Firewalls

[mbonwick]

Hey all!

My Norton Internet Security 2004 is up for renewal.

Now, I was going to get NIS 2007, but then i read some very critical revies and now I'm not so sure...

So, my question is:
1. Should I get NIS 2007, and if not
2. Which antivirus/firewall software do you use/recommend?

Thanks,

 

[Tom]

I use NIS 2007 and I've got no problems whatsoever - I periodically scan with AVG and all is fine.

 

[Nathan]

I'm beta testing Esset and its brilliant!

 

[mbonwick]

Tom, what are your system specs? The reviews I read were very critical about Nortons memory and CPU usage as well as frequent crashes.

 

[nath9425]

Avast home Free as well

 

[Tom]

Tom, what are your system specs? The reviews I read were very critical about Nortons memory and CPU usage as well as frequent crashes.

It's a Macbook - but the specs are:

Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz
1GB RAM
10GB partition on this one
Onboard Intel accelerator gfx

Norton is only using about 40MB RAM on here......

 

[Dave A]

No, screw Norton. Horrible system resource eating piece of crap!

I use AVG Free for an Anti-Virus (perfect and easy to use), Spybot Search & Destroy for Spyware (the same) and Windows Firewall as a firewall...

And before anyone, most likely Tom (), says anything, I have not had one virus or attack since I installed XP over 2 years ago, and every time I've used the Windows Firewall.

 

[Max]

There are several free ones which are worth a look - AVG springs to mind. I find Norton very annoying to be honest!

 

[Tom]

And before anyone, most likely Tom (), says anything, I have not had one virus or attack since I installed XP over 2 years ago, and every time I've used the Windows Firewall.

Behind a router? If so that's why

 

[Dave A]

Behind a router? If so that's why

... :-P

 

[Guinness]

Avast and Kerio Personal Firewall work fine for me, both free and regularly updated, particularly Avast.

 

[thefab444]

And before anyone, most likely Tom (), says anything, I have not had one virus or attack since I installed XP over 2 years ago, and every time I've used the Windows Firewall.

Maybe that's because Windows Firewall hasn't deteced them...

Another Norton user here, though. Tried McAfee once and found it an even bigger pile of junk.

 

[mbonwick]

Right, I think I'll stick with Norton, if it's only using 40MB RAM then I should be OK with 768MB!

 

[5872]

No, screw Norton. Horrible system resource eating piece of crap!

I use AVG Free for an Anti-Virus (perfect and easy to use), Spybot Search & Destroy for Spyware (the same) and Windows Firewall as a firewall...

And before anyone, most likely Tom (), says anything, I have not had one virus or attack since I installed XP over 2 years ago, and every time I've used the Windows Firewall.

I agree AVG much better

Right, I think I'll stick with Norton, if it's only using 40MB RAM then I should be OK with 768MB!

Stick with norton!!!! mbonwick are you mad:roll: nortons is as david(UD) said a peice of turd , AVG is much better or what ive got Prevex one which detects and Deletes the problem. AVG much better

 

[mbonwick]

It may be nicer on system resources, but I have heard from numerous credible sources that Norton is the best for prventing viruses and detecting/removing them, particularly from .ZIP files

Besides, having had NIS 2004 for nearly 3 years, and 2002 before that, I am satisfied with Norton products.

 

[devon_metro]

Stick with norton!!!! mbonwick are you mad:roll: nortons is as david(UD) said a peice of turd ,

Lesson one: How to contradict oneself.

 

[mbonwick]

No, I imagined Fred's tone to be one of disbelief.

'Stick with Norton??!! You must be mad'

 

[LondonBVE]

It may be nicer on system resources, but I have heard from numerous credible sources that Norton is the best for prventing viruses and detecting/removing them, particularly from .ZIP files

Besides, having had NIS 2004 for nearly 3 years, and 2002 before that, I am satisfied with Norton products.

I have to agree on you. I have been using Norton for tthe past 2 years except this year which Mcafee is introduced into my computer. Now I feeling to go to the store to get Norton. It is good but eats too much system resource, if not it is good.

AVG Free is not always good, sometimes the update looks confusing (from my previous experience back in 2005). If my Mcafee has expired while waiting to get Norton I will get either ZoneAlarm or Avast. AVG will never be my choice after the previous experience with it.

Just to add on, I had a bad time with Mcafee after 2 months. Yes, two months and I cannot stand it. The moment I disabled weekly scanning (I am lazy to scan as it takes an hour to scan my whole computer), it will automatically enable scheduled scanning. I found not long ago when I will configuring the update settings which annoyed me. I wonder what's more scanning is coming up.

 

[Gizmogle]

Windows firewall here
I am behind a router though.
I do a virus and spyware scan every few months when I think, but they never find anything.

I've used ZoneAlarm before, and I've had very bad experiences with it. It tends to conflict with other programs. It just wasn't worth the hassle.

 

[Daniel]

I'm currently using Norton Internet Security as a firewall, but AVG Anti-Virus because Norton packed up.

 

[mbonwick]

Another question, sorry

Did your NIS come with AntiSpam? Some people say it did, others not..very confusing!

 

[thefab444]

If you buy NIS 2007, you have to download some items separately (this is optional though). The following stuff is bundled in their add-on pack:

Ad Blocking
Pop-up Blocking
Privacy Control
Norton Community Watch
Anti Spam

The only useful feature for me is the Ad-Blocker, but it does work fairly well.

 

[mbonwick]

So basically to amke it work properly and do the same as my 2004 I'll ahve to downlaod all those extras!

 

[D306]

I use, netgear firewall, only because our router is a netgear one. i could also use AVG Firewall, but I don't have a registration key.

 

[Daniel]

Hello.

Sorry for the bit of a bump, but my NIS did come with Anti-Spam, including pop-up blockers etc, but this is not part of the NIS package - it was a promotional freebie.

 

[mbonwick]

From what I've been reading, even though it's not included in NIS, AntiSpam, popup blocker, parental controls etc can be downloaded free from syamantec. (That's if you can find them )

 

[Tom B]

Sorry but the best prevention against viruses and spyware is common sense. You can have every program on the planet released to try to counter them but if you're stupid about how you use a computer, you'll still end up with them.

 

[mbonwick]

Yes, I know that, fortunately never had a virus (unlike some people I know - no firewall and vistiting dodgy sites i.e. xxx content)

Anyway, you have convinced me to go for NIS 2007, am ordering later today