antivrus programs and firewalls

Blackwijet

Blackwijet

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My new PC is up and running and has come with a 60 day free trial mcafee installation.

I've tended to use AVG before - is Mcafee worth it or is AVG as good/better etc? Any thoughts?

Firewall - I've used Comodo on old pc until it started doing really weird things to the computer and seemed to hate Adobe programmes! Then I swapped to Kerio (or whatever its called now) 30 day free trial. Again any preferences advice on firewalls?
 
Avoid Mcafee like the plague, it is very resource hungry and not very good.

I recommend Nod32 as an AV product. They do a security suite but I have stuck with the AV product only so far.

I have tried several softwar firewalls and now just use the windows one and a hardware firewall on my router.

What are you hoping to get out of your firewall, aside from ICMP echo response/reply blocking?

Your requirements will help people recommend software firewalls.
 
Personally I'd stick with AVG - not that it's better mind. It does what it needs to & it's free :lol:.

Regarding firewalls - I use the standard windows one plus the hardware firewall on my router. Don't need anything else.
 
as above windows firewall and your router firewall are perfectly acceptable.

anything else is a waste of system resouce.

avast or MS own security essentials i have used recently and both are free and decent.
 
I'll no doubt get stick from this (or get laughed at by the Apple crowd) but I don't use a single thing on here except the Windows Firewall, and a very occasional sweep of malwarebytes, and we're all clear. I have NO resident AV client (haven't for years) and I don't have one of these resource bogging software firewalls which has more flashing lights than a physical firewall in a server room!

A LOT of how you protect your machine lies in common sense. There aren't 'hackers' out there sitting waiting to relentlessly get at your computer, and viruses won't try to overwhelm it as soon as you turn on the router, despite what many people are led to believe.
 
Sorry I'm not the most technically minded so as to what the firewall will do, basically stopping any unwanted access to my pc, trojans etc. I use winpatrol as well which is usually very good at advising if anything as attempting to make changes to the registry.

My laptop is running the windows one and (touch wood) not had any problems but I only use that now and again and it isn't on very long. How do I find out if my router has a firewall - its rather ancient Webstar one from when virignmedia were originally Telewest!
 
trencheel303 said:
I'll no doubt get stick from this (or get laughed at by the Apple crowd) but I don't use a single thing on here except the Windows Firewall, and a very occasional sweep of malwarebytes, and we're all clear.

A LOT of how you protect your machine lies in common sense. There aren't 'hackers' out there sitting waiting to relentlessly get at your computer, and viruses won't try to overwhelm it as soon as you turn on the router, despite what many people are led to believe.
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No laughing/stick at all. Common sense is the key - viruses don't install themselves, they need to be activated by people opening/installing files that they shouldn't....

Although if you listen to sales people at shops like Currys, you'd think that simply connecting to the internet is taking your life into your hands!! :eek:
 
Not a fan of AVG now, was good up until about 8.0 ish onwards. Then it seemed to become a bit too resource hoggy. Almost as bad as McAfee & Norton :lol:

I now use Avast & Malwarebytes & Crap Cleaner all free - :D

Keeps my PC tip top.
 
If you're running windows 7 get Microsoft Security essentials - its free from Microsoft and it fantastic - it is very effective and you dont notice its there (you dont have false alarms popping up all the time). Had it for 6 months now and not had a single infection - im a big downloader and spend an awful lot of time on the web. Go for it!
 
jcoutts said:
I now use Avast & Malwarebytes & Crap Cleaner all free - :D

Keeps my PC tip top.
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Crap cleaner ....is that for real? thought that's what my wheel barrow and fork were for when mucking out my horse :D
 
F3TT said:
Although if you listen to sales people at shops like Currys, you'd think that simply connecting to the internet is taking your life into your hands!! :eek:
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That's exactly it, I've had worried customers on the phone asking me if it's okay for them to go on the internet because 'Norton' has just expired, and they're afraid because their 'protection' has just run out, that viruses are going to viciously destroy the computer. The fact aside that Norton is like a tin foil hat, I take great pleasure in explaining that their computer is not going to spontaneously combust...
 
trencheel303 said:
A LOT of how you protect your machine lies in common sense. There aren't 'hackers' out there sitting waiting to relentlessly get at your computer, and viruses won't try to overwhelm it as soon as you turn on the router, despite what many people are led to believe.
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true, however there have been a few cases recently where well known legit sites have been infected so that is playing with fire a little.. but your system and you takes your chances :)

personally i download far too much illegal material to run without AV :lol:
 
rogan200 said:
If you're running windows 7 get Microsoft Security essentials - its free from Microsoft and it fantastic - it is very effective and you dont notice its there (you dont have false alarms popping up all the time). Had it for 6 months now and not had a single infection - im a big downloader and spend an awful lot of time on the web. Go for it!
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the pc was dual loaded with Win7 and XP........I downgraded back to XP - not keen on windows 7 at the moment
 
so recomendations at the moment for free stuff (preferable) seems to be Avast or AVG and malawarebytes

Re hardware firewalls - how do I know if my router has one, sorry if that's a numpty questions........but I am a numpty !
 
Blackwijet said:
the pc was dual loaded with Win7 and XP........I downgraded back to XP - not keen on windows 7 at the moment
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I would be interested to know what in particular you are not keen on with win7. I haven't had any problems personally and but always like to hear others experiences.

Anthony.
 
AVG is just as good as any other program that you would pay for. AVG does offer some other options if you wish to pay for them, but honestly, for a free program, you can't beat it.
 
neil_g said:
true, however there have been a few cases recently where well known legit sites have been infected so that is playing with fire a little.. but your system and you takes your chances :)

personally i download far too much illegal material to run without AV :lol:
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Me too!
 
Avast and AVG are probably the best free AV, but has anyone considered Microsofts new FREE AV.
I have it running and its fast and uses a lot less resources than Avast and AVG

Its here for anyone wanting to see what it does
 
Not used McAfee for a long while. It was nothing but trouble.
AVG runs perfectly for me and I have never had an infection get through it's defences.
Not tried it, but I know plently people who recommend Avast.
 
Dangermouse1964 said:
Avast and AVG are probably the best free AV, but has anyone considered Microsofts new FREE AV.
I have it running and its fast and uses a lot less resources than Avast and AVG

Its here for anyone wanting to see what it does
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Wish it worked on XP64.
 
Microsoft Security Essentials :thumbs:

works fine for me, free to install, and never ever had a problem with it! :)
 
I have used AVG for years.

That is until last week when it picked up a trojan but it still executed and pretty much killed my system. I spent two days changing registry settings, group policies, etc. Running scans with malwarebytes, avg, spybot and hijack this. Every time I though I'd got it beat it came back again :bang:

I had to reinstall windows in the end so now run avast on 3 PCs and 2 laptops in the house.

The problem with any antivirus is that you don't know how effective it is until its too late.
 
I'm amazed everyone is recommending AVG. It's resource heavy and no that effective. I've tried pretty much all the free programs and some of the paid for ones. If I was buing I'd choose NOD every time, but if I was running a free program (which I am) I'd go for Antivir.
 
Be carefull if you do download as it does look for software thats not quite legit I dont know what happens if it does find any but I am sure it wont be good
 
Main PC and Mrs laptop have Kaspersky. Used to use AVG elsewhere and had for years. Now it is too bloated and slows the system so Microsofts security essentials now. Years ago I did the common sense and no AV thing but not now. Virus writers are getting too clever and running a program is not the only way in now.
 
F3TT said:
No laughing/stick at all. Common sense is the key - viruses don't install themselves, they need to be activated by people opening/installing files that they shouldn't....

Although if you listen to sales people at shops like Currys, you'd think that simply connecting to the internet is taking your life into your hands!! :eek:
Click to expand...

Agree 100% that common sense will protect you from the vast majority of threats..
I wouldnt ever go without my hardware firewall/AV etc though.
while virus's are not just sat there waiting to take over your PC and make it go boom,there are other threats that you really dont want.
while Java executes in a protected ares of memory,and cannot make changes to boot sectors/file systems etc (afaik),ActiveX can..(Highly dependant on browser version etc).
Then of course there are those who have nothing better to do than scan whole ranges of ip adresses for open ports and have fun with those..

am i paranoid?-You bet.
Ultimately each person will use whatever makes them feel "more secure" on the net.
Personally id go with any reputable AV program (though i have a hatred of Norton thanks to its history of alerting me to a threat only AFTER the damage has been done :D),and a hardware firewall.
That and just be careful what you click on :D
 
I remember a couple of years ago when my son rebuilt my computer, he connected it to the net to download something needed and without any protection there was about a dozen attempts to connect to it (in less than 5mins). He explained that these are not people behind PCs trying to be malicious but robot machines which constantly sweep the net for vulnerable machines.
I use a hardware NAT, windows firewall and an anti-virus checker but none of these will protect you from outgoing connections which of course are needed for the net! So be careful what you click on.
 
F3TT said:
Personally I'd stick with AVG - not that it's better mind. It does what it needs to & it's free :lol:.

Regarding firewalls - I use the standard windows one plus the hardware firewall on my router. Don't need anything else.
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:thumbs::thumbs:
 
Anyone use malware bytes?
 
Malware bytes is a great program.
 
I used to use NOD32, was really good, very fast. Kasperksy is supposed to be good too.
 
Blackwijet said:
Re hardware firewalls - how do I know if my router has one, sorry if that's a numpty questions........but I am a numpty !
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Trying to make this as non techincal as possible ...

If it is using a network port rather than USB then it does. If it's USB or an internal device then no idea.


That's a gross oversimplification, but any more detail would need me to start talking IP, NAT and RFC 1918.
 
onomatopoeia said:
Trying to make this as non techincal as possible ...

If it is using a network port rather than USB then it does. If it's USB or an internal device then no idea.


That's a gross oversimplification, but any more detail would need me to start talking IP, NAT and RFC 1918.
Click to expand...

Err... I think mine goes into network port (looks like phone cable?) . Sorry I must sound really really thick!
 
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