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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 #101 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Eset Smart Security Business Edition (antivirus, antispyware, antispam and firewall).
Reply #102 from WinCustomize Forums Top
ESET Smart Security 3.0.621 (Has NOD32 Antivirus and pretty decent firewall)
Spyware Doctor

And... That's it. PC is running smoothly
Groupy 2 - Organize multiple applications into grouped tabs on your Windows desktop
Reply #103 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Symantec FTW. There's no beating it, I tried AVG for a few months, switched back and Symantec picked up like 10 trojans =D. Never had a crash caused by it, and it is fairly light weight, stays in the background and doesn't use too much RAM. (I'm getting another GB in a week, so I should definitely be good then =D)

Norton's always worked good for me, so I'm sticking with it.
Reply #104 from WinCustomize Forums Top
eSet's NOD32 Anti-Virus System and a hardware firewall in my router, works great! ;)
Reply #105 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Lets see - I just unplug my router - darn e-mail stopped working though - not sure what the problem is but at least I am protected. ;p
Reply #106 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Running ESET NOD32 since yesterday after a previous trial. It's fantastic. Small footprint and simple interface and by all accounts it's the most capable on the market  :) 
Reply #107 from WinCustomize Forums Top
again I should have posted my stuff


I LOVE Norton, Spyware Blaster, Spybot Search and Destroy and Ad Aware Amongst Others...
Reply #108 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'll say it again: If you run Norton your asking for trouble... :NOTSURE:
Reply #109 from WinCustomize Forums Top

The only firewall you'll ever need:-

Reply #110 from WinCustomize Forums Top
 :LOL:  :LOL:  :LOL: 
Reply #111 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Norton does NOT equal trouble.. o.O


and Fuzzy... um wow?? o.O
Reply #112 from WinCustomize Forums Top
ZoneAlarm Pro (comes with a spyware thing too), AVG free ed, PeerGuardian 2, and xplite which I used to uninstall BS like remote registry and terminal "services" that i'll never use or want others (albiet with malicious intent) to use on me...
Reply #113 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Norton does NOT equal trouble.. o.O


Well some of us would disagree as we have had our troubles...
Reply #114 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Norton does NOT equal trouble.. o.O

No, it doesn't.  For some it is superior to 'trouble'...closer to 'damn annoyingly flawed' and thus utterly worthless.....;)

Reply #115 from JoeUser Forums Top
No, it doesn't. For some it is superior to 'trouble'...closer to 'damn annoyingly flawed' and thus utterly worthless.....


Yeah...I wouldn't consider completely locking down your Internet access until it is COMPLETELY removed if you allow the subscription to expire "trouble".

Not at all.

I wouldn't consider scrubbing power points, word documents, and access databases on an internal EXCHANGE server at a college, where such transmissions are essential to be getting a GRADE, to be essential. After all, working a full time and a part time job while going to full time aren't enough. I LIKE to have to follow up with every professor for every email I send them with attachments. Really. I mean, what was I going to do with my free time? Sleep? Spend it with the kids? The dickens, you say!

I wouldn't consider blocking ALL outgoing email traffic when the email scanner is enabled to be trouble. I mean, people buy email scanners just so they can disable them, right?

I similarly wouldn't consider eating up all of my resources trouble. I like computers that run slower than Rosie O'Donnell with lead weights taped to her ankles.

Naaah, Norton's awesome for me! I recommend it for everyone! It keeps me and other techs in business!
Reply #116 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ok...shoot me now....but I've been using Norton since I got my rig about 5 years ago and have never had a virus or any other problems with it...except once when some cleaner I was using deleted a Norton file it shouldn't have and screwed everything up. But my rig flies around pretty quick even with Norton on it. I also use Spybot & Adaware. I know a lot of people don't like Norton but like I said I haven't had any problems with it.
Reply #117 from WinCustomize Forums Top
For the moment I use :

MS baseline Baseline Security Analyzer- free and useful
Spywareblaster- again free and helps prevent browser hijacks
Avast free
RootKit Hook Analyzer
HijackThis
Spybot - Search & Destroy
AVG
Drivesentry (trying it out)
Peerguardian (does this qualify?)

A few programs I may install soon
comodo firewall
counterspy
kaspersky

I know that Nod32 does not get along well with avast (found that out the hard way) but what about kaspersky? Would it integrate well with my other anti-virus stuff? Can nod and kaspersky work together? what about if I try to add panda to that?

Yes I know I am extremely paranoid about my desktop.
Reply #118 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I use just avg.. works great for me :)
Reply #119 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I have used avg free antivirus and the windows firewall for several years with no problems.
Reply #120 from WinCustomize Forums Top
ZoneAlarm Internet suite plus Ad-Aware Plus along with XoftSpy  :HOT: 
Reply #121 from WinCustomize Forums Top

The only firewall you'll ever need:-




Don't ya just love it  :LOL:  :LOL:  :LOL:  :D  :CONGRAT: 
Reply #122 from WinCustomize Forums Top
NOD32...it already has best in class antivirus, antitrojan, antirootkit, and antispyware.

Along with windows defender built into any OS from XP on. That is all you need.

Only invest in a software firewall if you are connecting bareback to a cable/dsl modem and not through any type of router, which all serve as a hardware firewall via NAT.

But honestly, just buy a hardware router/firewall. Period. You don't need anything more than a hardware firewall and BULLETPROOF, worth paying for, Antivirus like NOD32 or anything with the KAV engine.

And if you want to go cheap, go with a free AV solution. And when that freeware AV software fails (they always do), do what the professionals do, download the trial version of NOD32 (or KAV), clean up your machine, and then pay for the software. :)

All the rest of the antispyware applications were made irrelevant when the giant branded software was purchased by MS and integrated into XP and Vista as Windows Defender, and when NOD32 added antispy/malware into their detection engine.

Anything by Norton/Symantec (except for Ghost) is the worst thing you can ever do to your computer, followed closely by Zonealarm. Ahem.

Reply #123 from WinCustomize Forums Top
ZoneAlarm Security Suite v7.0.462.000. Works like a charm, customizable, and catches everything Symantec does. No need for WinXP security center when using this. It's sweet! :)
Reply #124 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I think I may have posted here before but what the heck, if it was good then it's still good.

Everyone will have their own personal opinions as to which anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall to run. I really feel the key is find programs that you feel comfortable with, do some research, most have free versions, try them out.

Trying them out is real important. Everyone has different software on their computers, so what works for one person may not work for another. If you are using Stardock programs/software you don't want your security software interferring with them running. It does happen.

When it comes down to it you do need to run anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewalls do seem to be an option that depends how you access the internet. There are some people that feel if you are behind a router and modem you really don't need it. I have DSL with a modem and also run a firewall. It's my comfort zone.

Well that's my 2 cents worth. ;) 
Reply #125 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I use AVG and Comodo (firewall). Great soft(free)ware.