Advice Sought

Watson · 06-15-2005, 12:04 AM

I’ve been trying to decide what antivirus to use for a while but I’ve found it very hard to get any definitive answers apart from every company insisting theirs is the best. I would not call myself an expert but I have been using computers extensively for several years and shouldn’t have many problems working with one of the more complicated antivirus programs. I’m a home user, single machine, used heavily. Don’t want to pay a huge amount. So the basic question is, does anyone have any advice about what to get?

On similar lines, is the smart move to get a separate firewall or a combined protection suite? And again any advice on which one to go for?

All help appreciated

Cheers, Watson

sidthereal · 06-15-2005, 12:14 AM

among freeware zone alarm has a good firewall and AVG is good for home users

**Buzz1927** · 06-15-2005, 12:22 AM

No antivirus will catch everything, but in most tests Kaspersky comes out best. For peace of mind, get 2 AV's, and disable ones real-time scanner so you just use it to scan your system to check your main AV hasn't missed anything. Good free AV's are AVG, Avast and Antivir. I wouldn't pay for a firewall, the free ones you can get are all excellent. Zonealarm, Kerio and Sygate all do free for home user firewalls, try and use the one you like. I find its better to use 2 specialised products rather than an all in one, I've used both Norton and Mcafee in the past and had problems with both, now I use free products without any problems. Also get free spyware protection, Adaware, Spybot and Spywareblaster all help to protect you from the multitude of threats on the internet.
Hope this helps.
Buzz.

sizk · 06-15-2005, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sidthereal

among freeware zone alarm has a good firewall and AVG is good for home users

i'm quite not sure about AVG, i've once read following comparative tests that it was just one of the uselessest AV you could get, detecting 1/4 or 1/5 of what the bests'd do... actually i'm running it and i've tried panda AV online today and it detected almost 20 infected files (spywares included) AVG didn't seem to care...
i've always heard and trusted kaspersky is the most effective. you'll get the personal for $40 and personal pro for $60.

sidthereal · 06-15-2005, 12:36 AM

zone alrams online spyware scan is also very good, manged to get a few bugs overlooked by other softwares.
kaspersky is a very good anti-virus no doubt, and you can always go for the regular free online anti-virus scan at both trend micro and panda

Byteman · 06-15-2005, 03:29 AM

my two cents...

Kaspersky is great stuff, Nod32 is as well, Norton & McAfee are resoarce hogs and slow your machine down.

Firewalls are needed as well, however, i personally hate all software firewalls. I much prefer a router based. But if you don't have that option, then you NEED to get a software fw.

Spyware is a different story. It is still largely in a state of flux at present. So, you can't depend on 1 anti-spyware program. SpywareBlaster is a necessity and doesn't use any resoarces, MSAntispyware is a great realtime scanner, Ad-awareSE and Spybot are mainstays for cleaning up after an infection (the MSAntispyware will do well also). Ultimately however, if you are talking about cleaning up "after the fact", you will need to use HijackThis and post your problem and a log file here for deep cleaning that the other programs can't do.

sidthereal · 06-15-2005, 07:49 PM

how good is MS antispyware, as a resident antivirus?
i think its too cumbersome a software.

Byteman · 06-15-2005, 07:59 PM

Quote:

how good is MS antispyware, as a resident antivirus?

It does spyware, not viruses. Hence the name Microsoft Anti-spyware.

sidthereal · 06-15-2005, 08:59 PM

my mistake, a resident anti-spyware

Byteman · 06-15-2005, 09:18 PM

It does very good! (for a single program). Microsoft didn't make it, Giant software did originally, and they were the highest ranking anti-spyware program out there. Why do you think Microsoft (with all it's money), decided to by out Giant instead of others...

06-15-2005, 12:04 AM	#1 (permalink)
Watson New Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 1	Advice Sought I’ve been trying to decide what antivirus to use for a while but I’ve found it very hard to get any definitive answers apart from every company insisting theirs is the best. I would not call myself an expert but I have been using computers extensively for several years and shouldn’t have many problems working with one of the more complicated antivirus programs. I’m a home user, single machine, used heavily. Don’t want to pay a huge amount. So the basic question is, does anyone have any advice about what to get? On similar lines, is the smart move to get a separate firewall or a combined protection suite? And again any advice on which one to go for? All help appreciated Cheers, Watson

06-15-2005, 12:14 AM	#2 (permalink)
sidthereal Gold Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 263	among freeware zone alarm has a good firewall and AVG is good for home users __________________ he who laughs last must have a terrible sense of humor :eek:

06-15-2005, 12:36 AM	#5 (permalink)
sidthereal Gold Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 263	zone alrams online spyware scan is also very good, manged to get a few bugs overlooked by other softwares. kaspersky is a very good anti-virus no doubt, and you can always go for the regular free online anti-virus scan at both trend micro and panda __________________ he who laughs last must have a terrible sense of humor :eek:

06-15-2005, 03:29 AM	#6 (permalink)
Byteman Malware Destroyer Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Hurricane Heaven... still Posts: 1,093	my two cents... Kaspersky is great stuff, Nod32 is as well, Norton & McAfee are resoarce hogs and slow your machine down. Firewalls are needed as well, however, i personally hate all software firewalls. I much prefer a router based. But if you don't have that option, then you NEED to get a software fw. Spyware is a different story. It is still largely in a state of flux at present. So, you can't depend on 1 anti-spyware program. SpywareBlaster is a necessity and doesn't use any resoarces, MSAntispyware is a great realtime scanner, Ad-awareSE and Spybot are mainstays for cleaning up after an infection (the MSAntispyware will do well also). Ultimately however, if you are talking about cleaning up "after the fact", you will need to use HijackThis and post your problem and a log file here for deep cleaning that the other programs can't do. __________________ Don't byte off more than you can chew...

06-15-2005, 07:49 PM	#7 (permalink)
sidthereal Gold Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 263	how good is MS antispyware, as a resident antivirus? i think its too cumbersome a software. __________________ he who laughs last must have a terrible sense of humor :eek:

06-15-2005, 12:22 AM	#3 (permalink)
Buzz1927 Digaredd Join Date: May 2005 Location: Melbourne AU Posts: 6,729	No antivirus will catch everything, but in most tests Kaspersky comes out best. For peace of mind, get 2 AV's, and disable ones real-time scanner so you just use it to scan your system to check your main AV hasn't missed anything. Good free AV's are AVG, Avast and Antivir. I wouldn't pay for a firewall, the free ones you can get are all excellent. Zonealarm, Kerio and Sygate all do free for home user firewalls, try and use the one you like. I find its better to use 2 specialised products rather than an all in one, I've used both Norton and Mcafee in the past and had problems with both, now I use free products without any problems. Also get free spyware protection, Adaware, Spybot and Spywareblaster all help to protect you from the multitude of threats on the internet. Hope this helps. Buzz.

06-15-2005, 08:59 PM	#9 (permalink)
sidthereal Gold Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 263	my mistake, a resident anti-spyware __________________ he who laughs last must have a terrible sense of humor :eek:

06-15-2005, 09:18 PM	#10 (permalink)
Byteman Malware Destroyer Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Hurricane Heaven... still Posts: 1,093	It does very good! (for a single program). Microsoft didn't make it, Giant software did originally, and they were the highest ranking anti-spyware program out there. Why do you think Microsoft (with all it's money), decided to by out Giant instead of others... __________________ Don't byte off more than you can chew...

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