Phoenix Network Forums

i use Panda Platinum for av + firewall but i thik of insalling ZoneAlarm aswell

I dont use any anti-virus or firewall software
a have only XOFT SPY and i it is great to me!!

i just tried AVG its great plus it is free it even scans files before you down them from the internet if they are infected stpos them !

McAfee Anti-Virus and Firewall. Then 2 routers.


Or Linux.

I have used AVG free for years now and it works real good. On the odd occasion it does not remove the virus automatically, they have an excellent support site and forum. They will tell you how to manually remove any virus.
For best results use a hardware firewall, Sonicwall are my choice for ease of use and config.

I have tried kerio's personal firewall but it crashed on me couple of times, so I switched to ZoneAlarm and have never looked back since. ZoneAlarm free edition works exceptionally well for me.

For anti-virus I was using AVG but the free edition doesn't repair files for you and it's not worth using as it could'nt deal with a virus that's common around here (i forget the name). I have been using avast now for sometime and it works great.

For spyware, I recommend using Firefox browser and microsoft anti-spyware.

NOD32 & ZA
On windows XP SP2 based machine

Hello everyone.

Ive seen some posts here about some people using 2 or more firewalls at the same time. This is a VERY BAD idea. 2 or more firewalls DO interfeer with each other in a negative way, sometimes silently and unknown to the user. Not to forget the fact that having to maintain 2 or more of them means more work, more resources and obscurity through security. Bad bad bad. One correctly configured firewall is more than enough (that is if you do go for a firewall solution).

On windows, i can recomend Outpost by Agnitum. Its by far one of the best firewalls for windows based systems. But...... it does need some knowledge on tcp/ip, protocols, ports, services and security concepts in general. If you are looking for a firewall that all you need to do is to click on next, next, yes, i agree, next, finished then dont use a firewall at all. The biggest joke i ever saw was with ZA, and every time you booted the pc, a window would popup when ZA was loading and said "Zone alarm is now loaded and you computer is now safe". ROFLMMFAO. Thats BS.

I know that most users cannot be bothered with details on security since all they want is to play games, surf the web, and some emailing here and there. But, on the other hand its like a car. If you own a car, you have to refuel it, you have to check the oil, you have to check the air in the tires. You have to take the time and learn about a few basics when it comes to security. Not only for the protection of your data, but also the responsibility you have towards others once you are connected to a network, as in preventing malicous codes to harm others. On the other hand, also think about if a firewall is really needed. I know many people who have their systems tight as hell without any firewalls in place. A firewall is just an application, that can be brought down like any other application, not to mention the resources it uses. There are many exploits out there that just eat ZA, and norton firewall up for breakfast, which messes up the entire box at times too. But to keep things a bit more simple, the 'no firewall' scenario is maybe for more advanced users.

1 firewall is enough if correctly configured, and maintained. Its the admin/user who is responsible for the computer, not the software. If you dont read your firewall logs periodically, then why have a firewall? If you set it to allow tons of stuff just to avoid those naggy popups about allowing this or that, then why have a firewall? The golden rule to firewalls is actually really simple:

Block EVERYTHING and ONLY ALLOW WHAT YOU REALLY NEED.

When it comes to AVs, i can recomend AVG, and McAffee. Ofcourse they are not bad, nor good, but there is no AV application that will keep out ALL viruses. Period. :p

Also a combination of Adaware and Spybot together with one FW, and one AV is a neat set that is enough for 3rd party security. From there on its about securing and tightening your OS. Make sure you have everything patched upto date, and make sure that only what you really need at that moment is running. I know that on windows it sounds hard, but its do-able. Some of the things are really simple, like dont go online using an administrator account, always use strong passwords, make sure you know which system files have which permisions, and make sure that you log and study what is logged.

LOL, sorry for this huge lecture, when the question was actually small and simple.

Firewall: Outpost
Antivirus: AVG or McAffee
Spyware: Adaware AND Spybot Search and Destroy

For linux i recomend IPTABLES (Muahahaha)
And AV i would say Vexira. (for linux the AV is less about protecting your data, but rather more the responsibility you have towards others, as in sending infected files to them).

Cheers.

i also am using norton 2005, windows firewall has been disabled in favour for nortons, i also have a hardware firewall from my router.. What do people think of norton compared to any other free antivirus software????

Sygate Personal Firewall is great - but don't bother with complex firewalls if you have a router as the inbuilt one is more secure than any software based one. I have Windows firewall turned on to do the job of outgoing management and it works fine.

Protowall is ace but caused problems so uninstalled it. It's an IP filtering.

Saw this thread, and had to reply.

I used Norton Firewall for a while until I wisened up to just how much of a system hog it really is.

I now use Sygate firewall. It is lean and mean.

Same holds true for Norton Antivirus. Talk about bloat. I've been using AVG free now for 6 months or so and haven't had a problem with it at all. It rocks.

f00

Back in the days when I was an intermediate Windows user I used eSafe Desktop Anti-Virus and I must say that I was very happy with it - easy-updates at every 1st of the month, critical updates too(when needed), high-customizable abilities, it could even block access to some areas of the PC for specified users.
But then it became paid, my computer got broken and after that I stopped using AV software and sticked up with ZoneAlarm only.
Now I use Linux and I don't need antivirus. :)

i use avg and a dedicated openbsd computer (to route and firewall)

I'm not using any firewall.....OH F**K!!!! I'm not using any firewall!!!! I installed my Ubuntu os few weeks ago and i totally forgot about firewall....I'll set it up soon...

Depending upon if u can afford. I have a Linux firewall, is a machine at front end running IPTABLES, anything behind it has a AVG Antinvirus. I am also using Linux as squid cache for further protection. Obviously I have configured the squid for protection.

I have only openned the ports that I really need to open on Linux firewall, rest is closed, even SMTP is running on local host & anything coming from behind the firewall is redirected to local SMTP port. exim checks & try to relay it first & if not successful it forwards it to Relay server. If there several email in a short period from one machine they are halted for later manual delivery & machine automatically sends me an email asking me to do that. So even if any machine behind the firewall gets bugged for SMTP spam I know it within moments.

But again, its not a setup for novice or at least windows users cannot setup the same system.