Which of these antivirus/firewall?

Software & Apps
#1

I have been recently getting my computers up and running after a long downtime and some have expired antivirus etc.
I’m running 3 computers with xp and a laptop with vista. One xp computer was running zone alarm security suite (it expired but I found a licence key that still had a few months on it).

I keep finding conflicting info on reviews etc. One program will top the list on one and be towards the end on another (possibility because they are judging on different criteria). Most seem to claim that the latest versions are much different than previous versions so I’m not familiar with them.

So here is what I have to work with.
the fastest desktop with xp has zone alarm security suite good for several months. The other 3 have nothing valid on them (the two other xp desktops have very slow processors and limited memory right now but that will probably change within the next month or 2).
I have a 3 computer licence key for zone alarm pro firewall only (good for about 4 months). I have yet to hear anything bad ever about zone alarm firewall so i was going to use that.

for antivirus, I have 2 unused copies of trend micro antivirus/spyware 2008 and one copy 2007 (most companies let you upgrade to the newest version free on a new licence, not sure about this one).
I have a 3 user pack of ca antivirus 2007 (unopened and they do guaranteed upgrade to the latest version).
I can get ca internet security suite free from my isp (and disable the firewall if I wanted to use zone alarm). My concern with ca is resource usage 9on the really old,slow desktops).
Of course there are the free ones too including Microsoft?

does anyone have any recommendations from these? Low resource usage/slowdowns is high priority and I’m going to use zone alarm firewall unless someone says I shouldn’t. I’ll also probably run maleware bytes.

opps, i just looked again. Zone alarm pro is firewall and antispyware. I’m not sure if multiple antispyware will conflict or not.

#2

For firewalls I tried Comodo with Vista & I didn’t like how they worked together.
So for now I’m using Windows Firewall again.
I used AVG for an antivirus for a long time but decided to try Avira since it tested better. It didn’t find anything AVG didn’t except a false positive .I may try Avast eventually. So far Avira must be keeping viruses out .
For spyware I use 3 softwares. SpywareBlaster, Malwarebytes , & Spybot S&D . No conflicts with them I have found.

#3

I´m very happy with Avira…tested well and doesn´t seem to slow my machine down at all.

Zone Alarm may be good but I found it annoying and got rid of it.

I use the XP firewall, Malwarebytes, and Spybot.

Lappy connecting directly usually via 3G modem.

No problems at all.

#4

I am going to go rogue here I beta tested and even recommend it to all my family and friends and suggest to give Microsoft Security Essintials a go. It does a lot and way better than the One Care before that.

#5

I’m guessing that you guys are talking about the free version of avira? So it would be better than the paid versions of trend micro or ca?
I used to use malwarebytes and spybot, but at one point, spybot had a known serious conflict (with trend micro I think). I should start using it again.

@deanimator, what didn’t you like about zone alarm firewall? The only issue I have had is it’s a giant pain to get configured right (it helps to know the ip addresses of every device in your network). Once its working though, I hadn’t noticed any major issues?

#6

[QUOTE=Dr. Who;2526493]I am going to go rogue here I beta tested and even recommend it to all my family and friends and suggest to give Microsoft Security Essintials a go. It does a lot and way better than the One Care before that.[/QUOTE]

I was kind of wondering about it. I have only heard good about it (though only from a few places), but hadn’t really seen any comparisons to other programs?

#7

Well it is less resource hog than AVG and many other I have been told. I beta tested it and really liked it but it lacked the extra pop up stopping control of that when you use Kaspersky Internet Security. Besides that if I was looking I’d use MSE.

#8

I’ve set up about 45 systems in the past six weeks,

the XP systems get setup with windows Defender and Microsoft Security Essentials (installed in that order)

Vista and win7 systems already include Defender (it’s built into the OS) so I add Microsoft Security Essentials.

Security essentials has one annoying “bug”, though not really a bug per-say…

If the computer has been shut off over a local midnight when it is turned on it’ll momentarily show a red security icon on the task bar and pop a flag “your computer might not be protected” because MSE hasn’t checked for updates

SO what I did to get around it was to install AVG-free first and that satisfies the security center so it doesn’t pop that flag…

“Popping the flag” results in a system user asking me “what does it mean” and like most IT guys I’d rather be left alone to play my favorite computer game… Browse ebay… post here on MyCe, etc…

AD

#9

I have Vista & I keep Security Center disabled . I also keep Windows Defender disabled.
From the Control Panel & Services

#10

IMO any AV more than a year or two old is useless even with updated scan engines and definitions. Reason being the removal engines are normally not updated after the product is end of life so the removal engine is too old to remove any newer threats found.

I would not touch Trend micro, McAfee or AVG with a ten foot pole as they are huge system hogs. I’m not much of a fan of Zone Alarm fire wall either. It tends to have conflicts with other applications at times and can be near impossible to remove without breaking something.

For free antivirus programs I would recommend Avira free, Avast 5 free or Microsoft Security Essentials. For paid programs I’d think about Norton IS 2010. Symantec did a great job with IS 2010. Its low on system resources. It looks good IMO and as always its good protection. Kaspersky and ESET would also be good choices.

I have 3 PC’s, two Windows 7 Ult 64 bit and one XP pro sp3 32 bit. I use Avast 5 Free, MBAM free version as an additional manual scanner. Win 7 systems also use Windows Defender. The Windows XP system uses WinPatrol free in place of WD. For a firewall I’m using windows firewall and a router with SPI. For web browsing I use Firefox with the NoScript plugin. Nothing will catch or stop all threats but same/similar setups work well as long as your not trolling the dark side. You could easily replace Avast 5 Free with Avira or Microsoft Security Essentials. Avira may have the best detection rate but it has way more false positives. It also has popup adds for the payed version from time to time. Microsoft Security Essentials is good protection but is not very configurable. Its great for non power users. Its simply simple protection. Avast 5 Free gives you the most features and is the most configurable. IMO it has the best GUI.

#11

Use hardware

If your computers are connected to each other via a router, then use the routers firewall.

Optimal security means lock everything. uPNP sucks

For optimal security disable uPNP on the router and pry open TCP and UDP ports as you want. This will be a pain for torrenting, internal websites and msn, but it’s the safest method.

If i can get to the hardware, software is useless, especially if you already have a router

Having software firewalls on each machine is pretty useless if your machines never leave their place and are always connected to the same router.

Anti Virus

Regarding anti-virus there is a lot. Some are better with trojans, some are better with email attachements. Personally i recommend three things for a client:

  • Common sense. Do not trust any and each file. You don’t trust it? Delete it!
  • Make a secure backup of your important files on a very regular basis. Test your backup on a very regular basis.
  • If it’s not a business machine do not invest any money in antivirus. Get Microsoft Security Essentials or something like that.
#12

^ you forgot to mention not using accounts with admin permissions for normal usage in your “lock down” chapter :wink:

Michael

#13

[QUOTE=mciahel;2528767]^ you forgot to mention not using accounts with admin permissions for normal usage in your “lock down” chapter :wink:

Michael[/QUOTE]

Err… technically you are completely right. In the real world people just will not listen to that. Either deny them complete access to their own machine (which they do not like, i’ve seen it with my wife) or just deny the whole permission thing to them. :slight_smile:

#14

[QUOTE=Mr. Belvedere;2528769]Err… technically you are completely right. In the real world people just will not listen to that. [/quote]Unfortunately. Instead, they prefer to install snake oil software :rolleyes:

Either deny them complete access to their own machine (which they do not like, i’ve seen it with my wife)
Hehe - my wife is clever enough to understand why her user account is restricted (on her own computer). She has the Admin password also, but she is using her user-only account.

Next time I need to secure my brother’s computer since there are now some more family members that will use it. Restricted accounts already exist, but I’ll add software restriction policies: http://home.arcor.de/skanthak/download/XP_SAFER.INF :bigsmile:

Michael

#15

I hope you all don’t mind my dropping in, but just for informational purposes, some ISPs offer a FREE security suite.

For example: AT&T DSL service offers a free McAfee Antivirus Suite and Comcast offers a free Norton Suite. (I can do FREE very well.)

Comcast used to have the McAfee, then they switched to Norton this year. So far after being with Comcast for more than 11 years, I have not had any problems with either suite. This is in addition to my router’s firewall.
My home network consists of a hard-wired desktop, a wireless desktop and 3 wireless laptops.

I do; however, make it a point to never do any banking or buying on either of the laptops or the wireless desktop.

Just some thoughts, thanks for letting me share.

Jim

#17

[QUOTE=mciahel;2528774]Restricted accounts already exist, but I’ll add software restriction policies: http://home.arcor.de/skanthak/download/XP_SAFER.INF :bigsmile:
[/QUOTE]

Holy freaking crap! That’s some lockdown registries you got there. It denies almost anything that can be slightly dangerous to execute.

But why like this? Why not use GPEdit.msc?

Better yet, if you got a W2K3 (or better) server, use policies right there.

Better yet. If you got W2K3 (or better) license, get a free ESX server! You can freeze your entire domain into a certain state, even make clones of it in case you want completely the same environment over and over again.

#18

[QUOTE=jsoulesone;2528788]I hope you all don’t mind my dropping in[/quote] Not at all, it IS a forum :slight_smile:

, but just for informational purposes, some ISPs offer a FREE security suite.
I know, mine has McAfee

For example: AT&T DSL service offers a free McAfee Antivirus Suite and Comcast offers a free Norton Suite. (I can do FREE very well.)
Personally i hate almost every Symantec product, but that’s just me.

Comcast used to have the McAfee, then they switched to Norton this year. So far after being with Comcast for more than 11 years, I have not had any problems with either suite. This is in addition to my router’s firewall.
My home network consists of a hard-wired desktop, a wireless desktop and 3 wireless laptops.
If it works for you, just do it. It is quite the reliable application, once correctly configured.

I do; however, make it a point to never do any banking or buying on either of the laptops or the wireless desktop.

It’s not that a big deal if you use a reusable environment instead of your normal operating system. If you can do online banking, might i suggest sandbox structure?

A sandbox is a reserved space independent of the rest. You could use, for instance the free Virtual PC or VMWare Player, to make your own little operating system for banking. You could also use about any Linux Live Bootable CD for this purpose as well. Once you turn off your machine, poof goes the entire operating system. Try slitaz or ubuntu. You’ll be amazed.

Just some thoughts, thanks for letting me share.
Most excellent. Appreciate the input.

#19

As a newbe here I run the following on my XP OS. Avast professional [ latest ], spyware blaster [ latest] with Maleware Bytes on the side [ when needed], spybot SD. Haven’t caught a thing in 2 years - Oh I’ve had plenty of alerts but nothing has got by. Despite what some say, the speed reduction is unmeasurable. but a quad core don’t go astray neither. Interesting [ and not documented ] If you run Maleware Bytes scan, it handshakes with Avast and the 2 work in total tandem - that is - while MD examines the files, Avast takes a look simultaineously. Saves time and is double the examination.

#21

[QUOTE=Mr. Belvedere;2529085]Holy freaking crap! That’s some lockdown registries you got there. It denies almost anything that can be slightly dangerous to execute.

But why like this? Why not use GPEdit.msc?[/QUOTE]GPedit.msc doesn’t exist on Home Editions.
And this .inf is easily to install :smiley:

Michael
sorry for the late answer

#22

From what I hear the best two programs to use at the moment(free) are MSE(Microsoft Security Essentials) and Malwarebytes. And that’s all the extra security software you would need in addition to what windows already has :slight_smile:

Please make sure you use those, as many of the ones out there are hardly worth even mentioning they suck so bad… Norton for instance, and McAffee. Those 2 are highly over rated.