What antivirus and firewall programs do you use?

Category: Geeks r Us

Post 1 by Musical Ambition (I've got the gold prolific poster award, now is there a gold cup for me?) on Monday, 20-Feb-2006 23:04:54

Hi all. it's almost time for me to update my antivirus and firewall programs on my computer, but I'm thinking of maybe trying something besides Norton. So, I was just wondering what do you use? What programs have you used in the past but didn't like? Any thoughts and opinions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Post 2 by Liz (The Original) on Monday, 20-Feb-2006 23:16:55

I use Norton, and think it works well. I used Macafee (spelling?), and didn't like it as much.
Just my opinion.

Post 3 by blink183 (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Monday, 20-Feb-2006 23:28:40

I would stay away from Norton and McAfee. If you're willing to pay for anti-virus, Nod32 works very well and is very accessible. For firewall, a program like Sygate or Kerio will work very well. Your ISP may provide anti-virus, spyware and firewall software included with the service. If you set it to update automatically, automatically scan E-mail attachments, and perform weekly scans of your hard drive, you shouldn't need to be too concerned about how accessible the program actually is.

Post 4 by BB (move over school!) on Monday, 20-Feb-2006 23:48:02

I am a big Norton system works user. It has saved my ass a number of times with problems. I'll never go back to using their firewall or internet security those are too much a pain in the ass.

Post 5 by Big Pawed Bear (letting his paws be his guide.) on Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 1:03:21

i use norton internet security 2006. apart from one time when the update's didn't work and i had to reinstall, I've had no problems with the nis range, and it's been five years now I've been using them, right from nis2002. I like the straight out of the box protection this offers.

Post 6 by Twinklestar09 (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 8:55:20

I've used Norton, which worked pretty good. But now I'm using AVG (free edition), and I think the AVG is actually better. It caught 2 Trojans so far since I've installed it and has automatically gotten rid of them. *smiles* Although my Norton had also caught a Trojan, I wasn't sure what to do about it, as it gave me a choice on what to do. (I was paying attention to where it found it at, and so that's why I wasn't sure.) Anyways, so yeah, for being a free program, AVG is good. If I had to pay for that one, I wouldn't mind. For the Firewall, I'm using ZoneAlarm, which is also free. That one works pretty good as well, although I don't know how to change the settings if I ever needed to do that. My ISP also has those features: a firewall, antivirus, and I think something else, but those I haven't tried yet.

Post 7 by Musical Ambition (I've got the gold prolific poster award, now is there a gold cup for me?) on Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 16:14:41

I'm not sure if my ISP provides spyware protection, antivirus, and firewall, so how do I find this out? Do I have to call them? Or is there something on the computer I can go to and check. Also, I heard something about an antivirus called Avast. Anyone ever hear of this? I also heard that AVG wasn't very good. Tinkerbell, you say that you use it? How well do you like it?

Post 8 by rat (star trek rules!) on Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 16:39:25

I use Norton 2002, and have no problems. I heard that the 2005 version is not very good.

Post 9 by ArtRock1224 (move over school!) on Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 18:23:29

To the best of my knowledge you can't use old versions of Norton, like 2002; I've heard the program stops updating your definitions and asks you to upgrade to a new version. If it works, fine; but make sure automatic updates are downloading, elsewise you're worseoff than you were without one. Brice.

Post 10 by mdyer1983 (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 19:08:40

I have tried avast but it caused a lot of [problems on my system but I am still using avg free without any problems.

Post 11 by blink183 (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 19:53:01

Check the support website for your ISP's home page. Who is your internet provider? Comcast includes McAfee anti-virus, parental controls and firewall. They use the Comcast toolbar to block spyware. You can access it by going to www.comcast.net and clicking security. SBC uses a security suite which includes E-trust anti-virus and their spyware remover. You can download it by going to support.sbcglobal.net.

Post 12 by sparkie (the hilljack) on Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 20:45:04

Macafee isn't very good never caught a thing, I've used norton for about 5 years now and find it pretty accessible. I've also used AVG and like it as well. I've used psygate and windows firewalls. I currently just use windows firewall and norton2005.
Troy

Post 13 by Twinklestar09 (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2006 8:54:30

Gemini, I like it; to me, it's been working pretty well. When I had set it up, I put it to automatically scan my computer once a day , and it also updates itself automatically as well. As I mentioned, it caught and deleted tow Trojans that I don't think Norton could find, so I'm especially happy about that. *smiles* And as far as accessability, I feel it is pretty accessible.

Post 14 by rat (star trek rules!) on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2006 9:50:34

norton 2002 stills updates just fine. it hasn't prompted me 6upgrade to any other version yet.

Post 15 by Musical Ambition (I've got the gold prolific poster award, now is there a gold cup for me?) on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2006 18:57:14

Well, like I said before, I have Norton, and it it is now asking me to update. I also heard that Macafee wasn't very good at all. thank you for the web sites to check out. Where can I get more information on AVG?

Post 16 by mdyer1983 (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Wednesday, 22-Feb-2006 19:02:27

I think that is a shame that roadrunner has much in the way of security which is why I want to switch to something else, but i can only do that if I were living in my own place so I am stuck.. unless everyone switches which noone wants to do so thats that.

Post 17 by Twinklestar09 (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Thursday, 23-Feb-2006 8:17:17

The home-page for the company that created/makes AVG available is at www.grisoft.com

Post 18 by Polka dots and Moonbeams (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Thursday, 23-Feb-2006 8:24:34

Hmmm, we have a ton on here it seems, not sure of them all. Norton for sure, so far I quite like it. For the first time it is on my outlook express, and that rocks! It has caught a lot of spam. We also have webroot, I rate this as excellent, but a bit of a pain with the screen readers. Now, I believe we also have windows firewall and micro soft anti spam. So far so good one it all! No pop ups and no viruses. May I just add, what a frickin' annoyance that we have to do all this! Our computer was infected last spring. Lol, now we're super protected! BTW, I think roadrunner does have some security software, but as far as I know, you can only have their software on. I don't think you can have their stuff and norton. Not sure on that.

Post 19 by rat (star trek rules!) on Thursday, 23-Feb-2006 8:29:04

that is true, you can have as may spyware catchers as you want, but only one anti-virus program. if you have more that one, they will attack each other. not pretty.

Post 20 by Musical Ambition (I've got the gold prolific poster award, now is there a gold cup for me?) on Thursday, 23-Feb-2006 18:55:53

Well, I will say that with the norton, I haven't had viruses or any pop ups. I was just thinking of maybe trying something new. Like someone said, she used AVG, and it caught two things that Norton didn't, so... I'm also interested in spyware stuff. I'm thinking of maybe using Rhapsody to download music, but if I do, I want to have something so that my computer is well protected from viruses and people trying to get ahold of personal information.

Post 21 by mdyer1983 (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Thursday, 23-Feb-2006 19:12:49

I guess if there is something that roadrunner has I don't know it exhists. it must be on the server side of things.

Post 22 by wonderwoman (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Thursday, 23-Feb-2006 20:06:19

I use avg antivirus. norton takes up too much system resources, and I don't like the idea of having to pay a yearly subscription to keep the antivirus updated. I like avg pretty well so far, can't even tell it's on here unless it's time to update. then I hear the popping sound when the computer boots, and avg telling me it's out of date, then I go and download the update. Be sure to type
www.free.grisoft.com
I think it won't take you to the free one if you don't do that. I'm using windows xp firewall.
wonderwoman

Post 23 by Musical Ambition (I've got the gold prolific poster award, now is there a gold cup for me?) on Friday, 24-Feb-2006 18:59:26

Hahaha, I feel kind of dumb. I'm not very computer savvy, so... Um, I had heard that Windows XP has a firewall. I have Windows XP, so, how do I look at the firewall thing? Where do I go to check it out?

Post 24 by mdyer1983 (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Friday, 24-Feb-2006 19:13:41

if you want to look for it you can go to the control panel.

Post 25 by south park fan (the Zone BBS remains forever my home page) on Wednesday, 01-Mar-2006 22:53:54

I use McAfee anti-virus. It was included with my ISP so I don't have to pay a subscription fee. I don't think people should have to pay any subscription fees for anti-virus programs.

Post 26 by mdyer1983 (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Thursday, 02-Mar-2006 22:17:50

I do agree with that. My macaffie came with my computer when I got it and i would have been g,ad to keep it but it would have made me pay for it so I stuck wityh AVG free and like I said I am trying out a new beta of the microsoft anti spie ware and virus protection and it is pretty good so far.