Antivirus/Firewall

alrighty, my current subscriptions have just expired... im looking for the best antivirus and firewall software out there... any suggestions?

Compaq Presario R3000t
Pentium 4 -3.0Gh H/T
1 Gig DDR
15.4BrightVew (1280x800)
80 Gig 4200Rpm
128 Radeion 9000 IGP
4x DVD-+R/RW/CD-+RW/R
802.11b/g

 

This is the trio I use and it works fine...

Firewall-Windows Firewall with SP2
Antivirus-McAfee VirusScan Professional 2005
Spyware/Adware-McAfee Anti-Spyware 2005

And the antivirus came with a program called quickclean...and it does a sweet job of ridding your computer of un-needed files, and also includes AntiSpam.

I don't know much about it, but there is the new, free, Microsoft Anti-Spyware...but something told me to just get a professional non-beta program from a known brand.

 

Personally I like adaware, which is free and does a great job of cleaning out most/all of the spyware that I come across. It also gives free definition updates to. The microsoft one is still beta as far as I know, and intill it goes gold I think you would be better of with something proven like adaware.
I also use nortonAV which does a good job at prevention, but I've had troubles with it removing virus's effectively from an infected machine (not mine... my brothers), but I believe that this is a common problem for many AV programs. For firewalls I have a harware router and the Xp SP2 enabled. To date I have never had a virus infection...touch wood.
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ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 1Gb RAM

 

ok, windows firewall it is... now what would you say is the best antivirus.. McAfee, Norton, or this other one i was lookin at: PC-cillin

Compaq Presario R3000t
Pentium 4 -3.0Gh H/T
1 Gig DDR
15.4BrightVew (1280x800)
80 Gig 4200Rpm
128 Radeion 9000 IGP
4x DVD-+R/RW/CD-+RW/R
802.11b/g

 

Norton Internet Security, Norton System Works, Ad-Aware and Spybot are what I have been using on all of my windows based desktops and notebooks. No problems, which I can recall.

Dell Inspiron 8600:
* 1.6 Ghz Pentium M * 1024 MB DDR SDRAM * 60 GB 7200 RPM HDD * 15.4" WSXGA+ * Internal Bluetooth * Intel Pro/Wireless 2200 * 4x CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) * ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo 128 MB * Win XP Pro SP2 *

* Apple 17" PowerBook G4 * 14" Toshiba Tecra 8000 * Apple 14" iBook G4 *

 

yeah, i have spybot and Ad-Aware, norton hunh? ive heard that its very slow virus scanning wise, and it eats up resources, is this true?

Compaq Presario R3000t
Pentium 4 -3.0Gh H/T
1 Gig DDR
15.4BrightVew (1280x800)
80 Gig 4200Rpm
128 Radeion 9000 IGP
4x DVD-+R/RW/CD-+RW/R
802.11b/g

 

Hmmmm . . . Overhead? Yes, it does scan slowly. However, I run my scans while I am on the net and it has not impeded any system performance, that I am aware of.

I've been using the norton products for the past 5 years without a hitch.
Prior to that I ran McAfee products. However, I had 2 bad experiences with McAfee. One on a Toshiba laptop and 1 on a Dell Desktop.

Dell Inspiron 8600:
* 1.6 Ghz Pentium M * 1024 MB DDR SDRAM * 60 GB 7200 RPM HDD * 15.4" WSXGA+ * Internal Bluetooth * Intel Pro/Wireless 2200 * 4x CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) * ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo 128 MB * Win XP Pro SP2 *

* Apple 17" PowerBook G4 * 14" Toshiba Tecra 8000 * Apple 14" iBook G4 *

 

If I choose to run a software firewall on a windows machine, it's Windows Firewall... it is far better than any 3rd party firewall.

I am also cheap but desire to stay legal so I have been running avast! antivirus: http://www.avast.com/ I have had pretty good results with it, but I have noticed that it helps performance when you are copying files or installing applications if you disable it while the installation/copy is happening (obviously don't do this if you suspect that what you are installing might be inected.) You will only notice a slow down on older systems though. I have even had it catch stuff that Norton and McAfee missed.

I use a combination of Adaware and Spybod S&D.
AdAware is good but it doesn't really prevent spyware it just does a good job of removing it. and Spybot doesn't do as good a job removing spyware and adware, but it does a very good job preventing it, especially if you install the system protection module that notifies you of registry changes.

 

yea, id like to avoid spending money (i really feal that microsoft should distribute some antivirus software free) does anyone use avg antivirus? its freeware also, and i think was recomended by someone else somewhere in the depths of this forum

Compaq Presario R3000t
Pentium 4 -3.0Gh H/T
1 Gig DDR
15.4BrightVew (1280x800)
80 Gig 4200Rpm
128 Radeion 9000 IGP
4x DVD-+R/RW/CD-+RW/R
802.11b/g

 

I personally would not put Microsoft in charge of what goes in or out of my computer. After I installed Service Pack 2 ofr XP, it did want me to download RealPlayer. It deemed it a threat. Hmm...






I know things, things that could get me killed

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Samwise592

 

a friend of mine has SP2 and he hates it, it prevents him from going to diffrent websites for whatever reason, is there a way that i can get the firewall without uprgading to sp2?

Compaq Presario R3000t
Pentium 4 -3.0Gh H/T
1 Gig DDR
15.4BrightVew (1280x800)
80 Gig 4200Rpm
128 Radeion 9000 IGP
4x DVD-+R/RW/CD-+RW/R
802.11b/g

 

No, but if you customize your browser security settings or use an alternate browser you will not encounter any problems with the enhanced security settings in SP2.

I work in a Datacenter and manage a couple of windows networks, I would not have an XP machine without SP2. By default the Security settings are a little high, but with a little bit of adjustment to your browser security settings you should have no problem at all.

alternatively if you use an alternate browser such as mozilla firefox you will not encounter any problems.

If you like I can post a good set of IE security settings that decreases the security that SP2 uses by default and eleminates any of the problems the higher security might present.