Free anti virus?

[emsley]

My kaspersky xpired, and AVG bombs out on the update what others could I try?

is avast a good one?

[VT-Vincent]

I've been running MS Security Essentials on all of my computers for the last year or so. It hasn't nagged me much and doesn't seem to cause any noticeable performance hit. Both fortunately and unfortunately I haven't had a virus in years so I really can't speak to it's effectiveness.

[emsley]

I've been running MS Security Essentials on all of my computers for the last year or so. It hasn't nagged me much and doesn't seem to cause any noticeable performance hit. Both fortunately and unfortunately I haven't had a virus in years so I really can't speak to it's effectiveness.

 

i got avast seems ok for now - it already found a virus as i have been with out protection (haha) for a week now.#

Now I need a firewall.

[ken_cinder]

Avast, I won't use anything else. AVG won't let you do selective scanning (On certain files or folders) or IGNORE something I know isn't a fucking virus, I stopped using it for that reason.

 

Symantec could make their shit free and I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole, and Microsoft puts out bloatware.

[Hard Core Rikki]

Get AVG out of your system within the briefest delays. Just recently, it wrecked a ton of systems with its very poor QA, requiring full system reinstalling.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/02/av..._immune_update/

 

You'll find Avast 5 to be a superior allaround protection whereas AVG lacks a number of protections.

 

 

Now I need a firewall.

Comodo jumped the shark and can be overwhelming (especially if youre foolish enough to install the whole suite rather than just the firewall or fw+hips), so I'll recommend Online Armor.

 

The free offering should do. The next paid tier offers some nice extra convenience.

http://www.online-armor.com/products-online-armor-free.php

Edited December 14, 2010 by Hard Core Rikki

[emsley]

I went with avast plus it sounds like a pirate would use it so it was the obvious choice.

[ken_cinder]

Firewalls for home users are like carrying pepper spray in the middle of the arctic...never used one, never will.

[solidius23]

Firewalls for home users are like carrying pepper spray in the middle of the arctic...never used one, never will.

I haven't used a firewall in like 5yrs like cinder said for home user's there is really no point in it.

[emsley]

Firewalls for home users are like carrying pepper spray in the middle of the arctic...never used one, never will.

I haven't used a firewall in like 5yrs like cinder said for home user's there is really no point in it.

 

What if someone sneaks a trojan on your pc and your firewall blocks its access after discovering your bank details?

[ken_cinder]

Firewalls for home users are like carrying pepper spray in the middle of the arctic...never used one, never will.

I haven't used a firewall in like 5yrs like cinder said for home user's there is really no point in it.

 

What if someone sneaks a trojan on your pc and your firewall blocks its access after discovering your bank details?

 

A firewall isn't going to save you from a trojan that is already present on your system, very easy for the trojan (and common I might add) to use a generally accepted port for it's outgoing communications that a firewall wouldn't notice or think much of.

 

Besides...isn't that your ANTIVIRUS' job in the first place?

 

Firewall's are to keep malicious attackers OUT, I don't know of any REAL hacker that would have a use in breaking into my stuff. Besides, good luck jumping through all the hoops in my network and spoofing your MAC address at least 2 different times in the process to even make it to my machines.

 

Edit: I DO use the firewall on my end point router, but only to block specific addresses from being reached from WITHIN my network TO the internet. Simple IPTABLE rules to drop packets to/from a destination, and nothing else.

Software firewalls on Windows that block everything unless otherwise permitted are nothing but resource hogging piles of steaming dogshit.

[emsley]

I get hacked by aliens all the time!