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Which Anti-virus/Firewall do you use?

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Which Anti-virus/Firewall do you use?

from WinCustomize Forums
I was curious to find out which anti-virus/firewall programs people liked and used.

Over time I have tried a couple of different programs, and never been extremeley happy with them for various reasons.

I used Symantec/Norton for a while, and it had a tendency to crash my machine every time an update came out, requiring reverification with the company, unloading/reloading the program, etc.

At the moment I am using the McAfee Security Center Suite, and while it works reasonably well, it manages to chew up about 137MB of RAM according to the Processes window in the Task Manager. For a system that has a typical resting usage of about 350 to 400MB that seems like an awful lot to me.

A friend of mine recommended switching to the Grisoft AVG antivirus/firewall, which he said uses far less memory and catches quite a bit more than McAfee. I downloaded a free version and ran it once. It managed to detect three Trojans which McAfee had missed over months of use.

So the question is, for those of us who are just competent enough to unwittingly destroy our machines, but not so competent that we can delve into the minutiae of these programs, what would your recommendation be?

Ideally this would be a single source of programs designed to work together (the biggest selling point for the McAfee suite in my case), not a multi-sourced collection that may or may not work together depending on my ability to dig in and tweak drivers/settings/codes.

I await the collective wisdom with anticipation.
87,231 views 158 replies
Reply #76 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I use

avast! Anti-virus Professional 4.7
Ad-Aware SE Professional 1.06r1
Ad-Watch SE Professional
RegCure 1.5.0.5
XoftSpySE 4.33
ZoneAlarm Security Suite 7.0 (With Anti-virus but not Using)

Advanced Registry Optimizer 1.2.8
CleanUp! 4.5.2
MSConfig Cleanup 1.0
WinTasks Professional 5.0






Reply #77 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I have Virgin broadband and they provide a free anti virus/firewall/anti-spyware suite called PC Guard.It's excellent and uses a fraction of the resources that Norton uses.It also has other features such as identity theft protection,parental controls,pop-up stopper etc.
I have tried Trend PC Cillin too (this years version) but had to get a refund from Trend as it used a colossal ammount of memory and was virtually unusable on my machine. 
 
The Political Machine 2024
Reply #78 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Windows firewall, no AV, I watch where i surf and use common sense when opening files. Definate ram saver.
Reply #79 from WinCustomize Forums Top
for me
AntiVirus-NORTON!! *best OUT THERE!!*
Firewall-Zone alarm OR Windows Vista FireWall



I use Adaware, Spybot *Search and Destroy*, Spywareblaster, Win Optimizer, System Mechanic and Windows Defender...


ALL Great programs and with all this nothing ever gets through my system... IT all runs great and NO Issuses..
I have been using these for close to 5 years now and NO Issues all work great


thats just me.. Ilike what I Like

Blessings
Anne
Reply #80 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I use AVG Professional, Ad-Aware, and SpyBot Search and Destroy. I use the Windows firewall. My router also is a firewall. I used McAfee for years, but it kept missing stuff, and kept hogging more system resources. So, I switched to AVG about 3 years ago, and have been very pleased. Nothing has ever gotten thrugh. Plus, since I have the paid version, it does real-time scanning as well.
Reply #82 from JoeUser Forums Top

I use Nortons / Ad-Aware / Ad-Watch

Every now and then I'll run another as a cross check that all is well, but so far I'm a happy bunny.
Reply #83 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I use AVG Plus (which includes Firewall)
Adware Alert
SpyDoctor
Spybot
Reply #84 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I use Agnitum Outpost Security Suite; includes automatic rules updates, antivirus, anti-spam tools. It's worth the money. Straight out of the box everything works, even if you don't customize it.

Yours,
Bob
Reply #85 from WinCustomize Forums Top
again I LOVE Norton/Symantec

and I run Norton, I run Adaware, Spybot Spyware Blaster and other system utility programs


I have a great smooth and CLEAN system

Anne
Reply #86 from WinCustomize Forums Top
CA security center on my XP laptop, wife has AVG on her Vista Basic laptop, thinking of using Avast! on my Vista Premium desktop.
CA is OK but get trouble with the anti-spyware module from time to time. Shuts down wrongly or sump?
My favourite in the past has been Trend Micro, good with wireless!
Reply #87 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Antivirus = Eset Nod32(The best on the market)paid for unlike Mr. DDD above
Spyware = Windows Defender,Spybot
Firewall = Belkin N1 Modem/Router
Reply #88 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Eset Nod32 antivirus
PC Tools Firewall Plus - Vista compatible, free for now
AdAware 2007

Along with Vista Windows Defender and routers hardware Firewall
Reply #89 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I can't wait for Vista to come out just to say told you so. It's gonna be worse than XP I bet. Only time will tell.


I just have to say this: Told you so.

As for the subject I haven't used a firewall for a long time. Never had any problems.
Reply #90 from WinCustomize Forums Top

As for the subject I haven't used a firewall for a long time. Never had any problems.

And....

There's the next question re why a system might be running slow.....

Reply #91 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Oh please. It has nothing to do with the OS. When using Linux my system is slow as well. It probably has something to do with the slow MHz rate of the memory.

If it counts my router has a built in firewall from what I've been told. I meant I've never had any virus or malware problems.
Reply #92 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Zone Alarm Security Suite and SuperAntiSpyware.....have used that combination for a long time and it seems to keep all the nasties out. Every once in a while I download RemoveIT Pro and that catches anything the others miss. Keeps me happy and online.  
Reply #93 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I use iolo Technologies System Mechanic Professional. It came with anti-virus and firewall. Works great and I've had no problems.
Reply #94 from WinCustomize Forums Top
i use vista ultimate and i have no problems at all even though i have no virus protection installed and im always downloading torrents and downloading suspicious things from peer to peer networks, windows defender works beautifully and the way they made the security system is top notch, the few bugs i experience are a problem, but they should all be rectified with service pack 1. top notch os microsoft but just try to work out all the compatibility issues asap.

i was a macafee total protection fan but since vista came security does not worry me
Reply #95 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Nobody else has mentioned this. I use Kaspersky Internet Security Suite and I LOVE IT. I don't need to run anything else(Spysweeper shows NO ad-ware so I won't be renewing that). Best of all it has what I consider to be a VERY GOOD ant-spam feature. I recommend this to everybody.
Reply #97 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'm currently running Norton Internet Security however that is going in the bin when my subscription ends in 2008. It appears that the new ESET Smart Security Suite is going to be the one to run in the future   
Reply #98 from WinCustomize Forums Top
OK, I've read the Thread and as retired IT professional, I have spent hour's upon hour's testing and putting the AntiVirus apps and personal firewall apps through their paces. Symantec, Mcavee, AVG, PC Cillin, Zonealarm,Ect,Ect.
1st) If your using a good router with NAT enabled, you'll have a hardware based firewall along with XP's built in personal firewall turned on, decent protection without a load on your system resources. and Best of all Free.
if you do not have a router (NOTE: all DSL and Cable modems are in fact a routing device) and most have NAT turned on by default, this protects the ISP also. They don't want any buga boo's on their servers either. Now if your an unfortunate soul with Dialup, your ISP usually has some type of protection for you, even the local ISP's do this as a part of their services. They have them for a reason people. your paying for it, Use it! Besides why would you want to spend your hard earned bucks on a solution they normally provide.

2nd) As far as Anti Virus Programs, AVAST personal AntiVirus gets my marks, Free Version just register and they send you a key and allow you to renew forever every year, if your a small business or a Corporation the Full Pro Program is for you at a reasonable price.

Avast uses very little resources and has a small footprint. It will automatically protect you email clients, Automatically update itself, Help protect you from bad or infected sites, Skinnable, Alows for a Boot time Scan of entire system including any Archival files, zips,Arcs, Rars, Which means before your OS loads, Incorparates into Explorer to allow file scans at anytime via explorer right click context menu, Detects infections as soon as you access an infected file.

In My opinion Avast has fewer False positives then AVG or the other popular antivirus apps and misses less infections then any I've tested.

3rd) Anti Spyware protection. I recomend you install MS Defender as it updates via Windows updates, Scans daily in the background. It's Free!

Spybot Search and Destroy 1.5 Latest version, Has Browser protection, teatimer active scanner. You have to check for updates once a week, and download them then Imunize again. this will keep you well protected. The teatimer will absolutly keep you from all known bad sites for spyware and adware, This includes alot of so called free online gaming sites ( they watch everything) and the so called free screensaver sites. ( they almost always load apps in the background you don't want) You can pretty much setup Spybot Search and Destroy to be an automatic deal.

Now if you prefere you can still get Adaware free version but it is limited to manual scans, I am currently testing Adaware 2007, not free, but does have active scanning and other features turned on that even the last Adaware version personal SE does not have. Anyway the Adaware 2007 seems to be doing it's job.

BEWARE!!!! there are alot of So called AntiSpyware and AntiSpamware Apps floating around on the WEB that are NOT what they claim to be, They are in FACT! SPYWARE Themselves

I've cleaned a many a system that the Owner stated they were on the web surfing and a pop up came up and said they were infected and they can download a free Scan of their system, so they clicked on the link and viola they were now infected or Browser Hijacked.

Stay away from the so called Search sites with the free Tool bars, you simply do Not need them. just go to Ask.com or Google.com, livesearch.com, then save the link in your favorites. With IE7 there is a search toolbar already and you can even change your prefered search site by clicking the drop down from the toolbar(its right next to the little magnifyer, upper right in the browser.all the browser add ons use resources and some track your every move, dropping cookies on you like Rain.

One last Note: Always remember to temporarliy turn off windows restore before scanning for Virus's or Spyware. If you use a backup solution, you may have backed up the infection Too! So Clean up make sure your clean and healthy, then Re-enable system restore and do your backup's

Happy Computing to all  :D 
Reply #99 from WinCustomize Forums Top
the1guru, I started to read this, and then realized I had. Really, one posting is sufficient.
Reply #100 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I use Kaspersky Internet Security, been running it for 2 years now and never had problems/issues/viruses etc. It also has a rootkit scanner as well. I beleive a few well known anti-virus programs are build around the kaspersky anti-virus scanner/engine wotchamacallit..