Computer Security

[PLC1966]

As a PC biff, help........

I am about to take up a Broadband Service which says it provides a free Firewall, Anti-Spy Software, Anti Virus etc. On the PC I currently have some free software doing the same, the McAfee I had used before has run out but did the same and of course there is the MSN security software I can download from the net anyway.

What do I use and what do I bin ?

And when I work out what to do, do I try and remove all elements of the other programmes ?

 

[gray]

I imagine the setup disk will have the programs on there, but it will be up to you if you want to install them. I wouldn't have thought they'd install by default.
Which ISP is it going to be, so possibly someone who uses them can advise of their own experience ?

What do you use now, and what do they offer. I use free Zonealarm as firewall, and Avast as virus checker.

Gray

 

[Comms_Lad]

What free software are you running?
What security software is included off of your ISP?
If it says Norton dont bother.

 

[monobrow]

If it says Norton dont bother.

I'll second that remark! It's a resource hog.

Free software is the way forward, like AVG or Avast! for virus scanning, and ZoneAlarm is probably the best free firewall out there.

 

[Comms_Lad]

SpyBot Search and Destroy and AdAware are good as well

And I apologise for this but im going to endorse a microscum product

Windows defender backs everything up nicely.
So my system is
FreeAVG
SpyBot S+D
AdAware
Windows defender
Windows Firewall
Not letting my brother in law on the network (his vista laptop has just crashed beyond all recognition due to virus)

FreeRamXP Pro - If you have had a load of programs running, run this after and it will kill off anything that is left over from those programs that is sat in the Ram, can usually free up an extra 100MB.

4 Top tips for a virus/spyware free system

1. Dont use Norton
2. If AOL is your ISP dont use their software to set up your connection do it manually.
3. Dont get Vista just yet like XP when it came out it came out to a marketing deadline not a programmers deadline so there are still lots of problems with it.
4. Keep all anti virus/anti spyware programs up to date and run checks with them on a regular basis at a minimum once a week.

 

[shettie]

www.avast.com - free anti-virus - very good been using it for a few years now - covers Internet access, email, peer to peer file sharing, files on your PC and some other bits - updates automatically if you set it up to do that (Win XP security service will let you know if it's out of date.)

www.lavasoft.com - free personal anti-spam - ditto - you have to run this manually - but it updates the latest definitions on a regular basis

I use the firewall built into my ADSL router and the windows XP firewall and (touches the formica worktop...) that seems to do the trick

 

[prop135]

Here is some other good stuff. I saw a test review of this stuff recently and it is supposed to be the muts nuts.

http://www.comodo.com/products/free_products.html

 

[The Masked Geek]

1. Dont use Norton

Been using Norton on the wife's laptop for the last 4 years. It may be a resource hog but it's a solid "fire and forget" piece of sec software. My machine has McAffee on it.

 

[Roobsta]

Anti virus

Anti virus

I use AVG + Firewall. It's very user friendly - updates itself when you log on and have no problems in 18months. It's also part/majority owned by Microsoft so it knows where all the holes are.

 

[ForgottenName]

As a PC biff, help........

I am about to take up a Broadband Service which says it provides a free Firewall, Anti-Spy Software, Anti Virus etc. On the PC I currently have some free software doing the same, the McAfee I had used before has run out but did the same and of course there is the MSN security software I can download from the net anyway.

What do I use and what do I bin ?

And when I work out what to do, do I try and remove all elements of the other programmes ?

If you are taking up BT Broadband one of the options is to have free firewall, antivirus, etc. I have had no problems with their integral service.