AV, Firwall combo

[adityaa1]

hey i want 2 tell that i had deep throat or some trojan downloaded in zip format still pc cilin detected it and deleted it.i also have antivir but it was unable 2 do so

[s0nIc]

You can have Norton AV scan faster by configuring it. you just set which files to scan and how to scan them.

[Cope57]

Certification at ICSA Labs should help with your decision.

[uraloony]

My reviews:

AVs (Anti-Viruses) -

I have tried Mcafee AV versions 3-6, Norton 2002 and 2003, and Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus on multiple computers and operating systems.

Mcafee 4 and 5 on Win98 based system were excellent and I loved them. Too bad I have had problems with them running fully on WinNT based systems. (I keep getting errors on 2k pro and XP Pro).
Mcafee 6 was tested on a 900 mhz system with 256MB ram running Win2k pro. It did an excellent job of protecting the system, however, it used way to much resources for me to enjoy it. I experienced problems with system slowdown and hated it.

Norton 2002 and 2k3 have done the job well, but I have heard and seen too many horror stories to really recomend them to anyone. It seems that Symantec makes their Anti-Virus products for certain computers. Its a love-hate situation. Either the software works great for ya, or it causes tons of problems. (Including two friends of mine who installed SystemWorks and Norton AV on their computers and had to re-format and re-install them.)

AVG Anti-Virus has been my AV of choice for well over a year now. It has yet to let a virus slip thru un-detected, is amazingly stable running on 2k Pro and XP Pro, and uses the least resources of any of the AV's I have used. I love it, and the icing on the cake is that its completely free. http://www.grisoft.com/ - Click on AVG Version 6 Free Edition and enjoy.

Personal Firewalls:

Ok. My recomendation is to bite the bullet and get a hardware firewall. At least get a router with basic firewall functions built into it, but obviously, you get what you pay for.
As far as software firewalls go, I have used Outpost (an older version), Tiny Personal Firewall version 2, ZoneAlarm 2.5x, Zone Alarm 3, Mcafee Firewall in Mcafee 6, and Sygate personal firewall.

Outpost: *Before I start this review, please keep in mind I used it about a year ago. I have heard wonderful things about this firewall since using it, and I will give it a try again soon.*
Outpost. I didn't like it. The way the GUI was setup on it, the software conflicts it caused, the resources it used. I gave it a week then removed it.

Tiny personal Firewall 2: Yeah I know its outdated, but it was the best in its day. Great, easy to make custom rules, complete control, and it used practically no resources. I have yet to try TPF Version 3.

ZoneAlarm 2.5x - Great little firewall for beginners. It provides a nice, easy to use GUI and is relatively stable. The GUI requires some more resources to run than I like, but nothing overly rediculous. My experience was a positive one.

ZoneAlarm 3 - C'mon they added more graphics and the resources req'd shot thru the roof! I hated every minute using this firewall. Its overly-easy use may appeal to some beginners, but after installing this firewall, my computer response became sluggish. It stayed on my computer a week, then it was gone.

Mcafee Personal Firewall Version 6 - Decent firewall, but as I said in the Mcafee AV 6 review, resource use was too much in my opinion. Its better than nothing, but other firewalls beat it easily.

Sygate Personal Firewall - Last but not least, Sygate. I love it. Pure and simple. Its been my software firewall of choice for about a year now. Stable, great custom rules, nice GUI but not overly fancy, *FREE*, and it uses less resources than its competitors.

Overview: My recommendation for the ultimate AV/Software Firewall combo is AVG Anti-Virus and Sygate Personal Firewall. They run together flawlessly on Windows 2000 Pro and Windows XP Pro. Both are free, which is awesome.

I hope y'all enjoyed my little review. Its great to post here again after so long.

Have Fun!!

- uraloony

*DISCLAIMER* This review was based on my experiences with software and most of the software was tested on Windows 2000 or XP. Everyone is entitled to have differences of opinions, so if you love something I didn't care for, no need to bash me. Have a great Christmas!