Which virus checker & firewall combo is best?
Discussion
Everyone agrees Norton it cack, so it... probably must be.
Often people recommend other products. But I keep seeing a variety of different names cropping up each time.
Not fussed whether its free, so long as its the best choice.
Which virus checker (plus firewall) should I choose then? It doesnt have to be strawberry flavoured or ribbed for her pleasure, but I do want to know that whatever I choose will provide me with the best protection.
A spam filter might be nice too.
Often people recommend other products. But I keep seeing a variety of different names cropping up each time.
Not fussed whether its free, so long as its the best choice.
Which virus checker (plus firewall) should I choose then? It doesnt have to be strawberry flavoured or ribbed for her pleasure, but I do want to know that whatever I choose will provide me with the best protection.
A spam filter might be nice too.
Plotloss said:
AVG and ZoneLabs
Though if you do anything serious this should be front ended with a proper hardware firewall.
Though if you do anything serious this should be front ended with a proper hardware firewall.
My time is spent sending/receiving emails, associated files, and chatting on msn. So nothing 'serious' but because its business, it would be serious if I lost everything.
Hence, Id rather pay for a product if it was better. Just not sure which to choose. Any more votes for AVG - the idea of a free product seems a little... spooky
UKBob said:
Plotloss said:
AVG and ZoneLabs
Though if you do anything serious this should be front ended with a proper hardware firewall.
Though if you do anything serious this should be front ended with a proper hardware firewall.
My time is spent sending/receiving emails, associated files, and chatting on msn. So nothing 'serious' but because its business, it would be serious if I lost everything.
Hence, Id rather pay for a product if it was better. Just not sure which to choose. Any more votes for AVG - the idea of a free product seems a little... spooky
You can and should pay for AVG if its for business use
Plotloss said:
UKBob said:
the idea of a free product seems a little... spooky
Ironic that you should say that as a web developer.
Over 70% of the internet is run on free software.
Does AVG offer a software firewall like Norton, per chance?
Either way, there is nothing wrong with free software, nothing at all. Apache and mySQL are after all free...
As has been mentioned, commercial use you should pay for the professional subscription to AVG its only £20 or so.
ZoneLabs have ZoneAlarm Pro which you pay for, offers a few more features over standard.
The core difference between free consumer security products and the paid for versions that larger companies use is that the ones that larger firms use have a raft of management features specifically used for keeping lots of computers safe. As you have one machine, its not really an issue.
Buy the Pro AVG and ZoneAlarm, buy a hardware firewall and you will be safe enough unless someone is absolutely determined to get in. Most attacks come from opportunists seeking unprotected systems not serious hackers.
Oh and never mention Norton on this forum again!
It is the AOL of internet security products, its poorly coded, riddled with problems and all round guff.
As has been mentioned, commercial use you should pay for the professional subscription to AVG its only £20 or so.
ZoneLabs have ZoneAlarm Pro which you pay for, offers a few more features over standard.
The core difference between free consumer security products and the paid for versions that larger companies use is that the ones that larger firms use have a raft of management features specifically used for keeping lots of computers safe. As you have one machine, its not really an issue.
Buy the Pro AVG and ZoneAlarm, buy a hardware firewall and you will be safe enough unless someone is absolutely determined to get in. Most attacks come from opportunists seeking unprotected systems not serious hackers.
Oh and never mention Norton on this forum again!
It is the AOL of internet security products, its poorly coded, riddled with problems and all round guff.
AVG do offer a combined product.
I use the AVG Pro AV alongside Kerio Pro software firewall, and it has been faultless, I use the odd online scan every month or so just to check on AVG but so far in 2 and a bit years, none of the other big players in the AV world have found anything AVG has missed. I paid for Kerio Firewall before AVG started selling the AV Firewall combo they currently offer.
When the machine even thinks about doin something I have to tell Kerio to allow it, some find that annoying but personally I prefer to be kept informed.
Oh and all my boxes are behind a Draytek 2800VG hardware firewall.
Another
for AVG from me.Plotloss said:
Either way, there is nothing wrong with free software, nothing at all. Apache and mySQL are after all free...
Good point, but I was thinking more in terms of the equivalant of a 'cheap £299 full ecommerce website' type company rather than someone who offered their services at a premium. My bad. Seems to be highly recommended 
Plotloss said:
Oh and never mention Norton on this forum again! It is the AOL of internet security products, its poorly coded, riddled with problems and all round guff.
Say no more! It is the AOL of internet security products, its poorly coded, riddled with problems and all round guff.If AVG offer AV + a software firewall, would I need zone alarm pro. Id probably switch to software only, and pick up a hardware firewall some time down the line.
The only problem with Norton, and the other brands of internet security suite are also just a guilty of this - is that a virus checker has one quite simple job to do. That job is to shut up and only speak if any files you touch have got viruses in them. Ditto with firewalls for home use, just shut up and turn away unwanted traffic and don't grind your whole machine to a halt by sucking up all your RAM while its at it. Where the big suites i.e. norton, mcaffe, paid-for zonealarm etc. have fallen down IMO is becoming vastly over-featured in their efforts to win magazine tests. Inventing new features to protect you from x,y,z or do ad-blocking or webbug blocking or script blocking etc. etc. etc. Ditto application level firewalls, I mean what %age of people who buy norton, mcafee, zonealarm or whatever have the first frikkin clue what should and shouldnt be allowed network access? So they click no on everything and then something weird stops working, then theres half a day wasted sorting that out. etc. etc.
The basic products work, its just all the added garbage is allways in the best case getting in your face, asking perplexing questions and in the worst case stopping you from doing what you're trying to do
Thats why techies allways reccommend one or two simple, free products over the big commercial suites.
The basic products work, its just all the added garbage is allways in the best case getting in your face, asking perplexing questions and in the worst case stopping you from doing what you're trying to do
Thats why techies allways reccommend one or two simple, free products over the big commercial suites.
UKBob said:
Plotloss said:
Either way, there is nothing wrong with free software, nothing at all. Apache and mySQL are after all free...
Good point, but I was thinking more in terms of the equivalant of a 'cheap £299 full ecommerce website' type company rather than someone who offered their services at a premium. My bad. Seems to be highly recommended Plotloss said:
Oh and never mention Norton on this forum again! It is the AOL of internet security products, its poorly coded, riddled with problems and all round guff.
Say no more! It is the AOL of internet security products, its poorly coded, riddled with problems and all round guff.If AVG offer AV + a software firewall, would I need zone alarm pro. Id probably switch to software only, and pick up a hardware firewall some time down the line.
I have recently installed the AVG+ firewall option- its pretty good and the pro version at £33 for 2 years license including support is good value. Its easy to set up, wizard based and has frequent updates. Needs a bit of tweaking ( like all AV products ) but its otherwise excellent. Zone alarm pro is an excellent Firewall ( must be if it was bought by Check Point) but again needs configuring correctly to work at its best.
Norton AV, like most AV products, is good if set up correctly. The plug ins for MS Office and Outlook tools are affected by Windows Updates and service packs, so not all of the problems you have had may have been caused by Norton etc
Never had a problem with AVG, IIRC it was one of the first AV products that was available when WIndows XP was launched. If you get stuck with setting it up post on here or email me etc
me 'at' foxm.co.uk
Saabyfox said:
UKBob said:
Plotloss said:
Either way, there is nothing wrong with free software, nothing at all. Apache and mySQL are after all free...
Good point, but I was thinking more in terms of the equivalant of a 'cheap £299 full ecommerce website' type company rather than someone who offered their services at a premium. My bad. Seems to be highly recommended Plotloss said:
Oh and never mention Norton on this forum again! It is the AOL of internet security products, its poorly coded, riddled with problems and all round guff.
Say no more! It is the AOL of internet security products, its poorly coded, riddled with problems and all round guff.If AVG offer AV + a software firewall, would I need zone alarm pro. Id probably switch to software only, and pick up a hardware firewall some time down the line.
I have recently installed the AVG+ firewall option- its pretty good and the pro version at £33 for 2 years license including support is good value. Its easy to set up, wizard based and has frequent updates. Needs a bit of tweaking ( like all AV products ) but its otherwise excellent. Zone alarm pro is an excellent Firewall ( must be if it was bought by Check Point) but again needs configuring correctly to work at its best.
Norton AV, like most AV products, is good if set up correctly. The plug ins for MS Office and Outlook tools are affected by Windows Updates and service packs, so not all of the problems you have had may have been caused by Norton etc
Never had a problem with AVG, IIRC it was one of the first AV products that was available when WIndows XP was launched. If you get stuck with setting it up post on here or email me etc
me 'at' foxm.co.uk
Edited to add, I assume you have to download it first, come off the net to install it, reboot, configure, etc before reconnecting?
I went on the net twice with a laptop to download and install updates without having first updated norton (ie new laptop purchase for myself and others, install norton, then go online to get updates before doing anythign else...) ... and the second I went online, on both occassions, the pc became infected.
So im a littel concerned about removing one and installing the other. No firewall for 30 seconds in my experience has proved fatal both times. Nothing I couldnt fix, but the hours of stress involved in removing a vigilant worm
Edited by UKBob on Wednesday 21st June 18:43
UKBob said:
Saabyfox said:
UKBob said:
Plotloss said:
Either way, there is nothing wrong with free software, nothing at all. Apache and mySQL are after all free...
Good point, but I was thinking more in terms of the equivalant of a 'cheap £299 full ecommerce website' type company rather than someone who offered their services at a premium. My bad. Seems to be highly recommended Plotloss said:
Oh and never mention Norton on this forum again! It is the AOL of internet security products, its poorly coded, riddled with problems and all round guff.
Say no more! It is the AOL of internet security products, its poorly coded, riddled with problems and all round guff.If AVG offer AV + a software firewall, would I need zone alarm pro. Id probably switch to software only, and pick up a hardware firewall some time down the line.
I have recently installed the AVG+ firewall option- its pretty good and the pro version at £33 for 2 years license including support is good value. Its easy to set up, wizard based and has frequent updates. Needs a bit of tweaking ( like all AV products ) but its otherwise excellent. Zone alarm pro is an excellent Firewall ( must be if it was bought by Check Point) but again needs configuring correctly to work at its best.
Norton AV, like most AV products, is good if set up correctly. The plug ins for MS Office and Outlook tools are affected by Windows Updates and service packs, so not all of the problems you have had may have been caused by Norton etc
Never had a problem with AVG, IIRC it was one of the first AV products that was available when WIndows XP was launched. If you get stuck with setting it up post on here or email me etc
me 'at' foxm.co.uk
Edited to add, I assume you have to download it first, come off the net to install it, reboot, configure, etc before reconnecting?
I went on the net twice with a laptop to download and install updates without having first updated norton (ie new laptop purchase for myself and others, install norton, then go online to get updates before doing anythign else...) ... and the second I went online, on both occassions, the pc became infected.
So im a littel concerned about removing one and installing the other. No firewall for 30 seconds in my experience has proved fatal both times. Nothing I couldnt fix, but the hours of stress involved in removing a vigilant worm
Edited by UKBob on Wednesday 21st June 18:43
The install method would be like this.
Download AVG+firewall client. Download the latest pattern file ( separate file) from AVG website.
Uninstall Norton ( through add remove programs.). If you get any problems at this point, i have a tool that uninstalls ALL norton/Symantec av products cleanly.
Then Reboot pc.
Then install AVG+ Firewall ( disconnect from WWW if you want at this time). During the install it prompts you to update the product, either from the WWW or via file; you can point to the already downloaded update. Then connect to the web and check if there are any more updates.
If you are on Windows XP sp2, then you could enable this immediately after removing Norton etc. The AVG install automatically disables this when it installs anyway.
If you use MSN i could remote control the pc and do it for you- then you can watch how to do it etc.
HTH
Mark
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