and send them a donation. If you''re going to get rid of symantec, be sure to clean out the registry also.

 

[Ken Chui]

Anti-Virus: McAfee VirusScan 8.0

Firewall: Kerio Personal Firewall 4



My susbscription to McAfee expired recently, so I'm using Computer Associates' EZ Armor Security Software (free for RR customers) temporarily. I'm holding out for a more affordable upgrade offer from McAfee before I switch to VS 9.0.

 

[Marko Berg]

Another F-secure user here. We also have it in my workplace. I've never had a problem with virii thanks to it.

 

[Mark Shannon]

VCOM Systemsuite for both firewall and antivirus.

 

[Hanson]

I use AVG because it does auto updates or free and use Housecall online scan to thoroughly inspect my system. I would never use Symantec AV or firewall products -- they use too many system resources for my taste and I have seen infected files not detected by Norton that were detected by Housecall online scan.

 

[Max Leung]

I have a hardware firewall, a Linksys router. I do not use any in-memory virus-scan tools. Occasionally I run the Housecall online virus checker. But, it never finds anything.



I have not had a virus on my machine for over three years...but I still get the occasional spyware program. I run Adaware and Spybot regularly.

 

[Greg*go]

Another vote for AVG-pro, but I have Zone Alarm's free edition as my firewall. It seems everyone has shifted away from Zone Alarm. Is there a reason for that? Is it no longer the hip firewall to use?

 

[Max Leung]

I've had many headaches with ZoneAlarm - it really sucks when you're trying to launch a game, and the ZoneAlarm "permission" window is hidden from view. If you clicked on the mouse at that moment, the window would lose focus and you'd be force to reboot the computer to get control back! Arrrghh. I hate ZoneAlarm. I've had it corrupt my network stack too...



I think it is better now - although with the newest Windows XP built-in firewall, it is somewhat obsolete.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I thought I'd bump this thread. My sub to Norton AV is running out and its time to change from Norton Internet Security.

I see that Staples is selling McAfee Internet Security Suite for $60 (minus $60 in rebates) so the price is right. I've noticed a lot of complaints about Norton and McAfee.

What are your current thoughts on McAfee and other products? I need AV and Firewall. I'm using MS Antispyware, so I guess that's not absolutely required in a new package. I also use spybot and adaware. I will be running both Firefox and IE (my wife doesn't like Firefox, go figure). I'm running WinXP Pro and a Linksys wireless router and there will be a laptop on the wireless network.

Thoughts, please.

 

[Neal_C]

Johnny,

Why not just let your router be your firewall? I have been using a hardware based firewall (D-Link, Linksys, etc) in my routers for 6 or 7 years now. I just haven't seen the need for a software based one.

As for antivirus, I have been using AVG for about 3 or 4 years and have never felt the need to switch. It has 2 good things going for it: its free, and it works.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Is that enough? Stupid question because you've just said it is, but I've been used to having both, so it makes me wonder.

Question: does the router fireware protect every pc on the wireless network?

 

[Rob Gillespie]

The software firewall probably wont protect you any more than the router for incoming traffic, but for outbound it can be useful to know exactly what is trying to access your web connection (like media player, acrobat reader, godknowswhatelse)

 

[Johnny Angell]

You know, another thing I've gotten used to is some the general housekeeping scans that Norton does. But that's SystemWorks which I could keep running. I guess the one I use the most in Norton Cleanup which removes files left over from internet sessions.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Good point. Does ZoneAlarm do that?