Security Suites. Any Good Ones? (1 Viewer)

[John Watson]

Security Suites. Any good ones? I read a review from about 1 ½ years ago, on how none of the suites were nearly as a good as a smorgasbord of independent packages.

As I have this gut feeling that the fewer the system sources on a computer, the less chance of incompatibilities and conflicts (and of confusion on my part about the army of programs and files that computers like to spawn), has this changed?

Ie, is there currently a good combination Firewall, ad blocker, scumware cleaner, and (possibly) anti virus program?

PS What exactly is a hardware firewall? Is it only for networks, is it expensive, what does it entail for the ordinary non-technical home user?

Thanks for any info/opinions.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

John,

I can recommend AVG ANTIVIRUS by Grisoft and SYGATE PERSONAL FIREWALL by Link Removed and AD-AWARE by Lavasoft. All are FREEWARE and all have worked fine for me with no conflicts. I have recently started using the Google toolbar (Google) to block pop-ups and that seems to work just fine, and again causes no conflicts with my other goodies.

Please remember to UPDATE all these programs regularly. I make it part of my Monday morning routine. That goes for WINDOWS UPDATE as well, but you probably already knew that.

For a hardware firewall, my office uses the Netgear RT311. It is essentially an 8-port Ethernet hub with firewall features that are configured with your web browser. I think it cost about $130. You can probably find a 4-port version for less. IMPORTANT: if you get one of these, CHANGE THE DEFAULT PASSWORD IMMEDIATELY.

I would avoid Norton products like the plague. In my experience, they seem very bloated compared to comparable programs. Also they are implementing product activation (see details on another thread).

 

[Tom Lowden]

I whole-heartedly endorse the Norton Internet Security product. My job is to protect some very sensitive computer networks, and I think this product is GREAT for home or small networks. We use much more robust systems to protect our networks, but this is an excellent solution for someone who doesn't have a corporate budget & staff to protect their own resources.

I use Norton Internet Security (I've used the 2001, 2002, and 2003 versions) at home. They have saved me from several viruses, Intrusions, and other attacks. I have a cable internet connection at home, with a firewall router. That stops the majority of the attacks, but several still make it through each hour. The Norton Internet security suite blocks them and alerts me right away.

It also has pretty good ad blocking, anti-virus, and productivity control in case you want to keep anyone from using your computer to surf to internet sites you don't want them to (which you can choose whether or not to install).

It will automatically update all the virus definitions, etc. each time you sign onto your computer or according to a schedule that you set. I think that if you use your computer every day or two, updating virus defintions once a week is still not often enough.

The BIGGEST benefit to me has been the intrusion detection the program came with. I am attacked several times a day with attempts to install Backdoor/Subseven on my machine (among other things), which many hardware firewalls and anti-virus programs have no way of catching. Norton Internet Security stops the attacks immediately.

I work on very important stuff at home and this has been a huge help to me in keeping my data secure and keeping my systems up & running.

With regards to Norton implementing product activation, that will affect future versions (2004 and later) of their software, but not all their products.