[sean1604]

so my norton subscription is running out in a little while, and i wanna get some good advice on where i should go for my internet secruity when it does, freeware, cost whatever just bounce some ideas off me please thanks guys

sean1604

[ferrija1]

Avast and AVG both make good free antivirus apps. For spyware, use Spybot S&D or Ad-Aware SE.

[wk2000]

For firewall, Zonealarm has a free one which is quite good.

[ferrija1]

If you have a router you don't need a firewall.

[Nanie]

As a side note I recommend also getting Go Back on your drive. It's quite useful. Just in case something DOES happen, that can undo it.

[sean1604]

well i do have a router, but why wouldn't i need a firewall? i have Super AS and AD-Aware 2007 aswell as norton 2007 for another 30 odd days

[ferrija1]

Your router is essentially a hardware firewall, it blocks certain ports that software firewalls block too. Also, malicious programs can disable software firewalls.

[wk2000]

Firewalls are more advanced than routers, in that they can provide stateful packet inspection. This means that it keeps the state of a connection: if you connect out to Google, then it will allow corresponding traffic from Google back in. But if you didnt go to Google, it will not allow traffic from Google to come in. A PC based software firewall usually also has outbound protection; usually preset to let things like Internet Explorer send traffic out. But a piece of malware will be prevented from sending things home. A good firewall will also prevent malformed packets from getting through, not respond to most icmp messages and can protect against a whole bunch of direct attacks. Some firewalls also have some intrusion prevention blocking additional exploits. A router will not do the above.

It is true that malware now targets security software and attempt to neutralize firewalls and antivirus applications. But that does not negate what firewalls can provide.

[ferrija1]

Routers are dumb and almost all by default block certain ports used by malicious programs. There is very little use for having a program monitor outbound traffic unless you want to see if something is phoning home.

The best protection is being smart. Don't use P2P services, know where you're downloading things from, don't go to suspicious sites, etc. If you have a router and Windows built-in firewall on, you're fine and you won't get 40 pop-ups an hour.

[Gizzy]

for an A/V I use avira Anti-vir PE Premium their detection rates are quite high they offer a free version aswell. and for a firewall online armor 2 (free) is a great firewall which comes with hips and it doesn't have that many pop ups.

[despuesvengo]

antivirus avast.....and it might sound odd but I still use sygate version 5.5. version 2710.

No headaches.

[sean1604]

i think im gonna go for zone alarm for my firewall and avg for my anti-virus, and i also have super anti-spyware and ad-aware running in the background even though i dont think they're doing much unless i actually think i have a problem and scan.
Is this sounding good?
Gonna uninstall norton 2008 (could use some help for this as i know it can be tricky) when i get some feedback

[stantley]

Sounds good. Also add Spybot S & D (use the Immunize and Hosts functions) and SpywareBlaster.

When you make the changeover download the install programs then disconnect from the internet, uninstall Norton, install ZoneAlarm and AVG before you reconnect, then update AVG.

[sean1604]

ok will do, and i'm dl'ing spybot search and destroy atm, can you descibe how to use those functions

[stantley]

For Immunize click on the Immunize shield on the left side, then on that screen click on the green plus sign that says Immunize.

For the other first go to Mode and click on Advanced Mode, go to Tools screen, put a check in all the boxes, click on Hosts File then click 'Add Spybot S&D hosts list'.

While you are in the Tools section check out ActiveX and BHO's, two places often used by spyware. It will give description of each one and point out any bad ones.

Also remember all of those anti-spyware programs have to be updated manually so periodically check for updates.