Thread: Firewalls And Anti-Viral Software

I've used TM a bit on my mrs' laptop and my mums as well, and i didn't think much of it.



From my experience, i've found ESET Smart Security to be very good and user friendly, AVIRA is very effective at picking up viruses and such. Haven't used the paid version of Avira but i've been happy with the free versions performance in the past. I tend to stick with the free versions these days as i reckon the full versions sap up too much resources. Could be fluff but thats just what i think...



A great little app i used to have a while back (XP) was NetLimiter, with it you could limit the bandwidth being allocated or cut off completely to any app that is connected to the internet, very handy if you tend to have a few things running at the same time (i.e. while gaming). Worth a look if it will work on your system (not sure about Win7 compatibility).



Hope this helps a bit.



Fish

Well, in my opinion it depends on which operating system you are using.



I am using

• Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
• Windows 7 built-in firewall
• Router built-in firewall
• Microsoft Security Essentials (simple, user-friendly and free!)

which works best for me.



[quote name='GD=_)Dead_Set' date='31 March 2010 - 12:07 PM' timestamp='1270030041' post='1946']

.. Use two different systems at the moment .. [/quote]

Having more then one Anti-Virus program installed on your computer actually makes your computer less safe.

They would interfere with each other and possibly offer worse protection then one on its own.





[quote name='GD=_)Dead_Set' post='1946']

Any one suggest a system to UPGRADE to??[/quote]



My advice:

Keep it simple. If you still aren't sure after a successful scan use online virus scan with multiple Anti-Virus engines.



http://www.virustotal.com/

http://virusscan.jotti.org/

http://www.virscan.org/

http://scanner.virus.org/

I use Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 and find it good, I have had no virus get through on any of my PC's or my family PC's. in the last 3 years. Last time I purchased a 10 license version, by doing it that way was much cheaper than each family member getting their own version and I sold the last couple of copies to my mates.

XP as Operating System?

I guess i dont have the same problems with anti viral and firewall software as some of you.
I use cisco ironport web and mail appliances for well,, as the name implies - web and email protection. The web appliance is a rack mount server running ciscos own operating system which offers many different methods for filtering traffic generated by a web browser. Downside is you need a layer 4 switch so the device can monitor all network traffic and detect and block possible and identified malware. Part of its defence against nasties is you can use upto 3 different antivirus engines similtaneously on the appliance although i only use one.

The email appliance is brilliant at detecting spam, viruses and other email garbage before it even gets to your mail server. Its like an smtp appliance that sits between the internet and your mail server.

These appliances are expensive but very easy to maintain and come with an excellent support contract. Im fortunate enough to be allowed to sit behind them. I also use symantec endpoint 11 on my pc just as a tertiary application against spyware/malware and viruses. endpoint has never given me a warning since employing ironport security devices.

For a router I use pfsense, a free router built on linux bsd. its very easy to use, its free and fully functional, its incredidbly flexible in packet management and its happy to run on an old pc with 2 or more nics. I used to use netgear hardware routers but like most i found the rules limited in their functionality and tedious to setup especially if things on your network change. pfsense goes a looong way past these limitations offering rule options found on higher end routers, even filtering by operating system on particular port(s) if desired. For me, a good choice as i lease 16 IP addresses here and needed to be able to work with both classic routing and nat routing.

Security is a strange thing to grasp these days with threats getting smarter but i think the best defence is take more care where one surfs on the internet.