Computer Protection?

What is the best security software to protect my computer for in 2008?

I felt overwhelmed when I went to the store; they had Norton, MacAfee, Web root, Kysper, 5 In 1, and like 5 other ones. Which one is the best?

Norton is a beast i hate....it uses too much system resources, and when i used it, was rarely able to get things out.

Personally, i like AVG
www.free.grisoft.com
Its antivirus is free, the only thing you pay for is the whole kit with firewalls and whatnow. free version works great

Avast or AVG for your anti-virus
Comodo Firewall Pro for a firewall
Spybot works wonderfully for anti-spyware, there's also AVG Anti-Spyware and Windows Defender.
Firefox if you like to customize your browser, or Opera for your web browser.
CCleaner for general cleanup.
JKDefrag for a freeware defrag utility.

The new Norton 360 2008 uses minimal system resources and I highly recommend the newest version.

Ccleaner is the best freeware program I have ever used, I have been a fan since it's creation. ===(FREE)===

Ad-Aware is a excellent anti-spyware program, which rivals Spyware Doctor. Both of which are a excellent choice.

Trojon Hunter has blocked 3 critical virus attacks.

Always use Mozilla, it is basically a must. ===(FREE)===

HijackThis and Security Task Manager show what is running in the back ground of your computer. Keep in mind most computer diagnostic companies require a HijackThis Log, to solve problems. ===(FREE)===

Windows Defender runs a fast complete computer scan, and is VERY small background process.

Helpful reminders, always Defrag and Clean your drives every... 2 weeks.





Btw Tarun I love your selection in computer software.

The home edition of Norton has lowered it's profile by quite a bit but Kaspersky and NOD32 are probably the top tier in terms of protection. Kaspersky takes up slightly more resources and makes your computer a bit less responsive when compared to Eset's NOD32 but most people consider it the top tier candidate for protection at the current moment.

For a free firewall, Comodo is definitely a good choice as well as Online Armor. Both are free or have free versions. For paid software, try Outpost Firewall Pro but the latest version seemingly has some bugs yet to be worked out. However, all of these firewalls take a bit to setup properly as a result of the increased security.

If you are looking into an all-in-one security suite package, check out either Kaspersky or NOD32. Kaspersky is easier to find in stores and from time to time, have rebates available for it.

Kaspersky is a very effective, it totally slipped my mind. It's kinda expensive, but if that's what is costs for peace of mind, then so be it.

I use AVG they in fact had a promo about a month back to get there Pro version free!!!

pink

I've always liked Norton Antivirus, it gives me the control I want and has stopped all viruses, but the new 360 took all that away, so I don't recommend it if you like to customize your settings. Also, it's a Vista killer imo, very unstable following any Windows or Norton update.

I always recommend AVG if your looking for a freebie.

Agree on the AdAware, might be overkill, but I use in conjunction with Spybot.

For firewall, ZoneAlarm Personal has never let me down. Also easy to customize.

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned 'Defraggler' for the degragging software though. It's from the same people who brought us CCleaner and is also free. It differs from the standard windows defragging tool in that it allows you to choose seperate files to defrag, along with the ability to do the entire volume of course.

I use AVG Antivirus and Comodo Firewall because they're free. If I had money, I'd buy NOD32 or Kaspersky.

Also Windows Update, common sense, and a router. These aren't security software, but they offer a good amount of protection by themselves.

I actually am starting to like AVG now. Hehe I used to use norton but times change.

I am currently using Norton Internet SEcurity 2008, and as other people have pointed out Norton has really reduced the amount of resources the program gobbles up. Unless you are not proficient with backing up and tweaking your computer I would not really bother with 360, it just seems like overkill to me. My parents use it though and it seems just fine if that is what you need.

I can also recommend crap cleaner, great little tool to get rid of all the muck which accumulates after a little while.

For defragging I use O&O defrag 10 Pro, works like a charm, very easy to use and has a lot of functionality.

I do not have a dedicated spyware removal program, I have not had any problems with any getting through Norton, but I can really recommend using the Adblocker add-on for Firefox, very good tool.

I have SOPHOS for anti virus, use SpyBot S&D for routine spyware scans, and I use AVGas for deeper spyware scans (about once a month or so, maybe more depending on what I have been doing online, is more thorough than SpyBot, but takes longer for a scan)

Have used WebRoot before, it is a pretty good anti-spy....but SpyBot and AVG are prolly as good or better and are free. I am lucky and SOPHOS is available to me as a perk of my job.

Spybot for occasional checks and immunization
Kaspersky
Windows-Firewall

AND, the most important thing:

Hardware-Router

I use a lot, but not regularly
I use adaware, spybot s&d, windows defender (set to do a full scan daily), McAfee security suite and i have Hijackthis for when stuff goes wrong. I also have windows firewall running.
I would recommend McAfee, it's really easy, and it asks to block registry changes, for it thinks it might be a threat. Unless you're expecting to be the target of a professional hacker, McAfee will do.

I use NOD32, Adaware, Spybot, Zone Alarm (antivirus and spyware)
They work well with my system. Have NOD32 running scan everyday.

I don't like to rely on suites for complete protection because antivirus programs are great one month and horrible the next. I have had great success with a lot of the programs listed below, however, as a general rule, I stay away from both McAfee and Norton for technical reasons.

Norton has a habit of embedding itself very deeply in your system. Although you can argue that this is good, this is not so good when Norton either fails or needs to be removed (during an upgrade). Then you run into a familiar problem where you are either unable to remove Norton Security or there are a million callouts in your registry for Norton after a full removal. There is a download from Norton that supposedly cleans uninstalls up, however, imho the download doesn't work as promised.

McAfee is what we run here at the office and I know it to be an absolute system hog and prone to failing at random times. It does a great job of detecting viruses and is a great live-scanner program, however, most of us don't run active scans during usage hours, so I opt out of McAfee. They are much like Norton when it come to removal and installation. My experience is that McAfee, when reinstalled, often detects that old version and either refuses to install (causing me to go into the registry and rip out callouts) or doesn't allow itself to update correctly.

I've run into problems with Kasperski detecting ATI Catalyst as a virus and also detecting Ultra VNC Video hooks as viruses, which began crashing the system.

AVG is okay, however, their defs are almost always released well after their competitors (free version that is, because their paid version is much better), which doesn't give you the kind of protection I would think you would want.

Avast is a great free antivirus program... and if you can get over the annoying popups that come letting you know that you have a new def waiting, then it is a good means to some virus protection. The drawback is that this is not a suite and you will have to manage a couple more programs.

Some tips and suggestions I would give to you would be the following, and you can take them or leave them as you see fit...

Only use one virus protection program. Many people believe that if they have two they are double-protected... however, because of the intrusive nature of antivirus programs, there is often system instability and shared resources that cause the two programs to either cancel each other out, causing crashes or lockups, or they just refuse to work and disallow any form of removal. Stick to one program to manage antivirus... it is a safe way of covering yourself some headaches.

Stick to Spybot Search and Destroy, not because it is a great anti-spyware program (it is), but because there is a nice set of tools hidden in the advanced menu of the program that allow you to manage BHO (Browser Helper Objects), Active X Controls (a potential security area if the controls are given to an unknown or malicious program), system startups checks (for inconsistencies in your registry like broken dll callouts and broken pathnames that cause your system to waste resources and seek times that loop to nowhere), and a few other nice ones that I don't really feel like going into right now. Also, Spybot allows you to lock down the security in IE so programs and unauthorized users, cannot change setting in IE without knowing how to unlock them. IE is normally the first thing compromised on your system when crap hits the fan.

Ad-Aware is a known utility that is great at detecting and removing adware.

ATF Cleaner is a utility that cleans out your temp folders (including Java ones). It works under Vista or XP, and supports IE, Firefox, and Opera (if you use Opera you are a rebel!!! lol). Why do I care about cleaning out my temp folders.... because that is where most malicious programs hide or embed themselves (I said most, there are a fair number that infect your Windows\system32 folder or your system restore folder).

Anyway, I go with Comodo Firewall because I hate the interface of ZoneAlarm. I also hate the pop ups from ZoneAlarm. ZoneAlarm is great when a system is extremely infected and you want to laugh at all the internet addresses that your computer is trying to talk to.

Lastly, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to post again. There are a few people in this forum that know what they are talking about and I could name them to you.

I have Tesco Antivirus & Antispyware, and you may laugh but it actually is the best antivirus program i have ever used. It uses TruPrevent which gives your computer double protection and in the 2 years i have had it have not had a single problem with virus's.

By far the best protective measures you can implement are things like avoiding spam sites, phishers, and downloading from shady sources.

You should have any and all important data backed up on various forms of media. If you do so, not only are your chances of getting malware considerably lower..you can also very easily recover from any major virus. Its considerably cheaper, and poses less hassles than paying out the ass for bloated software that often doesn't do its job.

In other words Spybot for spyware. AVG for virus and CCleaner for clean up.


I use those and they work pretty damn well together.