# firewalls and anti-virus



## deuce (May 26, 2001)

Ok....I know we've had these discussions before, but I need to ask.

Currently I'm using BlackICE as my firewall protection. I'm going to be doing a clean install of XP Pro probably later today, and I'm wondering if there are any free solutions out there that are better. BlackICE has worked great, except recently it's been flaking out. I don't mind using it again, but I just thought I'd ask around.


Also, I'm wondering what opinions you guys have on freeware anti-virus programs. PC-cillin came with my motherboard software, so I plan on using that unless there is something better out on the freeware market.


Thanks!


----------



## starman2002 (Jul 11, 2003)

Avast is a good free anti-virus scanner.Sygate is a very good free firewall.Etrust and Panda have an av with a firewall free for a year.Both are good. http://www.avast.com/
http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf/spf_ov.htm
http://www.pandasecurity.com/surveymonkey/thankyou.html
http://www.my-etrust.com/microsoft/index.cfm?


----------



## deuce (May 26, 2001)

Thanks. I think I'll look into that Etrust fw/av and use it for the next year. Will that be better than the BlackICE/PC-cillin combination that I'm using now? Or does it not really matter?


----------



## roban (Jul 9, 2002)

I would go with Sygate and Avast. I use Avast and before I switched to a router, Sygate was my firewall of choice. never had a problem with either of them.


----------



## deuce (May 26, 2001)

Thanks. After looking at them, I like that Sygate. I think I'll go with the Sygate and probably the Avast too.


----------



## roban (Jul 9, 2002)

If you're like alot of us, you'll probably try a few before coming to rest. Then when something new comes along you'll probably try that too. It's an illness, but harmless.


----------



## newkidtopc (Jul 24, 2002)

Hey deuce,
I am currently using AVG Free Version + ZoneAlarm on my 98SE and AVG + Sygate on WINXP.
I have been using these for last 6-7 months and had absolutely no problem.
I prefer ZA to Sygate as it is very easy to configure.With Sygate it took me some time to configure it according to my needs.
I think AVG is amongst the top products when it comes to free virus scanner.It has kept my system clean.Just a little problem with their automatic updating.It is not working for me for some 4-5 days.

Just my two cents worth 

Cheers


----------



## Schnitzu (Jun 5, 2003)

I might as well add my two cents worth here.

I have been using the free versions of Zone Alarm personal firewall, and Grisoft's AVG anti-virus for quite a while now. I think both of these are quality products. They both consistently get good ratings in the press. They both run unobtrusively on my machine, quietly doing there thing. I have no problem recommending both of these products.


----------



## deuce (May 26, 2001)

Anybody have any arguments between AVG and Sygate?


----------



## deuce (May 26, 2001)

Actually, I'm retarded.  I think I was thinking AVG was a firewall, and I was looking for opinions differentiating those two. Nevermind then. 

Geez....and that was only at 7:00....


----------



## OldLadyWho (Sep 9, 2002)

Hi folks, I was browsing through the forum this morning and spotted this topic. Thought I'd comment because it just so happens that early last week my Grisoft AVG turned quirky. I've use AVG for at least 4 years now (scratching head and squinting eyes in effort to remember exactly how long)...maybe 5 years....and have recommended it to tons of other folks. It's still on my other two computers too...I've never before had a minute's problem with AVG.

But it just did some strange things one day last week, and I thought it might have been caused by a virus (and, yes, I update faithfully), but none was found after checking in with Trend's Housecall online virus checker. 

I fussed with it quite a bit and decided to just uninstall and reinstall, and then decided to just try something new instead, so I installed the Avast! AV. 

I kind of like it so far. No problems that I can tell. I even registered it today. We'll see how it goes.

Oddly enough I had the same thing happen to ZA after I did the last upgrade to it. It just never worked right after that. So, I went to Sygate and really like it. 

Anyway, just wanted to stop in and add my 2 sense (which now renders me senseless  )

Have a great day, Folks!! OLW


----------



## deuce (May 26, 2001)

Thanks for the warning. Right now I'm going with Sygate for sure, and don't know about the av. But in fact, I'll be installing Sygate in about two minutes.


----------



## deuce (May 26, 2001)

Ok......went with Avast and Sytgate, and have them both instlalled. Thanks for the help.


----------



## starman2002 (Jul 11, 2003)

Good choices.


----------



## cavemanmac (Mar 30, 2004)

I have used Panda on my desktop for 3 years and am completely satisfied with it. On my laptop I use Avast and Zone Alarm. Panda and Avast both update daily from the internet without my having to do anything. 

Currently my ISP uses Postini to protect my e-mail from Spam and viruses, it works well.


----------



## eoJeoJ (Dec 19, 2003)

I use Zone Alarm on my primary computer and I really like it...catches any program that tries to access the internet and asks for its permission. Hasn't caused any conflicts with any other software, although it has crashed a couple of times in my...almost 2 years of use, which isn't bad hahaah...

I use AVG on my laptop which doesn't get used too often...so I can't really say too much about it...except it doesn't use a lot of system resources which is always a plus


----------



## jennifer_g (Apr 22, 2004)

I had been using AVG anitvirus but uninstalled and went with eTrust instead. AVG started acting up on me and didn't want to update. When I ran to eTrust it came up with two trojans that AVG did not find. I also use to eTrust Firewall Lite. Both seem to be working well. :up:


----------



## snooker (Sep 22, 2002)

Hi ... I have both zone alarm pro and sygate pro .... I would go with sygate pro much better program... And for anti virus i like the one microsoft is promoting E-Trust


----------



## jonasdatum (Jul 15, 2000)

deuce said:


> Ok....I know we've had these discussions before, but I need to ask.
> 
> Currently I'm using BlackICE as my firewall protection. I'm going to be doing a clean install of XP Pro probably later today, and I'm wondering if there are any free solutions out there that are better. BlackICE has worked great, except recently it's been flaking out. I don't mind using it again, but I just thought I'd ask around.
> 
> ...


Hello.

Well, I've tried a few firewalls and wound up using two firewalls. One is built into my antivirus program. The most current version of the consumer version of Trend Mirco's [ www.trendmicro.com ] is Trend Micro Internet Security. This program has detected a port virus entry attempt on my system more than once. It actually had enough sense to disable network traffice!

My only complaint [and keep in mind that this is the third incarnation of Trend Micro I am using] is that sometimes the firewall works "too well." In this version, the program actually prohitbits me from using my home LAN unless I lower the security settings. In the previous version PC-Chillin, I couldn't GameSpy Arcade when I had the firewall on @ all.

Hence why I brought a second firewall only program called Armor2net [ http://www.armor2net.com/ ]. It works well enough and with it's "hide computer" ability www.dslreports.com 's advance scan couldn't find my system well enough to conduct the test. And with the basic port scan, my system was ranked with a "healthy setup."


----------



## OldLadyWho (Sep 9, 2002)

It's funny, in almost 5 years I've only had a couple of problems with AVG, which is a pretty good record. But, a couple of months ago I took it off one of my computers and installed Avast. Avast wasn't awful, but I had a few issues with it. It saw viruses everywhere, whether they were actually viruses or not (they weren't, they were assorted virus & worm removal tools that I keep on hand for friends that get infected computers and can't get online). I had to constantly "tell" Avast to stay out of that darned folder before running the program. It got a little old. Avast seemed horribly slow too.

I need AVs that don't over do their jobs (like Nortons...arghhh). I like programs that only do one thing without a lot of unnecessary bells and whistles, and that don't interfere with my other software. 

The thing is, I think of security as a team effort, and as the "leader" of the team I figure it's my responsibility to never leave AVG (or any other software) to handle the entire security load alone. 

And as far as a firewall, I absolutely love Sygate, and highly recommend it. I changed to Sygate from ZoneAlarm about a year ago and never looked back. I've had the nicest experiences with Sygate as a company too. As a result I've actually learned about the program. Firewalls are becoming less mysterious to me now and more interesting to use. 

It may have just been "time & circumstance", so I would not disparage ZoneAlarm for that one point in time when I needed help from them and did not get it. But, they lost at least one customer (me).

In the end I don't think it matters so much what sort of AV or firewall folks use, as long as they use SOMETHING and keep it all updated (and run it). 

No software is perfect though, no matter how updated it is, so it's good to always keep in mind the importance of the human team member.


----------



## Wyndia (Mar 22, 2004)

For Avast, does it only quarrintine viruses and not delete them? I use PC-cillin because it came with my EPoX mobo (but I think the trial ends after 3 months...).

I only ask because my friend downloaded it and tried it out. (Note: he isn't the smartest kid in the world. He's lazy so he might not have played around with it.)


----------



## OldLadyWho (Sep 9, 2002)

Hello Wyndia,

You're right, if Avast finds what it perceives to be a contaminated file, it will quarantine that file to a safe place for you to delete if you choose to. I believe AVG does the same. But, finding a single virus file that hasn't been activated yet is different from finding an active virus infection on the computer. I honestly don't know how Avast handles that situation, but I would guess the same way. 

The only thing I liked about Avast was the nice way it automatically updated itself. The main things I disliked was that it wouldn't seem to retain settings. I could find no way to set it to run a scan automatically. It may have had the option somewhere, I just never found it. And if I set it to scan my computer before I went to bed at night, if it found a file it thought was a virus, it would stop dead in its tracks and wait for instructions of what to do with that one file. 

So, IF I forgot to set it to ignore my security folder each time before setting it to scan, it would get to that point and never get any further until I woke up the next morning and corrected my mistake. It saw all of my antivirus cleanup tools as the enemy. It was frustrating and annoying.

Avast does have a cute little stand alone virus scanner that works pretty nicely, if someone already has an infection. 

I've put AVG back on my computer and taken Avast off. I know AVG isn't perfect, but I believe if a person keeps it updated, doesn't open suspicious e-mail attachments, keeps Windows updated, and installs a good firewall, AVG can do a pretty good job. I just wouldn't trust it to do the whole job alone.

Personally I don't think I'd recommend Avast to anyone yet.


----------



## jonasdatum (Jul 15, 2000)

Hello.

I was reading over this thread, and remembered that I actually have an old account with http://www.ca.com/. Anybody here remember "InoculateIT Personal Edition?" It work, it was easy to use, and it was 100% free. Might just try CA's new toys. Might cost me money this time around, but from what some of you say, it will be worth the cash.

Thanks for reminding me about a good product.


----------

