Which Anti-Virus should I get, and software/hardware firewall? (1 Viewer)

[Lee Scoggins]

I read the major PC mags and Norton is almost always ranked higher than McAfee. I use Norton Internet Security Suite and it is an excellent product.

Zone Alarm is also very well thought of.

****Please be sure to get spyware protection. I use Spybot Search and Destroy (free download) and it works great. I also use their sister product Spyware Blaster which is also good and also free. I also have SpySweeper by Webroot which is very comprehensive but it can slow down performance in places. Webroot seems to be enhancing this product very frequently though and I like the user interface a lot.

I would also recommend getting a utility package to periodically clean the internet cache files out and monitor registry performance.

 

[Carl Miller]

Interesting. I recently got slammed by a backdoor trojan on a fully up to date Norton AV protected system. Norton alerted me to it after it hit, and then couldn't do a thing with it...Couldn't even put the thing in quarantine or close its own warning window.

Access to Nortons web site, as well as most AV sites were totally shut off. Norton didn't reply to my e-mails, and didn't answer the phone...just an endless wait leading to an eventual 'our lines are too busy, please call again' type message.

When I finally did get to Nortons web site on a friends computer, the removal instructions of this trojan was 6 pages long and filled with registry edits, safe mode reboots and manual deletion of files and folders. I only found out after I removed the trojan that a quick scan with Panda's free version, or PCillin's online scan would have both taken it out for me without any problem.

I've used Norton since the days of my old 486 computer. In my opinion, they've totally fallen off and fallen behind the competition.

And Zone Alarm? Loved it, until the 5.x update which has been a major headache for many users including me. I love ZA's (Broderbund's) response to the mess their update has made on some people's computers.... "Downgrade back to the older version".

 

[Rob Gardiner]

I agree . . . Norton and Zone Alarm stink.

 

[Bob Graz]

I don't know what's happened to Norton AV but it's become a pain. My sister bought a new laptop, went to do her first live up date and some how corrupted her system. She ended up having to do a complete reload. I've been reading some real negative stuff on problems loading NAV 2004, problems with live up date and just issues with NAV 2004 slowing everything down. I think I'm done with Norton. I'm sure there are people running it with no problems but on the whole it seems to have gone downhill.

I've been using AVG AV for several weeks now. I'm impressed with its ease of use and the number of virus updates. I'm getting typically a couple of virus updates per week.

On the issue of software firewalls. I'm just running with my router firewall. I'm waffling on whether to activate XP's firewall, but at this point I'm leaning against it.

 

[Ben LG]

Bob, you should just wait for the SP2 update for XP. The only thing I find useful about the ICF in XP now is the logging of dropped packets. Other than that its not as configurable as the other firewalls. The SP2 updated ICF however is a step up and should be adequate along with a router firewall.

 

[Michael Harris]

Another vote for Grisoft AVG. I've had no problems with it and they are very fast with updated virus signatures.