Security Software for your PC

Bob Hubbard

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Thanks Kaith, I've been looking for a free virus scanner ever since my Norton subscription expired :D
 
I'm lucky in that I've apparently got the last version of Norton Antivirus that didn't require any subscription fees for updates. I've been updating my virus definitions for a couple of years now for free.

However, I know the gravy train won't last and eventually Symantec will stop supporting this version altogether.

For firewall software, I've been using Zonelab's ZoneAlarm. It's stopped everything ever thrown at me. It goes bonkers on a few rare occasions, but nothing I can't recover from.

The PC I'm building now is going to have Macafee's Internet Security, which has a firewall and Virusscan. Only reason why I'll be using it is because it came with my mobo/CPU package.

Cthulhu
 
The Norton Corporate Edition (Enterprise Solution) has unlimited updates of virus definitions, but likewise, I know they will quit supporting the product someday. So far so good.

I use the Panicware and ZoneAlarm Pro products also. Paying for the Zone Alarm eliminated all the weird little hickups I got the 1st year I was using it for free.

-Michael
AKTS
 
Our company (I work for an ISP) reccomends

SPYBOT SEARCH AND DESTROY for a spyware scanner. It looks deeper than the Lavasoft AdAware program, and will even clear all your program histories for you if you like.

http://security.kolla.de/

Hope that helps anyone who needs it!!!
 
I use both Spybot and Ad-aware and I feal they compliment each other nicely. Ad-aware is easier to use and more refined (not rough around the edges), making it ideal for regular scanning. Skybot has more general privacy (ie clearing histories and such) and does seem to cover more unusual things. Spybot has a much more detailed (although far from complete) database which is nice too.

I recomend the use of both.
 
I've used a combination of ZoneAlarm and Ad-Aware (I like both); thanks for the information about Spybot.

I recently bought a DSL router to compliment my software. If anyone has any further suggestions, I would appreciate it.

Best,

Steve
 
another good firewall is Kerio Personal Firewall.I have used it for six months and have found it to be one of the best free firewalls
 
Spyware programs - I run both Spybot and Ad-Adare. They seem to complement each other nicely.

Software firewalls - on different PC's, I run both Sygate Personal Firewall, and ZoneAlarm (only one software firewall per machine, above that, you're going to have issues) and on Linux, SmoothWall.

Hardware firewalls - I rely on the one that came with my router. That way, the computers don't have to worry about blatently obvious traffic that should be blocked.

Wireless - WEP enabled with 128 bit encryption, and the MAC addresses hardcoded to allow only those to hit the access point.

Antivirus - AVG Antivirus, have used Norton and McAfee before, but I'll go with this one for now.

Windows itself - If you run a network with mutliple computers you may not want to do this, but if you have one machine, turn off file and printer sharing, and also disable the messenger service.

Cleanup - and finally, when you're done with your files, I use SuperShredder from AnalogX. When you delete a file and empty your trash bin/recycle bin, it basically only deletes the headers of the file. The file itself is still there, and many free data recovery tools can get it back. SuperShredder writes useless data to the same location where your file was, and you can configure the number of passes and type of data written. You can even create a 'Send To' shortcut in Windows to bypass the recycle bin altogether.
 
Technopunk. Thanks for the spybot link. Found lots of bots on my system and cleaned them up.
WARNING! microsoft is sending bots in their windows update. After cleaning up my system automatic update added a new one!
 
Elfan said:
Thanks Kaith, I've been looking for a free virus scanner ever since my Norton subscription expired :D
What I found about Norton is even if your subscription expires.... You can simply uninstall the program, delete all the files that pertain to Norton and then install it again.. you are good to go for another year....

If that doesn't work, and I know at times I have been forced to do this is when you (or if you) have to reformat your computer you can reinstall it back on with a fresh 1 year subscription.
 
Cthulhu said:
The PC I'm building now is going to have Macafee's Internet Security, which has a firewall and Virusscan. Only reason why I'll be using it is because it came with my mobo/CPU package.
Cthulhu
I know about McAfee as well, as I have been using the McAfee Internet Securities 5 for over a year now and it seems to be doing just fine on alot of issues. (I beleive there are advantages to both Norton and McAfee and I haven't been able to determine really which one I like the best... But overall I believe that McAfee is not only a stable software, but performs excellent)
 
Technopunk said:
Our company (I work for an ISP) reccomends

SPYBOT SEARCH AND DESTROY for a spyware scanner. It looks deeper than the Lavasoft AdAware program, and will even clear all your program histories for you if you like.

http://security.kolla.de/

Hope that helps anyone who needs it!!!
I agree with this 100%. I have both installed - Spybot Search and Destroy and Lavasoft's Ad-Aware...
 
TonyM. said:
Technopunk. Thanks for the spybot link. Found lots of bots on my system and cleaned them up.
WARNING! microsoft is sending bots in their windows update. After cleaning up my system automatic update added a new one!
Most of the "bugs" that are found in Microsoft I have found to pertain to the Windows Media Player so that it can in essence "phone home".. No big deal there.
 
I have ZoneAlarm installed on my system, and when something wants 'out' I can make that decision. MS MediaPlayer seems to like asking alot.

I'm about to switch my main workstation over to Linux....a whole new world of headaches will be mine to discover.
:)
 
Software firewalls are a good step in the line, but they oftentimes hog a lot of system resources. IMO there's nothing better than a good hardware router/firewall at the home to not only get YOUR machines off of your ISP's network and into a privately assigned IP range (the 192.168.0.x, 169.254.x.x, and 10.x.x.x address ranges are designated to be private) and even the most basic hardware firewall will eliminate 99% of the crap you'll get.
Of course, if you're on dialup, then you cant use one :) But for anyone with broadband, its definitely an excellent and cheap first line of defense! (not to mention that its the cheapest way to get all of the machines you want going out through your one IP that's assigned by your ISP, you ask them how to get more computers on and they're going to want to charge you for extra IP addresses!)
 
I highly recommend this spyware/adware blocker software. It's FREE, and you don't even need to have the program running in order for it to be effective. You just update it, close the program, and it still protects your computer from spyware and adware.
It's called SpywareBlaster:
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
 
Here's another way to protect against those nasty viral infections... :D
 

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Elfan said:
I use both Spybot and Ad-aware and I feal they compliment each other nicely. Ad-aware is easier to use and more refined (not rough around the edges), making it ideal for regular scanning. Skybot has more general privacy (ie clearing histories and such) and does seem to cover more unusual things. Spybot has a much more detailed (although far from complete) database which is nice too.

I recomend the use of both.
I prefer SPYBOT as it picks up everything Ad-aware misses. On occasion, Ad-aware finds one or two more - but it is rare. I use both to be safe.

for anti-virus:
TrendMicro free scan. You'll need an internet connection.

For Pop-ups:
FreeSurfer MKII
HERE If you like it - support it!
 
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