Which Internet Security Suite?

mikewebs

Hi There

My Norton anti-virus subscription is up soon and I was thinking of getting a new security suite (also to replace Zone Alarm). Which suite is the least system memory hungry and yet as efficient as norton and zone alarm?

Any help you techies could offer me would be greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance.

albertross_2

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,124475,00.asp

If you want a freebie, avast or avg, and freebie zonealarm, or windows sp2 firewall does the basic stuff. Or Kerio or sygate if you can still get them.

For anti-spyware, I use microsoft anti-spyware and lavasoft ad-aware, some people swear by search & destroy, but I find that a bit bloated.

Also check the which security sticky thread for other options..

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=36497

and

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=133269

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=78360

http://safety.live.com/site/en-US/default.htm

If you have broadband, and are still using a usb modem, then a router will give you pretty solid protection against inbound intrusion attempts. They can be configured against outbound connections as well, but this isn't as easy as using a software firewall. a combination of hardware and software is the best option if you can afford it.

buglawton

At home I use AVG (free) from https://www.grisoft.com but in the office McAfee's product seems to have a tight grip on Spyware/Adware as well as Viruses. If you are non techie maybe seek out McAfee complete package as you won't have to grapple with spyware etc.

cloud_dog

Currently run:

* Avast (free)
* AVG (Free)
* Kerio Personal Firewall (free)
* SpyWareGuard (free)

Also run periodically:

* Spbot Search and Destroy (free)
* Ad-Aware (free)

Having written all this down I seem to be a bit paranoid. Perhaps that is a subject for a different thread, i.e. what do you run and is it tooooo much.

cloud_dog

albertross_2

Cloud_dog,

Do you run avast and avg resident scanners at the same time? Does it hurt the PC performance?

cloud_dog

albertross wrote:

Cloud_dog,

Do you run avast and avg resident scanners at the same time? Does it hurt the PC performance?

I do. does it hurt performance..............I suppose so but not that it degrades performance particularly.

to be honest thats why I added the bit at the end of my post. I started off with AVG when I had dial-up and only really used the PC for a bit of browsing and e-mails (great product, never had a problem with it). As I became more aware of potential issues I evaluated suggested products and kept the ones that added value.

I think the reason I've kept both AVG and Avast is that there was a review done a while ago regarding how competant anti-virus apps were and AVG and Avast came out well, although the author noted that Avast picked up on some viruses / malware that AVG did not. As I said, always been happy with AVG so I sorta kept it.

I have slimmed down the resident scanners of Avast to 'blend' in with my other software but yes they do pretty much do the same job.

To be hones I would still value peoples opinions on what could be got rid of though.

cloud_dog

Apologies to the OP if I've hi-jacked/skewed the thread.

albertross_2

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/chart_comparison.asp?aid=124475&prodid=27561&prodid=27567#

According to this test, avg is faster, but doesn't detect quite as much..

tigermatt

Use AVG Free for Anti-virus, free zone alarm for firewall (Windows Firewall isn't very good) Spybot - Search and Destroy, Microsoft Anti-Spyware and Ad-Aware SE Personal for anti-spyware /anti-adware.

This is my setup and I have never noticed a performance problem.

cwoodham

Antivirus- I ditched Norton Antivirus last night as the subscription was almost due and I've read so much about it on this forum. I'm using AVG Free now as I've used it in the past and found it excellent.
Firewall - ZoneAlarm
Antispyware - Spybot Search and Destroy, AdAware and a-squared.