Free or cheap Firewall for an ACER laptop?

Esqui

flashg67 wrote: »

BTW - you can reinstall Office if needed - either with the CD you purchase or re-downloading the files and entering your key code (presuming you've kept a note of it of course)

Or by signing into office.com with your Microsoft account (for Office 2013)

henm2

DCFC79 wrote: »

Been using Avast for ages and been fine with regards to viruses

I agree. If using windows Avast AV is fine backed up with occasional use of malwarebytes.
However as I mainly use Linux Mint 17 xfce as my op system viruses/trojans/browser hijacks etc are not an issue.

NiftyDigits

kobracai wrote: »

I didn’t have a firewall before, only Avast. I bought this laptop 2 months ago, Windows 8 firewall evidently doesn’t work much (unless it’s turned off? But I wouldn’t see why Currys would do it…)

The virus “symptoms” were not being able to connect to the Internet, the videos not playing the sound and PC being overall very slow and “not responding” notices all over the place. I ran an Avast scan and there was a virus. Decided to take it to a shop (Gigabyte Electronics Ltd. In Tottenham Court Road if you guys live in London) and got charged £70 to reboot it, losing all the programs and files, luckily programs were all free and I saved all the files in a USB (shop assistant said there were 4 viruses/malware). Thanks God I still hadn’t bought Office and it would have been an even bigger waste of money

Just for a rainy day, does anyone know a good Electronics shop at inexpensive prices?

I’ll get Avast and Malwarebytes this time too... just can’t figure out why a brand new laptop with Windows 8 in built firewall would be so subject to viruses? And I am very careful in general about I download

PS: Do you guys also know how to get a THREE broadband dongle to surf with a 02 sim card? Do I need to register the 02 profile in the dongle?

Thank you for your patience

Indeed, you could have saved yourself £70. How to refresh, reset or restore your PC

But perhaps you had no way to post here at the time.

Why would you want to use an O2 SIM when Three is better value anyway.
What is the model number of the Three USB modem? You'll need to unlock it.

wongataa

The built in Windows firewall is perfectly good and by default is turned on. If you didn't think it was working then you most likely don't understand what they do. They do not prevent malware infections.

NiftyDigits

wongataa wrote: »

The built in Windows firewall is perfectly good and by default is turned on. If you didn't think it was working then you most likely don't understand what they do. They do not prevent malware infections.

They mean Windows Defender, not the Firewall. You should have guessed that, once they suggested they they paid £70 to get the machine "re-booted".

kobracai

How do you do a factory restore? Especially given the PC is just stuck/unresponsive ?

Kernel_Sanders wrote: »

Surely you would have had the same result by doing a factory restore (for free)?

QUOTE]

Geep

Answering the OP as originally posted, there is a good article on firewalls at:
http://windowssecrets.com/langalist-plus/are-both-pc-and-router-firewalls-necessary/
In it, Fred Langa recommends the Sphinx Software tool, Firewall Control, at http://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/order.html and it is one I use. However, be aware that either this or a good equivalent such as Comodo will be somewhat more intrusive, requiring your intervention from time to time. In most circumstances, the inbuilt Windows firewall will be fine, as previously recommended.

NiftyDigits

kobracai wrote: »

How do you do a factory restore? Especially given the PC is just stuck/unresponsive ?

Kernel_Sanders wrote: »

Surely you would have had the same result by doing a factory restore (for free)?

QUOTE]

Depends on your machine(you haven't supplied any details), but perhaps Method 6

kobracai

I am not sure if they had it rebooted or what, they are always a bit cagey of what they do (dude was speaking with a heavy Indian accent and mumbling his words), plus I am not very techie savy. I’ll ask here beforehand from now on.

@NiftyDigits, Thanks for the restore link

Regarding the dongle, I bought a 02 prepaid sim off Ebay a while which was incredibly convenient (3gb at £10), just an offer. I had the dongle unlocked and the 02 sim was working fine on it before the virus

Do you guys have any advice on what to look out when downloading to be on the safe side please?

kobracai

@Nifty, details are in the OP. ACER Aspire E1-570 Laptop, Intel® Core™ i3-3217U processor, Windows 8