Advice on Firewall/Antivirus software.

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BuffyNZ

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#42320 2-Oct-2009 11:31

I have 3 Windows systems that have AVG, and my two year subscription expires in 7 days.

I am thinking of switching to NOD32.

The systems are two vista laptops and a XP desktop.

I am after anti-virus and firewall on each.

I am very technically able, but one of the users of of the laptops is not technically able at all.

Any advice or recommendations?

Recursion: See recursion.
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Tarq57

156 posts

Master Geek

#260575 2-Oct-2009 14:23

The question is: Why are you thinking of changing? Are you unhappy with some aspect of AVG?

If so, please detail why.
If not, perhaps you are thinking of simply changing experiences; see if NOD (or whatever you end up with) works any better.

Any good AV should come with a fully functional free trial period. I'd recommend trialling a handful to make sure they work as they should before committing.
I'd also strongly recommend downloading the appropriate removal tool for each AV you have ever had on a computer. Some of them (AVG included) leave a lot of crap behind, so much so that it can interfere with the running of another AV.

I'm a member of the Avast forum (mighty fine AV, Avast) and see this sort of problem all the time.
As a starter, Here is the download page for AVGs' uninstaller tools.

It might be necessary to remove the linkscanner from each browser used, separately. And maybe edit the registry. The AVG uninstaller seems to leave the entries for this behind. (So does the removal tool, sometimes.)

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BuffyNZ

241 posts

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#260585 2-Oct-2009 14:48

Well, I have had some firewall problems related to printer sharing on the local network with AVG that I have not been able to solve, not that I have really tried that hard.

Mostly I am just peering around at the different offerings, re-evaluating the packages to see if AVG is still the best choice.

This thread is just one of the ways I am doing this.

Some good advice there, thanks!

trig42

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#260742 3-Oct-2009 08:59

I use (and sell) NOD32. Great product. If you want a Firewall, go with ESET Smart Security - NOD32 with Firewall and Outlook/Outlook Express/Windows Mail spam protection. Nice samm installed footprint, no noticeable system overheads, no silly browser toolbars.

I have installed Nortons 2009/2010 Internet security products on a few client PCs, and they seem to be quite speedy and efficient as well (compared to earlier Nortons versions anyway).

freitasm

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Geekzone

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#260744 3-Oct-2009 09:05

On the Windowx Vista (and now Windows 7) I wouldn't bother with a firewall - the built-n firewall is good and very flexible allowing you to create rules by profile, etc.

For AV, if you have a license and only want to get a good free option, try either Microsoft Security Essentials or Avast. That's what I use on my laptops (except the Mini, which I am running Norton 2010 for testing - it is quite good actually).

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Deev8

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#260773 3-Oct-2009 11:12

I've happily used the free version of AVG for some time now.
AVG Free Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware

johnr

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#260786 3-Oct-2009 12:16

Avast gets the thumbs up from me the free home edition is great

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Tarq57

156 posts

Master Geek

#260803 3-Oct-2009 13:20

Me too, I'd definitely go with Avast. Be advised a new version will be released fairly soon, and support for Avast 4.8 is likely to be withdrawn within about a year of the new versions' release. See the avast blog.

The built in Vista firewall should be more than adequate; for the XP desktop many would recommend a two way firewall. ( I do.) AndyManchester provides a good site to locate and download all sorts of software. The freeware firewalls page is the one linked.

The beauty of the two way firewall is that if something nasty actually slips past the AV, it will probably try to connect outbound, and the firewall is then your last chance to control that.

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nakedmolerat

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#260814 3-Oct-2009 15:01

BuffyNZ: I have 3 Windows systems that have AVG, and my two year subscription expires in 7 days.

I am thinking of switching to NOD32.

The systems are two vista laptops and a XP desktop.

I am after anti-virus and firewall on each.

I am very technically able, but one of the users of of the laptops is not technically able at all.

Any advice or recommendations?

If you want a really good two way firewall + antivirus, check out online armor ++ (atm it only support 32bit windows xp/vista/7). Online Armor provide good support on their forum. Most questions will be answered in the same day. OA also has feature such as running applications under limited user (run safer) . This is good if you prefer to use full admin account instead of running your daily account under LUA.

IMO, avast home is not that great. Last week, my friend had 14 different worms & trojans in her computer. Avast detected them but unable to remove/clean. But if you are after free software, microsoft security essentials, avast home, avira free, panda cloud antivirus are there for you to use. They are reasonably good if you are a safe surfer/user.

I am also a huge fan of avira. Mostly because of their extremely good proactive + signature detection rates based on av-comparatives tests. The only issue is that it tends to produce some false positives. However, in the last 2 years with avira, I have only came across two false positives.

My advice is that if you are just an average user, you do not need two way firewall. Windows has a built in firewall which is more than sufficient. Do you have a router/modem with built in firewall? If you do, then I have a high threshold to pay for software firewall. For av, choose one that you like. There is no antivirus as good as your own common sense combined with safe surfing habit.

If you enjoy using made in china products, you can try Rising AV paid edition or Rising Free av.

jaymz

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#263502 12-Oct-2009 15:11

BuffyNZ: I have 3 Windows systems that have AVG, and my two year subscription expires in 7 days.

I am thinking of switching to NOD32.

The systems are two vista laptops and a XP desktop.

I am after anti-virus and firewall on each.

I am very technically able, but one of the users of of the laptops is not technically able at all.

Any advice or recommendations?

I run NOD32 AV at home and it has been great, no troubles with it at all. I belive the Smart Security has a good firewall in it too, although there are several free firewalls out there to try (ZoneAlarm, Comodo)

I don't run a software firewall at home, my network sits nicely behind my SonicWall TZ170 :P

xpd

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#263509 12-Oct-2009 15:40

Hehe Sonicwalls are nice little units.
Im going to borrow a Watchguard Firebox unit to play with....but defintely prefer the Sonicwall layout etc.

Getting back on track... I was running AVG free until Microsoft Security Essentials was released, switched to that and had no issues so far...and I think my machine is booting a lot faster after removing AVG :) Always a nice bonus...

XPD / Gavin

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RockResearch

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#263513 12-Oct-2009 15:55

I chose Bitdefender after reading so many positive reviews on the web. After using it for 12 months I thought I wasn't going to renew subscription but it is actually pretty good value pricewise now that I have looked at some of the alternatives.

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Athlonite

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#264177 16-Oct-2009 06:17

i use Avast pro and used it to scan disks with window/AVG-free on em surprising what you find that AVG has let slip through couldn't tell you about avgpro but i alway remove the free version and opt for avast home and the windows firewall in 7 and to some extent vista are very capable