What's the best security suite for MS Vista? My Zonelabs doesn't seem to have an upgrade yet, so I've lost the remainder of my paid service term I guess. Macafee seems disgustingly agressive with its free trial that came with the new laptop.

Any hot tips?

firewall

anti virus

spyware/malware

The free Zonealarm firewall is great, less bulky than the pro. Just make sure the windows firewall is off. If you want, just use the Windows firewall.

Antiviruses I highly recommend: nod32 or Kaspersky (paid) / Avira Antivir. (free)

Antiviruses I strongly suggest you avoid: AVG, MS One Care, Panda, Norton

Antispyware I highly recommend: Windows defender running all the time, AdAwareSE scanning once a week.

I avoid suites like the plage because they use too many resources and layered protection against malware is less vulnerable than all-in-ones.

Thanks for yet another solid reply cdnvic.

I almost went for the AVG anti virus from recommendation.

Avira antivir has compatibility issues with MS Vista, as does zonelabs zone alarm.

If you dont mind paying then T.M. Internet security 2007 is about the

only one on the Microsoft approved list (certified for Vista) . Bt 1,990 here

and good for 3 PC's.

Naka.

The Vista version will be released on April 10. Get the 30day trial of nod32 till then.

Nice post cdnvic! I wouldn't use anything else other than the above mentioned already. I'm a big fan of both Kaspersky and NOD32 but Kaspersky edges out the winner for my tastes but both really good.

Cheers

Jimmy

All of the free versions are crippled, which is why

All of the companies supplying free versions also

sell proper (paid for) versions.

These folks ain't angels, nor are they thick.

Free antivirus/firewall programs are best viewed as 'teasers/trials'

and you should not do mission critical work or online banking using these freebies.

Naka.

Some of the free ones are quite good. We audited every machine on our network (about 20 computers) for viruses, state of their firewalls and antivirus software in January using a range of tools to make sure we got everything. Machines that were running Avast home edition + the free version of Zone Alarm were all clean (with the exception of a recent flash-card transferred bug).

Machines that had expired antivirus software, disabled or badly configured firewalls were a complete mess. The worst had about 450 viruses on it.

Personally, I've have very few problems over the last 2-3 years using nothing but free tools.

All of the free versions are crippled, which is why

All of the companies supplying free versions also

sell proper (paid for) versions.

These folks ain't angels, nor are they thick.

Free antivirus/firewall programs are best viewed as 'teasers/trials'

and you should not do mission critical work or online banking using these freebies.

Naka.

That's a very inaccurate statement.

Tests have shown that price does not buy you security. Give me a free version of Antivir over the paid version of AVG, Panda or MS OneCare any day.

Too many people get lulled into a sense of security by throwing money at it and thinking they can buy security. While it's true that some of the best all around (nod32, Kaspersky) are paid AVs, the free Antivir has the same high detection rates.