Anti-virus/firewall software
Posted by: Two-Sheds on 07 November 2004
sorry if this has been posted before, but I did a search and couldn't find anything.
I've finally decided to upgrade my anti-virus/firewall software on my home pc. I only have one PC and I'm using Windows XP Home. When I got it had a free trial of Norton anti-virus installed which is what I've been using up to now.
I was mainly looking at getting either Norton Internet Security 2005 or McAfee Internet Security Suite.
The first question is do I really need either of the above? is MS firewall that comes with XP Home sufficent? should I just look at the firms anti-virus stuff and forget the firewall (I would have thought the commercial firewall software is better so I am prepared to get one)?
The other question is both of the products I've mentioend above require IE 5.5 or higher which I have, but don't use. I use Mozilla Firefox for browsing and Thunderbird for mail. Because I'm using Firefox is some of the functionality of the products wasted on me?
Has anyone got experience with either of the above (or any other options)?
thanks in advance...
I've finally decided to upgrade my anti-virus/firewall software on my home pc. I only have one PC and I'm using Windows XP Home. When I got it had a free trial of Norton anti-virus installed which is what I've been using up to now.
I was mainly looking at getting either Norton Internet Security 2005 or McAfee Internet Security Suite.
The first question is do I really need either of the above? is MS firewall that comes with XP Home sufficent? should I just look at the firms anti-virus stuff and forget the firewall (I would have thought the commercial firewall software is better so I am prepared to get one)?
The other question is both of the products I've mentioend above require IE 5.5 or higher which I have, but don't use. I use Mozilla Firefox for browsing and Thunderbird for mail. Because I'm using Firefox is some of the functionality of the products wasted on me?
Has anyone got experience with either of the above (or any other options)?
thanks in advance...
Zone Alarm would be my recomendation for the firewall as it's free and does things the XP one doesn't. Having had experience of Norton and McAfee virus ware, I'm not keen on either. Try NOD32 from Eset http://www.nod32.com/home/home.htm
It's fast and doesn't impose any big system overheads. You can download a 30day free trial and having done so, you'll probably not want to bother with anything else. It's also commendably cheap, which is probably why MS use it inhouse
It's fast and doesn't impose any big system overheads. You can download a 30day free trial and having done so, you'll probably not want to bother with anything else. It's also commendably cheap, which is probably why MS use it inhouse
I actually got my money back on Norton because it was impossible to get onto the web whatever the settings.
I buy Zone Alarm and AVG online these days and have had no problems since doing so.
Get Ad-Aware too! They have a new free download called Ad-Aware-SE Personal. And update the search file regularly! It found 100's of tracking bugs on my machine the first time I ran it! Make sure you have your 'pooter speakers on when it finishes scanning!
Nime
I buy Zone Alarm and AVG online these days and have had no problems since doing so.
Get Ad-Aware too! They have a new free download called Ad-Aware-SE Personal. And update the search file regularly! It found 100's of tracking bugs on my machine the first time I ran it! Make sure you have your 'pooter speakers on when it finishes scanning!
Nime
So I'm now all protected and ready to venture out into the big world wide web again 
As mentioned above I went and got Nod32 and Zone Alarm. After running Nod it found a few viruses (after looking up on the internet none of them were serious or particularly malicous ones) and now Zone alarm is running it's blocked about 80 'Intrusions' in the last 10 minutes, I'm not sure how many of these the xp firewall was blocking or if any are malicous.
Adam - what fo you find useful about Zone Alarm pro. Looking on thier site on the compare I already have a few of the features covered (pop-ip and ad blocking covered eith Firefox, outgoing virus in email covered by anti-virus software) the ones that may be useful would be:
As mentioned above I went and got Nod32 and Zone Alarm. After running Nod it found a few viruses (after looking up on the internet none of them were serious or particularly malicous ones) and now Zone alarm is running it's blocked about 80 'Intrusions' in the last 10 minutes, I'm not sure how many of these the xp firewall was blocking or if any are malicous.
Adam - what fo you find useful about Zone Alarm pro. Looking on thier site on the compare I already have a few of the features covered (pop-ip and ad blocking covered eith Firefox, outgoing virus in email covered by anti-virus software) the ones that may be useful would be:
- Safely approves programs for Internet Access.
- Provides precise security controls.
- Prevents personal data from leaving your computer without permission.
In a perfect world your ISP would do all the cleaning up before you ever see an attachment carrying a virus. Or see spam for tham matter.
My ISP has just such a service now on my broadband connection. I get a notice every other day or so that an e-mail has been removed for containing a virus.
As to spam I hardly ever see one in my IE Inbox. I go in and delete them in bulk permanently in my ISP's spam folder. But I only check them to see if I've missed anything important. They stopped one e-mail from a friend shortly after starting the service. But no problems since.
Nime
My ISP has just such a service now on my broadband connection. I get a notice every other day or so that an e-mail has been removed for containing a virus.
As to spam I hardly ever see one in my IE Inbox. I go in and delete them in bulk permanently in my ISP's spam folder. But I only check them to see if I've missed anything important. They stopped one e-mail from a friend shortly after starting the service. But no problems since.
Nime