Just curious as to what you guys are using these days and what you think of it. Whats the best value for money or the best free software plus which ones appear to be a pain in the ass when they are runing or some what ineffective.

avast/windows

os-x 10.5 Leopard

</bait>

* Free version of Avast! for virus protection.

* Free version of Comodo as a firewall (with antivirus/spyware features turned off) to restrict outbound connections and stop software from phoning home and wasting my quota on unwanted updates, etc. Router takes care of inbound connections.

Great combination.

last edited by parabol at 19:56:30 29/Mar/09

I just use Windows Firewall and the TrendMicro Systems online scan thing.

none / windows.

Dont be retarded and you don't get viruses.

running windows on a network without using a firewall and anti-virus _is_ being a retard, without even needing to do anything silly on the computer

if you're not running anything that detects viruses or blocks unwanted network traffic, how do you know whether or not you have a virus?


as for me I use avg for antivirus + windows firewall and iptables on my router for proper firewalling and nat

+1 Avast/Windows

Kaspersky AV, Malwarebytes AntiMalware + Generic Firewalls

ESET -AntiVirus/security Suite so far one of the best i have used.. and its not expensive either.

+1 Avast/Windows

I had avast for about 3 months and found my comp crashing fequently. used kapersky + a freeware one (Which was s***) and apparently I had a trojan and a load of spyware avast didn't find.

avast is crap. don't listen to the bandwagon drones on this forum. Try out a few different ones to find the most effective for you.

avast is crap. don't listen to the bandwagon drones on this forum

Works fine on the 7 computers I've installed it on. Sounds like user error on your part?

On the other hand I know AVG and Source Engine games clash on many systems - it took me a bloody long time to work out why CS/TF2/HL2 kept crashing randomly. There's a registry fix that reduces the crashing but I just got rid of that virus scanner completely after the additional Link Scanner crap that went on.

i use AVG and it was going fine...

but just recently my Outlook started crashing with a wierd message when i closed it "the instruction at 93423423 referenced memory at 4543534. The memory could not be "read". click ok to terminate the program"

im starting to wonder if some AVG update caused it because its a new error and i dont think ive changed anything :(

I was using Avast, but I wanted something a little less hoggy so have gone over to Avira. It seems to run a lot smoother on both my laptops, particularly my netbook. Still like Avast though.

Windows firewall on top of that.

Firewall: Kerio personal (before it was sold to sunbelt) + a hardware solution
A/V: Avast

I had avast for about 3 months and found my comp crashing fequently. used kapersky + a freeware one (Which was s***) and apparently I had a trojan and a load of spyware avast didn't find.

I had to laugh at spybot S&D tonight, in the hints & tips section it said kaspersky, mcafee & some other thing could be classified as malware. WTF spybot?

edit: parabol: how do you find comodo compared to kerio if you've ever used it? I really wanted to try it out but after it crashed my VM I'm hesitant to try it out for real since I couldn't even boot up into safe mode on the VM the only way to restore was to "format" :(

last edited by whoop at 02:35:38 30/Mar/09

Avira Anti-Vir. It won av-comparatives.org best of for 2008, so if you haven't given it a shot I suggest you do.

Greatest thing is that along with one of the highest detection rates, it's not a resource hog at all. Very fast and trim.

+1 Avast/Windows.

Malwarebytes' anti-malware is handy for occasional scans, as is Spybot, but I don't leave Spybot installed any more as the latest version is WAY too aggressive / invasive. I assume it's possible to tame but it's easier to just uninstall it when I'm done.

Spyware Doctor has been highly effective on occasion too, but isn't free. I'm very critical of alarmist programs that do a 'free scan' and tell you of all the horrors lurking on your PC but demand payment to fix them - this is the tactic used by cheats and frauds.
Spyware Doctor is legit, but the tactic, IMO, is not.

IPtables + Proventia Desktop. No AV required.

os x :/

I don't have any issues with avg that require registry entries at home on xp + source games, or at work on vista with source games, or on 100 or so game servers running win2k3/2k8 of which a large chunk run source games

maybe user error? :)

there are a few files I've had to add exclusions for tho like nc and pskill. at one point it also picked up the gamecreate client, but a support ticket to avg fixed that one.

I find using linux helps
Plus the big man in security doesn't hurt

Yeah, can't say i've ever had trouble with AVG and Steam/Source

AVG really doesn't like trillian though, in AVG 8 i have to turn off the "IM protection"

I just rely on windows firewall and being behind a router for my firewall protection. run AVG (paid) version.

I don't have any issues with avg that require registry entries at home on xp + source games

Here you go: http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=131328

It originally showed up on my older PC as just a random freeze in-game, sound looped .. then 20 seconds later everything would resume and be back to normal (except I'd be disconnected from whatever server I was on). On my newer PC it just crashed HL2.exe randomly.

Was happy to hear it wasn't just me and that there was a fix (as ugly as it was).

Home:

Firewall: Cisco PIX 501 + windows firewall on each machine
Anti-virus: AVG Free on workstations, AVG Server Edition on my servers


Work:

Firewall: Cisco 871 modem firewall + Trend Micro Worry Free Server Advanced mail filtering and firewalls on each workstation
Anti-virus: Trend Micro Worry Free Server Advanced + client/server agents

Trend Micro.
And it's painful
but it does what it should

I believe when it comes to firewalls and Anti-virus, Basically you get what you pay 4 (generally speaking) this excludes Norton and Mcaffee (OMG SO s***)

I have been through most of the main packages and it depends on what you are after but I am a fan of the "Full package" this includes...firewall, antivirus, real time scanning , spy and malware cleaners.

Ones I have used

Norton = s*** and will destroy your PC if you have to uninstall it and eats resources for breakfast
Mcaffee = Same as Norton
PCcillian (trend) = not bad but its the equivalent of XP Home is to XP pro in intrusion detection
AVGfree = well its free !! and does not pickup much ...and where is the realtime scanning
nod32 = Great package and would recommend but you still need a firewall
Avast = HAHAHAH crap

and finally

Kaspersky = its low on resources (I have noticed no performance decrease at all), not to bad on the budget and very comprehensive. I am so glad I bought this package !! yes that's right bought !!! I thought it was so good I actually paid for it. If you get good protection you will be scared to see what it actually picks up especially when you think the site is safe !!! I could ramble on and on but take a look and see for yourself. This one gets my 100% backing and to make it a little easier here is the linky http://www.kaspersky.com.au/ and will cost ya about $80 online.

Never ever surf the net without adequate protection. especially if you are doing any sort of banking etc. I have seen to many people both friends and clients that have been done over by not taking care with their protection.

JUST TO COVER MY BUTT AND IN CASE i HURT FEELINGS ...THIS IS MY PERSONAL OPINION NOT GOSPEL :)

Hope this is of some help !!

Trend Micro.
And it's painful
but it does what it should

Internet Security? I'm really not a fan of ANYTHING that calls itself either Internet Security or Security Suite or any other bulls*** like that.

I may be persuaded to change my opinion if anyone can actually point me at a decent IS/SS app that works and doesn't totally destroy performance/functionality.




nah, I'm lying.

never-the-less it works

PS got it from friend for free (spare of a 3-number deal thingie)
have had no probs except for holding it's hand doing the exceptions list
Boot's bit long tho

Avira on clients, smoothwall on the gateway. The only thing I don't like about avira is the avnotify popup box that appears when it updates/scans, but you can easily disable that with a security policy without adverse effect.

NOD32

Basically you get what you pay 4 (generally speaking) this excludes Norton and Mcaffee (OMG SO s***)

So in other words, there is little correlation between cost and quality.

So in other words, there is little correlation between cost and quality.

No, i read that as there is not always a correlation between cost and quality.

asif any home user needs to pay for anti-virus software...

i use AVG free + windows firewall + whatever comes with my router at the moment, used to use avast! and was happy with that too.

So in other words, there is little correlation between cost and quality.

No, i read that as there is not always a correlation between cost and quality.

LOL truthfully I think k I was just contracting myself...slightly :P

It was more my belief/ experience from the different packages I have tried

illegal copy of NOD32.

Works great, its free and it runs in the background.

for those of you who hate Avast, what do you find that's wrong with it?

I believe when it comes to firewalls and Anti-virus, Basically you get what you pay 4 (generally speaking) this excludes Norton and Mcaffee (OMG SO s***)

I refuse to pay an annual licence to use a piece of software. Period. I'm willing to pay a one time fee to purchase the program and then again later if a newer version comes out but paying for the privalegde of using a piece of software is for chumps, chumps who probably also pay to play games on xbox live and world of warcraft.

avg, no software firewall just a router.

They should charge like $10 for the software and then use the subscription to upgrade signatures and versions of the software.

If you don't like paying for the subscriptions then don't complain that the support for the latest malware isn't in your AV install in 12months time.

for those of you who hate Avast, what do you find that's wrong with it?

I believe when it comes to firewalls and Anti-virus, Basically you get what you pay 4 (generally speaking) this excludes Norton and Mcaffee (OMG SO s***)

I refuse to pay an annual licence to use a piece of software. Period. I'm willing to pay a one time fee to purchase the program and then again later if a newer version comes out but paying for the privalegde of using a piece of software is for chumps, chumps who probably also pay to play games on xbox live and world of warcraft.

I hate paying for this service but I feel its a necessary evil.... I mean anyone that's a male will understand and porn is our VICE :) so I have no choice I gotta pay for Protection :)

De ja vu.

Posting in once a month, "What A/V are you using?" thread.

Avast! [me hearties]

I refuse to pay an annual licence to use a piece of software. Period. I'm willing to pay a one time fee to purchase the program and then again later if a newer version comes out but paying for the privalegde of using a piece of software is for chumps, chumps who probably also pay to play games on xbox live and world of warcraft.

you don't have to, well atleast with AVG.

your initial purchase price includes a 2 year subscription to virus database updates, after that, it will just say that the database is out date, yet continue to scan with the last update you got.

I don't have a problem paying for AV updates, the company themselves has to continue to do work to keep ontop of the new virus's, so its only fair.

Nice, Comodo identified Call of Duty 2 as malware. Good. Didn't even know I had that.

http://www.faronics.com/html/Deepfreeze.asp

and or moving into with Linux very soon:

http://www.vmware.com/
http://www.virtualbox.org/

Stuff virus scanners when the freakin thing is loaded into memory disappears. WEB 2.0 and virtualisation is where its at Im tellin' ya.

Also I recommend our Australian Firewall

http://www.tallemu.com/

It works pretty well and for the price its worth every AUD.

- - - - - -[ CUT ] - - - - - - - - -

Then theres my older list of utils I use to tweak all the stuff on my computer / computers:

http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd - Hirens Boot CD can fix all most anything wrong if something goes wrong. Got multiple versions of this on DVD and CD. Also he keeps it updated and its about to hit Beta 1. You can run the CD/DVD as a boot disk or as just a tool belt its been the best thing so far.

-----------------------------

Running as a Limited User or with parameters
http://blogs.msdn.com/aaron_margosis/pages/TOC.aspx - Running As a Limited User
http://kay-bruns.de/wp/software/surun/ - SuRun
http://rwparam.whyeye.org/ - Run a application with certain parameters
http://grubletrang.com/Software.aspx?app=PowerPrompt - Powerprompt


http://www.grc.com/freepopular.htm
- Steve Gibson's Site
* Spinrite - For dying hard drives

http://users.csc.calpoly.edu/~bfriesen/software/software.shtml
- More utilities

------------------------------

Fortifying/Hardening Windows XP

http://www.sniff-em.com/secureit.shtml
http://www.sniff-em.com/hardenit.shtml
* SecureIT - used for changing user profiles to be a lot stronger.
* HardenIT - used once again for hardening the user profiles in XP

http://www.firewallleaktester.com/wwdc.htm - Windows Worms Doors Cleaner
* WWDC

http://xpy.whyeye.org/ - XPY (XP Anti Spy Evolution)
* XPY (Easy as pie)

http://vispa.whyeye.org/
- same thing as XPY but for M$ Windows 7 / Vista

http://www.xp-antispy.org/
- More small tweak programs
* Anti XP Spy

http://seconfig.sytes.net/
* Seconfig XP

http://cmia.backtrace.org/index_en.html
* Security and Privacy : Open
Source tweaker supposedly locks down XP even tighter
- Found this one to be a bit iffy at times though but I really LIKE this one.

-------------------------------

http://www.l5sg.com/Products/Downloads/drivermanager.html
- Service Manager for XP

http://www.l5sg.com/Products/Downloads/drivermanager.html
- Driver Manager for XP

http://www.bitsum.com/prolasso.php - Program Lasso
Process Lasso is a unique new technology intended to automatically adjust
the allocation of CPU cycles so that system responsiveness is improved in
high-load situations.

http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/
- Unlocker... To remove locked programs

http://www.theorica.net/autorun.htm
* SafeXP (Although not as good...)

Windows Seperate Utils made by Microsoft
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx - Autoruns
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx - Process Explorer
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx - Process Monitor
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897437.aspx - TCPView

Windows XP Autorun Settings
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/files/autorunsettings.zip - Change Windows AutoRun settings

More Windows Utils
http://www.nirsoft.net/ - More utilities

http://www.ccleaner.com/
* CCleaner - getting rid of Windows Junk

http://www.stevengould.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=69
*Clean Up

Blocking stupid adveritising and bad sites
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm - Using the Windows Hosts File

http://www.merijn.org/programs.php
- Programs in particular
* BugOff: This little app disables a few exploits that are commonly used by browser hijackers...
* HijackThis: A general homepage hijackers detector and remover. Initially based on the...

-------------------------------------

http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html
- Edits windows hosts file but also removes spyware.
* SPYBOT S&D

http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/
- Blocks advetisements, spyware and many other things
* Peer Guardian 2


Sizing Windows XP Down
http://www.nliteos.com/ - NLite (Making ISOs and stripping stuff out from Windows XP)
http://www.vlite.net/ - VLite (For making Vista ISOs a lot smaller)


http://www.litepc.com/ - (XP Lite for uninstalling stuff on the fly)
http://www.litepc.com/ier_lic.html - Getting rid of Internet Explorer 6 totally
^^ Wilders security said this one is good


More Security Tweaking of Windows XP:
http://www.markusjansson.net/exp.html

Linux Alternatives:
http://www.codeweavers.com/ - Linux WINE Project

Articles: (TinyXP and cutting down the operating system)
http://apcmag.com/pirated_windows_more_impressive_than_the_real_thing.htm - Pirated Windows more impressive than retail
http://techome.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/xp-is-dead-long-live-tinyxp/ - XP is Dead, Long Live TinyXP

Articles (Tricks in Windows XP)
http://www.mdgx.com/ - MGDS Windows Tweaking Site
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/ - Windows XP Trouble Shooting Site
http://beemerworld.com/tips/servicesxp.htm - Turning off Windows XP Services.

http://smartpcutilities.bravehost.com/servicesoptimizer.html - Vista Service Optimizer

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc162523.aspx - Security By Design.

[ PASTE ]

I will say one thing. Since I started using NLite to make my own bootable image (and getting certain Windows ISOs that are really cut back); using http://www.sandboxie.com/ to run programs in a SandBox and closing off known Windows knock holes I haven't had to format since whenever. Course the change of browser is what everyone is doing even if IE8 is coming out.

Mind you nothing much tends get through Faronics DeepFreeze as well and its pretty rock solid but it likes to grab hold of the system.

If all else fails VMWare and or VirtualBox

Sozzy if I am totally random bro.

Nice links Kimbo, looks like you just regurgitated the brief link list of an entire career of Leo Laporte web episodes AND radio podcasts. You even started to lose coherancey towards the end there just like listening to one of the shows.

atm I'm trying Sophos.

this made me lol today:

This administrator alert message is generated by PureMessage because it has encountered the following events.

Event(s): Virus infection detected
Message action: Replaced with text
Message ID:http://*****/***** *******/Inbox/Your illegal internet activities are being logged.EML
Subject: Your illegal internet activities are being logged
Sender: monitoring@mediadefender.com
Recipient(s): *****@********.com.au
Date: 1/04/2009
Time: 11:43:55
Job: Exchange store scanning
Server: **-***
============================================================
Incident information:

Event: Virus infection detected
Location: user-B41642-activities.zip
Replaced with text: Yes
Virus name(s): Mal/Basine-C, Mal/ZipMal-B
============================================================

I always thought those emails were dodgy.


last edited by koopz at 11:56:33 01/Apr/09

We run Least Privilege User scheme in all of our offices and notebooks as well as antivirus for a while now. Yes it gets a bit annoying having to remote desktop to users desktop and use runas command but we haven't had any problem with virus at all since a) they can't install anything, b) if it tried, the antivirus will (hopefully) catch it. Won't work for every company though...

(Main Firewall) Smoothwall + ClamAV + URL Filter
Win7 64 Client Nod32 (64bit) v4.0
OSX 10.5 + little snitch

Currently a NOD32 Reseller, so I pimp it where I can

last edited by HerbalLizard at 13:00:09 01/Apr/09

last edited by HerbalLizard at 13:01:08 01/Apr/09

Also for all the people that aren't computer literate -- your relatives who are 60 and above:

The tool:
http://www.lunarsoft.net/

The download:
http://www.lunarsoft.net/downloads/doc_download/30-anti-malware-toolkit

Which makes life a bit easier and has wiki, descriptions and everything.

I use Kaspersky Antivirus http://www.downloadbestsoft.com/Kaspersky-Antivirus.html combined with Windows firewall, right now I use Windows XP SP3.

I also use SpyBot Search & Destroy as a free privacy software. It detects all kind of intrusive and unwanted cookies.

+1 for ESET Smart Security.

It's essentially Nod32 plus a firewall. As far as Nod32 goes, it's rock solid and has a tiny footprint. The firewall is really good too.

For the free stuff, Avast is my current favourite except for the annoying "Your virus database has been updated" audio messages. I always forget to turn those off.

I used Kaspersky before I moved to ESET. I was happy with Kaspersky, but I found ESET to run smaller and faster.

We use Nod32 ... not a huge fan. But it is better then sophos

Nod32 - big fan here.

I installed avira on a computer riddled with trojans & spyware (not one of my computers) and it cleaned it up nicely & now that computer runs fast & smooth, before it took about 20 minutes just to load windows.

The only thing I have against it are the constant "Upgrade to pro NOW!" popups it's giving me, what the f*** is with that? I can't find an option to disable them and if they appear once more avira is getting un-installed.

+1 Avast/Windows

We use Nod32 ... not a huge fan. But it is better then sophos

hahaha.

anti virus/anti malware/anti spam software doesn't need to do just it's old job anymore. all it actually has to do is provide a paper-trail when some idiot user predictibly clicks on a link that leads the user to inadvertently bypass even expertly thought-out group policy lockdown.

Sophos provides me the opportunity to pin point who was responsible for a breach.. even if it was one of the Apple Mac users down in Marketing. Do I want to be the guy who tells the boss his daughter just crashed the Au and NZ networks? Hell no.. let a piece of software tell him... and the Au National Ops Manager, and the NZ National Ops manager... and the Corp Marketing Manager. Why don't we just dump it into the Wiki while we're at it?

clearing out bugs isn't enough anymore.. we need our sofftware to help clear out the dead wood (sucks to be integral with change management).. even if that dead wood is the Australian version of Paris Hilton and her Dad is your Boss

god I hope you're not still throwing your talents away as a highschool network admin Obese. you're easily worth $100k+ a year. If I can do it, anyone here can to be quite honest

last edited by koopz at 15:35:47 04/Apr/09

I use Avast! and Windows XP Pro

Just about to switch from NOD32 to Sophos End Control at work.

Mainly for the control I'm able to get on the network with it.

1); Anti-virus: Rising (free version); http://www.freerav.com/

2); Spyware etc: Malwarebytes Anti-Spyware (free); http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php (paid version only adds real-time protection) + above

3) Firewall: Windows + modem hardware

4) Common sense!