[Kanga]

Hi everybody;

I use: Steganos "internet security 12" as Antivirus, it is really good one, but the problem is it interfers with all my softwares and i have to be shutting down the firewall part of it to able to work with the softwares. Now, i wanted to know what known antivirus is good for working online and is softwares friendly??
I tried setting up changes in the firewal tools to set the sofwares as acceptable, it won't aplly.
So i am desperately looking for something good which will not interfere with my softwares and tools to work online.

Cheers,

[Alan Mater]

Hi Kanga,

I use and recommend Avast Antivirus. It's free for personal use and is better than anything I've seen.

If you're looking specifically for a firewall, Zone Alarm offers a free version which works just fine.

[Patrician]

Kanga - something to consider is that after Windows XP version came out, Windows began to include their own firewall. It is automatically enabled - You might try going to your control panel and disabling it if you have another software firewall.

You should not need both and this might be why you are having interference.

I also have a router which is a hardware firewall - you can have 1 each software and hardware but should never have more than two firewalls total - this is according to both Dell Computer and Belkin (routers).

[Alan Mater]

Originally Posted by Patrician

Kanga - something to consider is that after Windows XP version came out, Windows began to include their own firewall. It is automatically enabled - You might try going to your control panel and disabling it if you have another software firewall.

You should not need both and this might be why you are having interference.

I also have a router which is a hardware firewall - you can have 1 each software and hardware but should never have more than two firewalls total - this is according to both Dell Computer and Belkin (routers).

Good tips, Pat. I hadn't thought of those.

[vanhoogy]

I'm still a fan of Norton... use the minimal program to not slow down your system

[Alan Mater]

Originally Posted by vanhoogy

I'm still a fan of Norton... use the minimal program to not slow down your system

What do you mean by minimal? I assume if you're not using all the features then your computer is more vulnerable to viruses. That's one reason why I hate Norton so much... it slows the computer down so much.

There are better alternatives that actually catch more viruses and doesn't slow your computer down.

The fact is that there is not a single antivirus program that will 100% protect your computer from an attack.

[Patrician]

I agree Alan -

Norton users get more viruses than any other program in the corporate world. It's almost like not having security.

I have never had anything serious using McAfee Security Suite for 20 years - and they update it almost every day automatically -

Of course lots of people hate it and I can remember in the past having loads of trouble with the size, uninstalling etc. - however I have to say there is never any problem with it anymore - and it comes free with Comcast ISP so that is nice too now.

I do use the free stuff to check up like every few weeks I run Malwarebytes, RootKitBuster and HijackThis - they never find anything so I guess McAfee really has it together - or I am just blessed!

[Alan Mater]

Hi Pat,

Running those free programs every now and then is a very good idea. In fact, the free stuff is all you need to protect your computer. However, as I said before, you can't really "protect" it, you can only do your best and use the programs to get rid of the viruses, malware, spyware, etc. once it's already in your computer.

[Kanga]

Hi Pat and Alan,
Thanks to both, and Pat i must say, you went straight to the nerve of this trouble.Again thanks.
Cheers,

[Acom]

I'm fan of Norton anti-virus but I use Free AVG it use the minimal system resource I recommend you AVG, you can download it from trust download (it is a free anti-virus)

[alenmcmilan]

Before I used AVG for that. But right now i using Avast anti virus, Avast is very nice anti virus. I had seen not any problem with using this anti virus before to formating my system but I was very tied for having a tough feature. But i like to use Avast anti virus, Its very easy to use.