AV and firewall recommendations

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Eagerly awaiting the arrival of my new laptop with XP Pro... planning ahead, I'm wondering about the best anti-virus and firewall software to use. Currently I use Norton AV and ZoneAlarm on Windows ME. They slow things down very much and often cause the PC to freeze for minutes at a time-- sometimes even crash. Granted, a large part of the problem is ME itself... can't wait to get rid of it!... but the fact remains that Norton (and seemingly ZoneAlarm as well) is exceedingly FAT and unwieldy software, that I hate to use if I don't have to. And it's been playing very poorly with other software. Any recommendations for the best (most stable, least intrusive, frequently updated signatures) AV software for XP? And as for the firewall, is the integral XP firewall adequate, or will I need to use ZoneAlarm again (we have an always-on DSL connection).
 
I would recommended using a totally integrated,
comprehensive internet security program such as:

Norton Internet Security 2004
http://www.symantec.com/sabu/nis/nis_pe/

-- Includes Norton AntiVirus 2004
-- Includes Norton Personal Firewall
-- Includes prevention of annoying web pop-ups
-- Includes Parental Controls
-- All in one, easy-to-install package

Does it use resources? All programs use resources to some
degree. If you have at least 256MB RAM installed, Norton
will run just fine while monitoring and protecting your PC.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| Eagerly awaiting the arrival of my new laptop with XP Pro... planning ahead, I'm wondering about the best
anti-virus and firewall software to use. Currently I use Norton AV and ZoneAlarm on Windows ME. They slow
things down very much and often cause the PC to freeze for minutes at a time-- sometimes even crash. Granted,
a large part of the problem is ME itself... can't wait to get rid of it!... but the fact remains that Norton
(and seemingly ZoneAlarm as well) is exceedingly FAT and unwieldy software, that I hate to use if I don't have
to. And it's been playing very poorly with other software. Any recommendations for the best (most stable,
least intrusive, frequently updated signatures) AV software for XP? And as for the firewall, is the integral
XP firewall adequate, or will I need to use ZoneAlarm again (we have an always-on DSL connection).
 
There are many products on the market and everyone has their preferences.
Personally, I use free ZoneAlarm and free AVG on my XP machine. AVG is
updated on, pretty much, a daily basis. I am quite pleased with both. Below
is a link to AVG.
http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php

Enjoy your new PC, JAX

Newbie techie said:
Eagerly awaiting the arrival of my new laptop with XP Pro... planning
Click to expand...
ahead, I'm wondering about the best anti-virus and firewall software to use.
Currently I use Norton AV and ZoneAlarm on Windows ME. They slow things
down very much and often cause the PC to freeze for minutes at a time--
sometimes even crash. Granted, a large part of the problem is ME itself...
can't wait to get rid of it!... but the fact remains that Norton (and
seemingly ZoneAlarm as well) is exceedingly FAT and unwieldy software, that
I hate to use if I don't have to. And it's been playing very poorly with
other software. Any recommendations for the best (most stable, least
intrusive, frequently updated signatures) AV software for XP? And as for
the firewall, is the integral XP firewall adequate, or will I need to use
ZoneAlarm again (we have an always-on DSL connection).
 
Greetings --

When my subscription to Symantec's updates for Norton Internet
Security 2002 came up for renewal (at a cost substantially higher than
last year's subscription), I decided to try less expensive solutions.
I downloaded and installed the free version of GriSoft's AVG (
http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php ) and the free version of
Sygate's Personal Firewall ( http://smb.sygate.com/free/default.php ).
Both have proven to be easily installed, easy to use, and quite
effective. Additionally, I was pleasantly surprised to see a small
but very noticeable improvement in my PC's performance, once I'd
replaced the Symantec product.

WinXP's built-in firewall is fine at stopping incoming attacks, and
hiding your ports from probes. It doesn't give you any alarms to tell
you that it is working, though. What WinXP also does not do, is
protect you from any Trojans or spyware that you might download and
install inadvertently. It doesn't monitor out-going traffic at all,
much less block (or at least ask you about) the bad or the
questionable out-going packets.

ZoneAlarm, Kerio, or Sygate are all much better than WinXP's
built-in firewall, and are much more easily configured, and there are
a free versions of each readily available. Even Symantec's Norton
Personal Firewall is superior by far, although it does take a heavier
toll of performance then do ZoneAlarm, Kerio, or Sygate. It's been
several years since I've been tempted to try McAfee products. Their
quality seemed to take a steep nose-dive after they were acquired by
Network Associates.


Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
Thanks all for your recommendations. A question for Carey: By recommending the all-in-one Norton solution are you saying you'd recommend the Norton firewall over the built-in XP firewall? I hate to add additional drag to the O/S if I don't need to. But IF the Microsoft firewall is just a bare-bones basic utility that's relatively easy to breach, I'd need to know that so I can protect myself better.

As for resource usage, well, yes, everything has its cost. But my experience is that Norton specifically, and all-in-one comprehensive packages generally, tend to be very bloated and use far more than their fair share of resources. That's certainly the case with Norton 2003 under ME (where, BTW, 384 Megs of RAM has proven inadequate for ravenous Norton & ZoneAlarm). Ironically, I think at least part of Norton's bulk is due to the anti-piracy secretware they install automatically without the computer owner's permission. Sure, they have a legitimate claim on their intellectual property, but ironically their zeal to protect their rights (against me, a paying customer!) will most likely send me to another product.

Sorry: Touched on two sore spots: software bloat and software doing things without the computer owner's permission... *sigh*
 
Hello;
I consider myself a beginner in the area of security,
however, I have used AVG 6.0(anti-virus)and ZoneAlarm
(firewall) for several months on Windows ME. They
performed flawlessly on my ME system. I upgraded to
Windows XP Pro recently, also, I have had no problems. I
do not know why you experienced slow down problems using
the subject software. I could observe no slow down, on
either Windows ME or XP. I suspect you have other system
problems you should persue. Do you have Ad-aware & Spybot
installled on your system? If you do not you should
install this FREE software that stops a lot of nasty
stuff from invading your machine. I have searched for
information regarding Norton, via the Google search
engine. The results were mixed with negative, exceding
positive results. Hovever I have no first-hand experience
with Norton and frankly I feel I do not need to use it at
this point. Congratulations on your choice of Windows XP.
You will enjoy its superior performance. Good luck.

((((((((((((((((((((melvin another novice)))))))))))))))))
-----Original Message-----
Eagerly awaiting the arrival of my new laptop with XP
Click to expand...
Pro... planning ahead, I'm wondering about the best anti-
virus and firewall software to use. Currently I use
Norton AV and ZoneAlarm on Windows ME. They slow things
down very much and often cause the PC to freeze for
minutes at a time-- sometimes even crash. Granted, a
large part of the problem is ME itself... can't wait to
get rid of it!... but the fact remains that Norton (and
seemingly ZoneAlarm as well) is exceedingly FAT and
unwieldy software, that I hate to use if I don't have
to. And it's been playing very poorly with other
software. Any recommendations for the best (most stable,
least intrusive, frequently updated signatures) AV
software for XP? And as for the firewall, is the
integral XP firewall adequate, or will I need to use
ZoneAlarm again (we have an always-on DSL connection).
 
Newbie techie said:
Eagerly awaiting the arrival of my new laptop with XP Pro... planning ahead, I'm
Click to expand...
wondering about the best anti-virus and firewall software to use. Currently I use
Norton AV and ZoneAlarm on Windows ME. They slow things down very much and often
cause the PC to freeze for minutes at a time-- sometimes even crash. Granted, a
large part of the problem is ME itself... can't wait to get rid of it!... but the
fact remains that Norton (and seemingly ZoneAlarm as well) is exceedingly FAT and
unwieldy software, that I hate to use if I don't have to. And it's been playing
very poorly with other software. Any recommendations for the best (most stable,
least intrusive, frequently updated signatures) AV software for XP? And as for the
firewall, is the integral XP firewall adequate, or will I need to use ZoneAlarm
again (we have an always-on DSL connection).

Norton anti-virus 200(3) if you can still get a copy.
(Try any US-based online retailer - assuming you're US-based).

If you're running NAV 2004 I would reconsider my options prior to
installing on a "fresh" XP machine. There are mixed opinions...
A fairly good non-biased read:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1396473,00.asp

Kerio Personal Firewall version 2.1.5
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/kerio
Download > http://www.kerio.com/dwn/kpf2-en-win.exe
Well supported, great user community and, free :-)
Non-resource hog and ever so configurable.

Enjoy the new machine!

HTH

--
siljaline

MS - MVP Windows IE/OE
______________________

(Reply to group, as return address
is invalid - that we may all benefit)
 
Always on? Get a hardware router too. Do this first.

Turn off XP's firewall. Use ZA Pro. Current NAV is okay. The more
built-in real-time protection, the more the system will slow.
Dave
Newbie techie said:
Eagerly awaiting the arrival of my new laptop with XP Pro... planning
Click to expand...
ahead, I'm wondering about the best anti-virus and firewall software to use.
Currently I use Norton AV and ZoneAlarm on Windows ME. They slow things
down very much and often cause the PC to freeze for minutes at a time--
sometimes even crash. Granted, a large part of the problem is ME itself...
can't wait to get rid of it!... but the fact remains that Norton (and
seemingly ZoneAlarm as well) is exceedingly FAT and unwieldy software, that
I hate to use if I don't have to. And it's been playing very poorly with
other software. Any recommendations for the best (most stable, least
intrusive, frequently updated signatures) AV software for XP? And as for
the firewall, is the integral XP firewall adequate, or will I need to use
ZoneAlarm again (we have an always-on DSL connection).
 
On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 06:17:10 -0500, "Lil' Dave"
Always on? Get a hardware router too. Do this first.
Click to expand...
Turn off XP's firewall. Use ZA Pro. Current NAV is okay.
Click to expand...

Current NAV is riddled with DRM - that's not "OK" by me. The irony;
pay for a program to keep out hostile code, find it stealths its own
hostile DRM code into the system. What was the *other* idea?

I'm using AVG 6.0 (free for non-commercial non-network use) and Kerio
firewall (again, free). These are leaner than commercial bloatware,
and so far they've hit the spot very well.

The reason you may want an add-on firewall is that the built-in one
does not "watch" outgoing traffic. Kerio, Sygate Personal Firewall,
Outpost and Zone Alarm are all free firewalls that do, and of the
three, I've settled on Kerio. Outpost I've not tried; Sygate is a bit
naggy (as in, "don't you want to buy the full version?") and I was
unimpressed with Zone Alarm's ability to co-exist with XP at the time.

As for antivirus; they are all useless on Day Zero, and whichever one
isn't left for weeks between updates is the best one :-)
The more built-in real-time protection, the more the system will slow.
Click to expand...
ahead, I'm wondering about the best anti-virus and firewall software to use.
Currently I use Norton AV and ZoneAlarm on Windows ME. They slow things
down very much and often cause the PC to freeze for minutes at a time--
sometimes even crash. Granted, a large part of the problem is ME itself...
Click to expand...

Actually, it's more likely Norton - they never did get too clued how
to work with WinME. Could be under-documentation on WinME's part;
even though this OS introduces several things that have never been
seen before or since - the original SR, a Win9x with
artificially-crippled DOS capabilties, etc. - there's no resource kit.


---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
Click to expand...
Consumer Asks: "What are you?"
Market Research: ' What would you like us to be? '
 
Eagerly awaiting the arrival of my new laptop with XP Pro... planning ahead, I'm wondering about the best anti-virus and firewall software to use. Currently I use Norton AV and ZoneAlarm on Windows ME. They slow things down very much and often cause the PC to freeze for minutes at a time-- sometimes even crash. Granted, a large part of the problem is ME itself...
Click to expand...
can't wait to get rid of it!... but the fact remains that Norton (and seemingly ZoneAlarm as well) is exceedingly FAT and unwieldy software, that I hate to use if I don't have to. And it's been playing very poorly with other software. Any recommendations for the best (most stable, least intrusive, frequently updated signatures) AV software for XP? And as for the
firewall, is the integral XP firewall adequate, or will I need to use ZoneAlarm again (we have an always-on DSL connection).

Here's a page from "Virus Bulletin" (an independent virus publication)
showing the results of tests on all the big names.

http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archives/products.xml?
 
Greetings,

Well, considering I don't know who this site is or if they are even 'legit',
I still go by what I've seen and read.

MaximumPC (March 2004 issue) put Norton Antivirus 2004 against McAfee
Antivirus 2004, and Norton beat out McAfee. However, just for grins, they
tested AVG Antivirus Free Edition (Ver 6) (www.grisoft.com) and it beat out
Norton AND McAfee.

I use AVG and have used it for about 2 years now, and haven't had a virus
problem it hasn't found. I swear by it, and recommend it to any of my
clients.

Fritz216
 
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