When i purchased my new computer a year ago i also bought a years worth of Norton 360. I,ve decided not to re-new this and i,m looking to replace it with something that,s free to download. Can anyone reccomend a security programme ?
Thanks in anticipation.
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Here's where everyone pitches in with THEIR set-up, which is of course, the greatest thing since sliced bread!
We have two laptops, one is a 32 bit system running XP Home, the other is a 64 bit system using Windows7.
Both are very happy with the totally FREE, COMODO Internet Security, a very fully featured program which incorporates a fi wall, an anti-virus, a sandbox, a buffer overflow protector and an application control module - Defence Plus (An HIPS element as it is otherwise known)
There is a bit of consumer input in answering pop-ups from DPlus until it learns your system.
If you want a simpler route and you are running Windows 7, you could use the built-in firewall and Microsoft Security Essentials as your Anti-virus.
It would be a good idea to add some form of HIPS program, such as PC tools Threatfire.
Other stand alone firewall are about, of course. PC Tools Firewall, or in my opinion, the best of the free offerings, Online Armor Free, which incorporates an HIPS element,
Other stand alone anti-virus programs worth looking at are Avira free, Avast! free and Panda Cloud Anti-virus.
A free version of Malwarebytes is very worth while having.The free version does not run in real time, bit it is excellent for manual regular scans and is very good at cleaning infected systems.
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Of course everyone pitches in with their own preference.
Personally, I think the idea of needing HIPS for a home machine behind a router firewall is really overkill.
Windows 7 built in firewall, with Microsoft security esentials - a free down load from Microsoft, is the ideal "secure enough but not sucking up pc horsepower" solution, and is the one I install on all my personal and client PC builds.
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...and I don't even bother with a firewall on my PC, being behind a router. I know there is some risk, but over many years (touch wood) I haven't missed it.
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That's OK if you have a hard wired connection to your router, but a router firewall will not stop unauthorised outgoing connections from sneaky malware.
If you are wirelessly connected you should take further precautions, such as changing your network name, changing the access password to your router settings, using WPA2 encryption (rather than the normal router supplied WEP) with at least a 28 mixed character passcode, setting your router only to communicate with the MAC address(es) of your PC(s) and turning off the broadcasting of your SSID (this latter will only deter casual drive-by bandwidth thieves, though).
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>> That's OK if you have a hard wired connection to your router, but a router
>> firewall will not stop unauthorised outgoing connections from sneaky malware.
>> If you are wirelessly connected you should take further precautions, such as changing your network
>> name, changing the access password to your router settings, using WPA2 encryption (rather than the
>> normal router supplied WEP) with at least a 28 mixed character passcode, setting your router
>> only to communicate with the MAC address(es) of your PC(s) and turning off the broadcasting
>> of your SSID (this latter will only deter casual drive-by bandwidth thieves, though).
Complete overkill for a domestic connection. Yoou must think you have some wizz kid chineese state sponsored hacker camped outside your house,
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A HIPS should protect you, not so much from direct internet borne attacks, but from a user being fooled into running a malicious program downloaded by (ignorant) intent.
There are such things about: sites which ask for the user's OK to install something necessary to view content for instance, or bad malware links on social networking sites.
Last edited by: landsker on Mon 30 Aug 10 at 17:02
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MAC address filtering is a pain in the bum though. Still get the odd jobs where a mate of clients has setup a wireless network and they have a bought a new PC that just won't connect to the router. Usualy turns out to be that they have enabled MAC address filtering.
WPA2 with AES should be the only security needed on a typical domestic setup.
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I use Avast! plus SUPERAntispyware, SpywareBlaster and Search and Destroy along with the standalone Comodo Pro Firewall on an XP Pro system, which has been problem free for nearly five years.
The Windows7 system has Avast! in company with SUPERAntispyware and SpywareBlaster and Windows Defender, although kept up to date just in case, is Disabled.
Again, no problems although it's only three months since I acquired it. Avast! has instantly nabbed the occasional Trojan attempting to impose itself; it also has the benefit of updating itself automatically and advising you it has done so.
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I only use MAC address filtering. Had problems getting the other stuff set once ages ago so never bothered trying again. I'm sure the more paranoid amongst us will advise that my whole world will cave in but it's been fine for many years now...
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avg has always done it for me. Ditched Norton years ago. Pile of doodoo
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General advice & discussions here:-
www.wilderssecurity.com/index.php
Look at the "Other Anti Virus" and "Other Firewalls" sections.
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Ironically I "ditched" AVG some years ago...:-)
As for Norton, it's a pain and without the Removal Tool very difficult to get off friends and family's systems.
Last edited by: Stuartli on Mon 30 Aug 10 at 23:29
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Internet security, free downloads? - Roger.
