Best Antivirus, Spyware, Firewall Combination

[Old Man River]

For free - you get what you pay for. The title of the thread says nothing about free.

For free you can look by yourself.

I expect more than half of us have never paid for software in our lives. And besides, your argument can be refuted by one counter example: Internet explorer vs. Firefox.

For my PC, I pay and use Norton 360. For flash drives I am still looking for a free, anti virus protection other than ClamWin (no real time protection). I believe there are none. I know I have asked on this forum, and nobody knows.

[Jimmy in Bangkok]

For mine it is Kaspersky Anti-virus (paid for on 2 years subscription) and Jetico Firewall. The only other anti-virus programs I would use are ESET NOD 32 and Antivir as it uses the Kaspersky engine. I also use Spybot and Spy Sweeper in combination with Windows Defender. I've never had any problems using the above programs. They simply work.

Cheers

Jimmy

[Thomas11]

Spyware is a program, system or infrastructure that monitors the activities of computer users. Most Spyware is used to build up profiles in order to create efficient direct marketing.So removing spyware. You just log on www.search-and-destroy.com

[Thomas11]

It has the ability to scan your RAM, Registry, hard drives, and external storage devices for known data-mining, advertising, and tracking components. Use www.search-and-destroy.com Regular updates are essential to maintain a higher level of privacy while surfing.

[ronz28]

McAfee is what I use now and like it more than the others I have used.

I used Threatfire in addition to McAfee for a few months but I will never install Threatfire again. It worked fine until their Thanksgiving day update which corrupted my keyboard driver so that my computer froze every time I typed something. I had to hold down the on off switch to restart the computer and figured out if I just used the mouse I could get through to check the status of my devices drivers and then roll back the registry to the day before my problem started. Everything worked fine for awhile until Threatfire did its automatic update again. I then uninstalled Threatfire and my keyboard device driver status went back to normal and the computer worked fine. I then emailed Threatfire and acknowledged the "issue" and gave me instructions on deleting and reinstalling it. No thanks, I am not giving them a second chance to foul up my computer...too much needless stress the first time I had to figure out what was going on.

[AlexLah]

oooooops!

Try Hitman Pro 3

Hitman Pro 3 uses very different way of detecting virusses and spy/malware.

The picture shows the number of infected files found and the antivirus prog used.

Edited December 16, 2008 by AlexLah

[Mighty Mouse]

I use CounterSpy for my spyware program and NOD32 for anti virus. I have a router so don't need a firewall.

On my second computer I now use Vipre , which is an extension of CounterSpy. Sunbelt Software also make available a firewall which integrates seamlessly with these programs. This suit is not a resource hog and it competes well with the big name brands as far as detection is concerned.

[livinthailandos]

Seems like your trying to be make your computer to be safer, I'll assume you are using windows, in my opinion

Antivirus, spyware, AVG 8.0 has done a good job for me so far

ETC anything extra could add on yahoo anti-spyware

Firewall, Commodo is good, just requires extra paying attention

Second seems many replies use firefox but add with it no-script will help extra in more and just so you know more scripts are being added to webpages and no guarantee any antivirus of spyware will find that or catch that

Also make sure you just using a limited account on the computer as you'll prevent most spyware, viruses, malware from executing on your computer

While on your administrator account disable some services in services.msc, and while add it run a port scan you'll see all kinds of ports open on windows which just make it easier for people trying to get into your pc. then close some of them

[AlexLah]

Are you people blind ore what?

[wxpwzrd]

Are you people blind ore what?

Your point?

[asiaman]

Hey folks I was wondering what your opinion was for a good antivirus, spyware, firewall combination - free or paid.

I use AVG paid version...never a problem...just let it do its own thing.

[RakJungTorlae]

These free internet securities work in-tune wit each other – so when one of the new high level virus do attack they you guys got to pay for the Full-version, they need to make money ya know, and it’s the ignorant that always pays up.

IMO- AVG dose an ok job, but the full paid version is best, as ALEX graff made the point on it. You can download the full versions of any P2P program followed by a Key-Gen. But he be careful as they are sometimes are Disguise as a virus.LOL

If you guys wonna be cheep I recommend – (High-jack-this) as your last stand against an attack. A manual reg delete program, and if you act fast enough and know your way around your registry system save a lot of headache. Very tech stuff thou.

[AlexLah]

Are you people blind ore what?

Your point?

The point is that the results as provided by Hitman Pro show the result of infections found after a scan with HitmanPro 3.

It also shows which program was used to protect that scanned PC.

So if you think you are safe because your free anti whatever prog never reports an infection you might be a bit suspicious.

[HDRIDER]

Hi

Why dont you guys just BUY an antivirus program? there is a reason that some programs are free, i use Norton 360 internet security 3500B, can be bought in most IT shops, also Panda internet security 2200B, or Bit Defender internet security seen to 800B in IT City

[webfact]

COMODO FIREWALL (free)

ESET NOD 32 (paid)

COMODO BOI CLEAN (free)

COMODO MEMORY FIREWALL (free)

The most protection I ever got so far at home and in the office

[jackcorbett]

The problem with the highly rated (and free) Commodo Firewall program is that it requires a great deal of user interaction and knowledge about what he is doing. I was running Kasperski antivirus and the Windows Vista firewall (which I've read is not half bad) and somehow I still got taken down by a virus. Thankfully I had a full backup of all programs and data on an external hard drive that was ten days old. I then tried the free Commodo Firewall program and I got a request from Windows to let a file through which I did, and bang....crippled again. My next step was to try an integrated firewall--intivirus solution that did not require a lot of user interaction and knowledge and feeling Kaspersky was number one I tried the free 30 day trial of its Internet Security Suite and for over 20 days not a whisper, and no problems, Kaspersky handled every intrusion attempt in the background. I had been running its antivirus program on all three of my computers and now I wanted to replace the antivirus program and whatever firewall programs I had been running with the fully blown Kaspersky Internet Security Suite. Meanwhile my English neighbor who one year ago I helped install for him the Kaspersky Internet Security Suite on his computer needed to renew his license with Kaspersky.

Well here I was already a paying customer of Kaspersky's and I wanted a 3 computer license for its Internet Security Suite but when I tried to purchase the fully licensed version my credit card failed. I e-mailed Kaspersky with no reply. I kept trying to run it through for 2 days and wound up in total failure. Then when I helped my English neighbor try to renew his license once again...same same....credit card failure. We both knew there were no problems with our credit cards.

Meanwhile I was reading security suite reviews at P.C. Magazine, P.C. World, Computer Shopper, etc and found that athough Kaspersky was very highly rated, Norton was oftentimes rated number one again. The reviews stated that Norton had slimmed down considerably and was no longer using anywhere near the computer resources it used to take. So my neighbor and I bought two licenses from Norton, my license being for three computers and considerably cheaper than Kaspersky's. We are both now running Norton. I think it's pretty good but still regard Kaspersky as number one. The problem is that Kaspersky won't let me pay for it thanks to its German middleman handling its financial dealings with international customers.

[fatenglishman]

I use McAfee Enterprise 8.5.1 at the moment and I've never had problems with viruses/spyware/trojans... then again I am careful with my browsing.

I get about 5 new customers a week with problems on their computers which I fix remotely, I use spybot (which is free) to diagnose but there are a few things out there that it cannot fix whether it be locked files or running as services.

There is a general list of locations where these applications and scripts install themselves to cause damage to your computer, generally in the Windows, System32, D&S profiles... the other locations are hidden and even sometimes part of the system restore points... Most of the time you can login on safe mode with all services turned off and delete them manually then use a registry cleaner to get rid of the entries.

I've bought a couple of computers one from Pantip and one from Fortune this year but I've always had to clean install Windows after a full format, because of the amount of pirated software and malware/trojans on it.

[Gary A]

The problem with the highly rated (and free) Commodo Firewall program is that it requires a great deal of user interaction and knowledge about what he is doing. I was running Kasperski antivirus and the Windows Vista firewall (which I've read is not half bad) and somehow I still got taken down by a virus. Thankfully I had a full backup of all programs and data on an external hard drive that was ten days old. I then tried the free Commodo Firewall program and I got a request from Windows to let a file through which I did, and bang....crippled again. My next step was to try an integrated firewall--intivirus solution that did not require a lot of user interaction and knowledge and feeling Kaspersky was number one I tried the free 30 day trial of its Internet Security Suite and for over 20 days not a whisper, and no problems, Kaspersky handled every intrusion attempt in the background. I had been running its antivirus program on all three of my computers and now I wanted to replace the antivirus program and whatever firewall programs I had been running with the fully blown Kaspersky Internet Security Suite. Meanwhile my English neighbor who one year ago I helped install for him the Kaspersky Internet Security Suite on his computer needed to renew his license with Kaspersky.

Well here I was already a paying customer of Kaspersky's and I wanted a 3 computer license for its Internet Security Suite but when I tried to purchase the fully licensed version my credit card failed. I e-mailed Kaspersky with no reply. I kept trying to run it through for 2 days and wound up in total failure. Then when I helped my English neighbor try to renew his license once again...same same....credit card failure. We both knew there were no problems with our credit cards.

Meanwhile I was reading security suite reviews at P.C. Magazine, P.C. World, Computer Shopper, etc and found that athough Kaspersky was very highly rated, Norton was oftentimes rated number one again. The reviews stated that Norton had slimmed down considerably and was no longer using anywhere near the computer resources it used to take. So my neighbor and I bought two licenses from Norton, my license being for three computers and considerably cheaper than Kaspersky's. We are both now running Norton. I think it's pretty good but still regard Kaspersky as number one. The problem is that Kaspersky won't let me pay for it thanks to its German middleman handling its financial dealings with international customers.

I have been using Bitdefender for about two and a half years. They keep fiddling with it and it finally crashed on my computer. What was VERY good now has many problems. I followed their advice and downloaded another version. It too stinks and yes, I had a difficult time removing it.

I stopped using Norton several years ago because of the bloat. I was researching anti-virus programs and Norton had good reviews. I decided to try the trial offer and I am favorably impressed. I'll be buying the Internet security package when my trial expires.

[HDRIDER]

The problem with the highly rated (and free) Commodo Firewall program is that it requires a great deal of user interaction and knowledge about what he is doing. I was running Kasperski antivirus and the Windows Vista firewall (which I've read is not half bad) and somehow I still got taken down by a virus. Thankfully I had a full backup of all programs and data on an external hard drive that was ten days old. I then tried the free Commodo Firewall program and I got a request from Windows to let a file through which I did, and bang....crippled again. My next step was to try an integrated firewall--intivirus solution that did not require a lot of user interaction and knowledge and feeling Kaspersky was number one I tried the free 30 day trial of its Internet Security Suite and for over 20 days not a whisper, and no problems, Kaspersky handled every intrusion attempt in the background. I had been running its antivirus program on all three of my computers and now I wanted to replace the antivirus program and whatever firewall programs I had been running with the fully blown Kaspersky Internet Security Suite. Meanwhile my English neighbor who one year ago I helped install for him the Kaspersky Internet Security Suite on his computer needed to renew his license with Kaspersky.

Well here I was already a paying customer of Kaspersky's and I wanted a 3 computer license for its Internet Security Suite but when I tried to purchase the fully licensed version my credit card failed. I e-mailed Kaspersky with no reply. I kept trying to run it through for 2 days and wound up in total failure. Then when I helped my English neighbor try to renew his license once again...same same....credit card failure. We both knew there were no problems with our credit cards.

Meanwhile I was reading security suite reviews at P.C. Magazine, P.C. World, Computer Shopper, etc and found that athough Kaspersky was very highly rated, Norton was oftentimes rated number one again. The reviews stated that Norton had slimmed down considerably and was no longer using anywhere near the computer resources it used to take. So my neighbor and I bought two licenses from Norton, my license being for three computers and considerably cheaper than Kaspersky's. We are both now running Norton. I think it's pretty good but still regard Kaspersky as number one. The problem is that Kaspersky won't let me pay for it thanks to its German middleman handling its financial dealings with international customers.

HI

The same happened to me, i wanted Kaspersky internet security, tried to buy online, credit card failed, same story.

then i went for Norton 360, read the test, one of the better these days, don’t use a lot of power, work in background,

Will stick to Norton 360 (i think)

Guys try it i don’t think it will let you down, there must be a trial program out there, in the test i have seen they say 360 is better than internet security.

[jackcorbett]

I was running Bitdefender on a laptop while at the same time running Kaspersky on my two Desktop Machines. The day before Bitdefender had downloaded its latest virus definitions. In the meantime I got a message stating that my Bitdefender was out of date. Well, no way, I decided after seeing that my virus definitions had just been updated. And then the virus hit. It hit my Desktop machine making repeated attempts but each time Kaspersky let out a howl that sounded like a V-1 World War II buzz bomb and each time Kaspersky killed the virus. But not Bitdefender. The virus got in and made a wasteland of my laptop. Afterwards I discovered that the message from Bitdefender was telling me that a new version of Bitdefender was available to me as a free download. I had assumed I was being falsely notified that my virus definitions were out of date......simply a little matter of defective English from the Bitdefender people. SOB's should have specified, "New Updated program free to you". But what the hel_l, good Engish or the art of saying or writing what you mean is no longer important in this world. Finallly I downloaded the new version of Bitdefender and guess what? Oh yeah.......the new version now successfully found the Trojan Horse that had infected my system. Wow!...The old Bitdefender that P.C. World rated number one didn't get it even with the latest virus definitions, but Kaspersky sure nailed that Trojan Horse. My solution is to NEVER put Bit Defender on another computer I own. Not ever.

Back to Firewalls. Here's what "P.C. Magazine" had to say about them in its review of the latest Norton Security Suite P.C. Magazine's take on Norton's latest Well, in the last two days I've replaced that heat generating H.P. laptop that just fried its system board with an Acer and the shop I bought it from put on Kaspersky Internet security with a 365 day licence which suites me just fine. I have the latest Norton product reviewed in P.C. Magazine on the two desktop machines (it was also on the H.P. laptop) but I suppose this eats up my three machine license. I'm sure Norton's support would allow me to put this product on the new laptop but I figured Kaspersky's product and Norton's latest and greatest are now a tossup, but for some reason in my gut I feel Kaspersky's still got a bit of an edge for catching the bad guys. I do want to mention that Norton now has excellent online support where you contact a tech and he will chat with you and with your permission even take over your computer while he performs his magic.

Edited December 21, 2008 by jackcorbett

[Gary A]

I have gone ahead and purchased and installed Norton 2009 Internet security. It cost $59.95 and is licensed for three computers. It is exactly what I wanted. Install it and forget it. I DON'T want to be fiddling with settings and have the program asking me all sorts of technical questions. Other than the little icon in the bottom right hand corner of my screen, I don't know it is even there. It does flash a window when it stops a virus. This is the suite. The anti-virus alone is cheaper.

Check out the reviews, you may be shocked to see the huge improvements from the previous VERY bloated versions.

[Veazer]

Are you people blind ore what?

Your point?

The point is that the results as provided by Hitman Pro show the result of infections found after a scan with HitmanPro 3.

It also shows which program was used to protect that scanned PC.

So if you think you are safe because your free anti whatever prog never reports an infection you might be a bit suspicious.

Unfortunately Hitman Pro lacks realtime scanning so it's not reasonable to use it as an antivirus solution

[raro]

I am using clamwin (recommended by a former moderator in this subforum.... ) and after I opened accidentally an exe file (it was supposed to be something else....but ain't that the way a virus works....???) and I realized it just in the moment I clicked on it....

Now the comp (win XP) keeps rebooting. Stay tuned, this blog is just about to start...

[raro]

ok...installed Ubuntu. To be continued in the Linux Forum. Get ready for raro's Linux adventure

[Dontdisturb]

linux

I run Linux myself but it is by no means virus or hacker proof.

I run GNU/linux on my old PC's now for more than 10 years and never had any attack or virus/spyware. I have a firewall but only use Clamav to scan files I share with Windows users.

I've switched to Mac on my new machines and never had any problem.

[CosmicSurfer]

Anti-Virus: Avast (Free)

Firewall: Software - Online Armor (Free) - Hardware Router - Linksys (Wired)

Malware/Spyware: Ad-Aware - SpyBot Search & Destroy plus TeaTimer - WinPatrol - Windows Defender (All Free)

Finally & MOST Important: My Brain - Think before you Leap!!!!

NEVER, Ever any problem!

[raro]

Avast is free only for home use. For small businesses it costs about 1,500 Baht per year and license.

I tried it before but it comes up with too many false positives. Quite irritating for my staff that asks me every other hour what to do with the warning.

//EDIT: Both, Norton and McAffee let me down a while ago. Will not use them again. Clamwin is for apparent reason also out of the game. What else is there? Avira is very slow under win7. What about NOD32?

[LindsayBKK]

All Free

Advanced SystemCare 3.3.4 (pc cleaner & spyware) very good!

I use avira antivir v.9.0.0.407 but Avast v.4.8.1351 is good but scanning is slow, AVG didn't work for me.

a-squared Free 4.5 (trojans) very good!

speeditup free 4.97 (latest update is 5.24)

[Supernova]

I use Avira AntiVir and Malwarebytes; FREE editions. SUPERAntiSpyware is also very good, but I prefer MBAM.

As for firewall, Windows Firewall + Hardware Router is good enough for me.

[Samuian]

AVG + Zone Alarm... regular updates for AVG... nil, zilch, non', niente, nadda for years!