What is your AntiVirus and Firewall choice?

[Shinigami-Sama]

well
I use nortan 2003 for a-v
but I'll buyu hte new one once my sub runs out
as for a fire wall...
my isp

[DigitAl56K]

Originally posted by Shinigami-Sama
as for a fire wall...
my isp

Your ISP won't firewall you, or at least it's rather unlikely. The best you could hope for is NAT on the router/modem.

[Shinigami-Sama]

Originally posted by DigitAl56K
Your ISP won't firewall you, or at least it's rather unlikely. The best you could hope for is NAT on the router/modem.
you realy didn;t catch it eh?
I don;t use one very often. and I don;t have a router yet I'l get one once I get a nic and soem more cat5 so I can use both halves of my connect seeing as how I have 1.5mb/512kb ips :)
firewalls realy hurt my speeds and I;ve been hacked less without on so..

[cyberVera]

Anti-virus: German H+BEDV AntiVir Personal
Firewall: ZoneAlarm
Web content filter: Ad-Shield 1.2 (to cutoff adds and mostly flash)

+ 10 year web experience of what virus looks like

[dragongodz]

My reply was made in order to confirm that I also don't run AV on my computer and confirm the OPs statement that it is not essential if you are careful.
and if you reread what i said and reread DigitAl56K's post that starts "it doesnt mean you are lying" it doesnt matter how careful you are you can still get virii. so the statement that just being careful means you dont need an antivirus is not correct. "safe surfing" will not guarentee you never getting a virus.

So agreeing with the statement just makes you look foolish.
hahaha whatever.

I did state my experience on computers to show that I am not a newbie and to imply that my experience should carry some weight. I'm sorry it makes you upset.
i knew exactly why you stated it but really it doesn work. i have seen plenty of people(even on this very forum) who have been using pc's for yeeeears and they still dont know things they think they do. :D
oh and it didnt upset me, it annoys me because it has no weight at all and people should get over the whole "i have x years experience with pc's" since so do i but i dont need to say it for what i am saying to have any meaning.

I've never gotten a virus from downloading from any reputable source. The chance of it happening is so slim as not to worry much about it.
slim maybe but not impossible. for example i got a virus on a commercial game(in box, not downloaded) many years ago. the game was quickly recalled and fixed versions released but it still puts a nasty taste in ones mouth. imagine the damage that could have been done if i didnt have a virus scanner at the time.

[namchik]

Kaspersky Anti-Virus Pro and Kaspersky Anti-Hacker
Tried NIS 2k5 (very slow :( ), BitDefender, Outpost Pro...

[fewtch]

Firewall: Sygate Personal Firewall (non-pro)
Antivirus: I haven't had a virus since about 1988, so I bother very little with this (maybe it's because I use an old version of Eudora for Email rather than Outlook crap). Occasional scan at http://housecall.trendmicro.com and never found a virus there either. However, I use several anti-spyware proggies.

To those arguing you neeeeeeeeeeeeeeed antivirus software... my track record speaks for itself. Last virus I got was from a pirated MS-DOS game on floppy disk, in 1988 or '89, on an 80286 12MHz PC (my first x86 machine). If that doesn't convince you... whatever, preach away.

P.S. the version of Eudora I use is v3.0.5 (very limited HTML support, but I always sign up for text-only Email anyway as HTML in Email is pretty useless). Oldversion.com has 3.0.3 and 3.0.6, if anyone's interested. With v3.0.5 you can receive HTML links and formatted text, but all attachments including graphics are saved in the folder you specify and displayed at the bottom of the message as links, NEVER run. As far as I can tell, it does not use MS's HTML engine at all. Very nice, stable program with thankfully limited features purely oriented toward sending/receiving Email. I tried a newer version of Eudora recently, and it's amazing how little functionality they've added since v3.x. Most of it is added flashiness.

[Arachnotron]

There is another important layer of protection: don't surf while you are full administrator on your machine. Use an account with only limited userrights. Many browser hijacks and virus installations fail if the user does not have administrative rights, or at least the damage is limited. *nix users have this rammed into their heads in every book (never start working as root!!) but for Windows home users it is still a new one. It doesn't help that the installation routine still creates a user with full admin rights by default.

Even if for some reason you have to work as admin, you can still use the "runas" functionality of XP to run at least your browser and your mailprogam under a user account with limited privileges. this article (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dncode/html/secure11152004.asp?frame=true) discusses a small toool for doing this.

[wmansir]

Right now I'm trying out various combos. I tried KAV, but it's residential scanner seemed to affect performance too much. I like AVG, but I'm trying Avast! right now to see how it compares.

I agree that playing it safe online is much better protection than any software, but I don't always play safe. This forum itself is full of programs that people write and host themselves. It's very possible that something could slip thru that way. And I'm not even talking about a malicious author, just someone who's system got compromised.

For a firewall I'm using M0n0wall, which is based on freeBSD. It boots off a CD with a floppy config (it has other boot options too). I would prefer to run IPcop, but the HD in my old system died so I had to switch. Not that there is anything wrong with Monowall in particular, just a preference. It has been acting up a bit (freezing every few weeks), but I'm not sure if that's a HW error or because of the beta version I am using. The cool part about it is I can upgrade/downgrade versions by just burning a CD and rebooting the system.

I would highly recommend this type of distro over a traditional *nix distro for beginners. They are specifically designed for security, stability, performance on low end hardware, and ease of use for novice *nix admins. Once installed they can be configured and updated via a web browser, just like a traditional HW router.

I'm also trying out Keiro for outbound protection.

[napalm]

I use no antivirus software.
I use no extra software firewalls (only the USR router's).

I believe the best protection is to be attentive to what you bring in to the hard disk, but this requires that you are the only one in charge of the computer and internet access, and keeping your knowledge up to date on any new mega security holes and how to fix them (anyone remember MSBlast?, that was the bomb). I don't recall having a virus issue in 5 or so years, however non personal use pc's ought to be much more difficult to keep virus/trojan/worm free.

[Teegedeck]

Having anti-virus software and a firewall indeed doesn't mean you can rest assured, as long as you're still using Windows in the first place... Whenever I visit my sister- and brother-in-law, I find a new piece of spyware to remove (they use Kasperksy and Windows' in-built firewall). Surfing the web with Internet Explorer is absolutely sufficient for catching something. Alas, few people opt to activate the automatic Windows updates, it seems.

Anyway, I use (on the windows machine) Kaspersky and Kerio. A hardware firewall is an even better idea than a software one, but not sufficient. My main PC runs Linux.

You absolutely need all these antivirus and antispy and what-not-tools if you're using Windows, or how can you tell you're PC isn't already infested with the most ugly but stealthy diseases?

[Si]

There's many things that I could quote to show an un-openess to alternative ideas and ways of using their computers, in some peoples (or their auto-answering AI programs :D ) posts but

hahaha whatever.

sums up the waste of time that would be.

Some of us don't use AV on some of our computers we use/work with/maintain.

Now, when the day comes that we catch one then we'll have to come back here and say how silly we were and we should have listened.

Until that happens, please respect our very very old ages (well mine anyway) and our superior internet skills and marvel at how we do it. :p

Hope you had a nice Easter :)

regards

Simon

[dragongodz]

To those arguing you neeeeeeeeeeeeeeed antivirus software... my track record speaks for itself.
fewtch - well thats good for you but only proves anything for you. some of us think its better to err on the side of caution and safety.

whatever, preach away.
hmm and that couldnt be said of you right ? i mean you are saying since YOU havent got a virus people dont dont need a virus scanner, what would you call that ? :)

to show an un-openess to alternative ideas and ways of using their computers, in some peoples (or their auto-answering AI programs ) posts but
sums up the waste of time that would be.
Si - i laughed off your insult
So agreeing with the statement just makes you look foolish.
and you try to insult me again ? hmmm says more about you than me mate.

Until that happens, please respect our very very old ages (well mine anyway) and our superior internet skills and marvel at how we do it.
you get respect when you learn how to show it. being old doesnt mean you know everything, and i am no teenager myself. :sly:

[DigitAl56K]

We're not here to trade insults :)

Si: I will chime in with one final comment though - I hope you don't build software for public release on such a system.

[Si]

We're not here to trade insults :-) :-) :-)

I believe you swung the first blow :)

Cause and effect.

You caused me to come to support Axed after you said what he said was bullshit. (although I freely acknowlege that I have free will and that you couldn't "cause" me to do anything so I should apologise to you really :) )

I thought it wasn't because I do it as well so I thought I'd let you know. Some others in this thread also don't do it.

I was expecting something like "yeah - I don't mean BS - I mean its not a good thing to do in my opinion" - I wasn't expecting someone to actually agree with you.:D

Everyone's entitled to their opinions and I'd like to leave you and dragongodz to yours.

I don't do commercial programs any more and I'm glad that those who do proected themselves and us - thank you :)

Have a good one.

regards
Simon

This has been a bit of light entertainment for me over the Easter break and I've no wish to fall out with anyone over this issue - I'll avoid this sub-forum in future and get back to my normal habitat :D

[DigitAl56K]

Originally posted by Si
This has been a bit of light entertainment for me over the Easter break and I've no wish to fall out with anyone over this issue - I'll avoid this sub-forum in future and get back to my normal habitat :D

Indeed! Happy Easter ;)

Were any "Easter" viruses released this year? I remember there was once a time when every major holiday would have the AV PR departments on overdrive...

[Brother John]

I heard nothing about any Easter viruses this year. Maybe they didn't manage to break their egg shells for once. :D

What I think this thread shows so far is: Everyone has a solution that he thinks works best for him. And probably it does because we're all not computer newbies. We have developed the ability to spot a malicious link or mail attachment at first glance. Well, at least most of them. We don't use IE and know how to configure a firewall properly. We keep our OS up to date and many use a virus scanner at least from time to time. All that protects us from most malware, but 100% safety isn't possible anyway. We only need to fight the tendency to become careless because »why bother, I'm quite safe anyway«.

Unfortunately, to gain a feeling for what to click on and what to delete immediately and for using protective software a certain level of understanding is necessary of how computers and the web work. So, what to do with Joe Clueless, who will never reach that level simply because he doesn't care? As long as surfing, emailing and listening to MP3s continues to work somehow, he won't even complain about viruses on his machine.
I couldn't tell him to install a firewall because he could never configure it properly. Even keeping antivirus software up to date is not so easy because he often aborts the auto-update because »surfing is so slow when this thing is running«. Let's not even mention things like Windows update. This practically leaves one solution: Babysitting such a machine myself. But no way. I'd need a psychiatrist after two weeks.

[zilog jones]

OK, I seem a bit late coming into this but I use:
- AVG Free for virii
- ZoneAlarm for firewall

I rarely get virii unless I bring them upon myself with dodgy downloads and whatnot. I use Gmail and my uni's e-mail, which I never get any spam or virii through. The same could not be said for back in the day when I used Hotmail (before they did anything about spam), but it was pretty easy to tackle virus e-mail then - just don't open any dodgy executable attatchments!

And here's a word of warning to anyone not using a firewall or anti-virus: Once my brother went online without turning on the firewall some time last year - within 3-5 minutes he got the Sasser virus from just web browsing! And this was with Opera, not IE!

[DigitAl56K]

Spelling police: "Virii" isn't a word, it's "viruses".

Actually lots of people seem to think "virii" is the plural of "virus" for some reason. I'm not sure why..

[stephanV]

Virus obviously seems to have a Latin origin and in Latin nouns that end with -us get -i when plural (modus -> modi). I don't see where the extra 'i' comes from (it should be virus -> viri) and of course there is no real reason why English should follow Latin grammar. :)

[communist]

Originally posted by Brother John
- snip -
That sums it up nicely.. whenever I fix a friends computer a quick look at IE (any 'toolbars'?), taskmanager (GMT.exe or uiqbcx.exe etc.?) and the Start Menu (any 'Free XYZ...' links?) reveals how messed up the machine is.

And while you clear up the mess and tell them to not use app X and keep Y running they just nod and nod.. ;)

[niamh]

Actually it seems there's no clean cut answer as to the virus plural , except for the fact that it's definitely not virii (which would come from virius), nor viri (which means men).
Apparently there was never a plural recorded for it in latin anyway.
For those interested, here is a
link (http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/plural-of-virus.html) to a long winded explanation :)

[cyberVera]

Communist, that about X and Y and nodding for perfect!

[dragongodz]

Actually it seems there's no clean cut answer as to the virus plural
no DigitAl56K is right in that in the English language the plural of virus is viruses according to the dictionary.

HOWEVER the word virii has become a commonly used (slang)word for computer viruses. do a search some time and you will see it gets a huge amount of hits. who knows one day it may even become an official word, trekkies did. :D

[Zyphon]

I use AntiVir for my anti-virus and Kerio Personal Firewall 4.x.

I have a question regarding Kerio Personal Firewall that seems to cause me problems on this site.

On the main site portal when you have news of udated software. If I click on the link to download the software I am brought to the Unauthorised Download Anti Leech page.

I discovered that if I temporarely disable my firewall then I could download the tools and then quickly activate my firewall again.

Does anyone know why Kerio Firewall does this?

[niamh]

no DigitAl56K is right in that in the English language the plural of virus is viruses according to the dictionary

I meant in the latin language, sorry, as I agree with your quote :)

[zilog jones]

Oh well, that's the last time I trust the internet for plurals!

(Nice to see someone else from Ireland! I bet I'm the only one here who could pronounce your name ^_^)

[Brother John]

@Zyphon
Doom9's downloads need referrers to be enabled. Kerio can block them an does so by default, if you're using the "Web" features.

Go to "Configuration / Web / Privacy" and disable "Deny servers to trace web-browsing". Of course referrers also need to be enabled in your browser.

[niamh]

I wouldn't dream of going surfing without a firewall or a router. As a matter of fact, I'm using Norton for both and I've been having serious issues with it lately (in fact, both are totally broken, and I'm following this thread to see to a replacement)
I've used Sygate before, I didn't like it, I used outpost, I didn't like it either.. I might try ZA, and AVG for an AV (though I feel more of a need for a firewall than an anti virus, should I need to choose between both)




(Nice to see someone else from Ireland! I bet I'm the only one here who could pronounce your name ^_^)

Well do not forget The Edge, who is the grandfather of all irish posters here :D
As a matter of fact, the issue of pronouncing my name has cropped up here an unbelievable number of times in the past 2 or 3 weeks for some curious reason :)

[Arachnotron]

After wmansir's post I gave m0n0wall a spin, and I must say I am impressed by it. If you have an old PC with two network cards lying about, do give it a try! Very easy to set up, you can run it from a CD (I used a flashcard).

I had to abandon it since the drivers for the gigabit cards I use were not fully stable (yet). Support for new hardware is common problem with (Free)BSD. So for me, IPcop is next but I may go back to it once the latest beta turns stable.
Rolling your own from gentoo is nice, but why re-invent the weel?:cool:

[Teegedeck]

Originally posted by Brother John
So, what to do with Joe Clueless, who will never reach that level simply because he doesn't care? As long as surfing, emailing and listening to MP3s continues to work somehow, he won't even complain about viruses on his machine.
I couldn't tell him to install a firewall because he could never configure it properly. Even keeping antivirus software up to date is not so easy because he often aborts the auto-update because »surfing is so slow when this thing is running«. Let's not even mention things like Windows update. This practically leaves one solution: Babysitting such a machine myself. But no way. I'd need a psychiatrist after two weeks.
Well, at least the Windows updates don't slow down browsing, anymore, so if it were, say, your parents' PC, I'd tend to just enable updates without telling them. :p No negative placebo effect that way. Virus definitions are more of a problem.

As a matter of fact, I don't think these denial-of-service problems will ever alleviate unless automatic updates via internet become a feature that cannot be deactivated. But then again, many people are very suspicious about that, mainly because they don't find Microsoft trustworthy, and I can understand that notion. Also, some, ahem, seem to have that inevitable piece of stolen software on their machine and are afraid M$ might track them down ... :rolleyes:

Perhaps a good Linux distribution that also features automatic updates would be less problematic though still sufficiently 'multi-media-capable' for most users. Everyone can afford Linux, because it is free; it is legal; updates are legal; no funny feelings about nosy sofware-companies. SUSE as a mainstream distro has an activated firewall by default, and for as long as the Trojan situation under Linux stays the way it is now, I could sleep at peace if, for example, my parents would use it. (Come to think of it, upon my next visit... :D) Also the M$-users' situation becomes more and more unbearable with complicated activation and licensing schemes etc.

I think Novell has a good chance of breaking into the mainstream market with their future 'Desktop 10' (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/infoworld/20050322/tc_infoworld/57912) and a Macintosh-like "easy, reliable, secure, and beautiful"-philosophy for their product.

[DigitAl56K]

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=22259

[Zyphon]

Originally posted by Brother John
@Zyphon
Doom9's downloads need referrers to be enabled. Kerio can block them an does so by default, if you're using the "Web" features.

Go to "Configuration / Web / Privacy" and disable "Deny servers to trace web-browsing". Of course referrers also need to be enabled in your browser.
Thank you for the info Brother John I really appreciate it.

I did not know Kerio did this and thanks for telling me how to disable it, it helps me out a lot. :)

[ukb008]

In my opinion the antivirus program is a necessity for a PC, and one should purchase it. The reason is that, in case of a purchase, there are committed people other than the PC owner to share the burden of undoing the wrong.

A virus attack causing loss of data in a drive is a dreadful carnage, and I should be happy when serious-looking people come and help out. I have had the dreadful experience of data loss due to virus attack. Believe me, the situation is perfectly ghastly.

Regards.

[magicclue]

Hardware Firewall mostly for incoming (in Router)
Sygate Personal Firewall Pro for all cases left e.g. outgoing

Kaspersky Antivirus

[WoundedVeins]

McAfee Internet Security Suite 2005 Version 7.0

I have a modem / router / firewall (3 in 1) as well from netgear.

[Venom_IL]

antivir - NOD32

firewall - none, i use my router's NAT

[Arachnotron]

Just as a bit of useless info: for the last few days, my firewall got hit by a RPC scan about once every 5 minutes. Each time from a different IP address. I love my firewall :)

[ukb008]

Just tell me this, PROs. Because almost everyone advises using a firewall, I had installed ZoneAlarm, and guess what? There were notices every second (even when I wasn't surfing) that a visitor was trying to gain entry through such and such port from such and such IP address, and would I let him in? Life halted, waiting for an answer.

Now, how do I recognize all these IP addresses? The notice does not include any legible details - legible enough to be understood by someone below an IQ of 200.

It was perfectly nightmarish. Ultimately I had to uninstall ZA, and, since then, I can't get over my feeling of inferiority for botching something that's supposed to be simple (judging by the posts like those in this thread) and perpetual dread becuse there are no more alarms (only occasional notice by my anivirus that such and such spyware or some obscure virus has been detected in C:/SSS or C:/windows and so on, and file was quarentined/deleted/cleaned).

Of course, the plain answer is that I didn't have the expertise expected to use firewall. Which brings me to this final question: what is the easiest-to-use firewall according to you PROs?

Regards.

[DigitAl56K]

@ukb008 - Here's Al's Firewall 101, hope it helps:

All firewalls are basically similar when they operate in their most basic mode (application rule mode).

The network is broken down into two categories:
1. Internal network/LAN/Local/Home Network/Trusted
2. Internet

When the firewall is first installed or you set up a new connection type (usually by installing a modem, network card, VPN account, etc. on your system) the firewall will ask you to specify which of these two categories the new connection falls under. By doing this the firewall can set up certain default rules (e.g. allowing users on your home network to access your shared files, but not users from the Internet), and it can also later allow you to specify how network traffic from other applications you use should be handled in each of these circumstances.

When you run an application, you can typically break down the network traffic associated with it into two categories also:

1. Outgoing (The application initiates the communication)
2. Incomming (The application opens a "port" on your system and "listens" for another device somewhere on the network/internet to initiate a connection with your computer)

In general then, you could recieve up to four different prompts asking you to allow or deny these scenarios:

1. The app is creating outgoing traffic to a trusted network
2. The app is creating outgoing traffic to an untrusted network
3. The app is recieving incomming traffic from a trusted network
4. The app is recieving incomming traffic from an untrusted network

When each of these situations occurs you are likely to recieve a popup asking you what to do. Usually that popup contains a checkbox for "Creating a rule", and in that case whatever you click on the popup will be applied to all traffic triggering the same scenario for that application.

Usually it is easiest/faster to trigger one scenario, and then manually edit the application rules in your firewall for the other three scenarios. Normally it's just a case of placing checks or crosses in the four possible boxes, replacing the question marks that are currently there (because you haven't defined the behavior for that scenario yet).

Of course, as I touched on very breifly most firewalls come with a few pre-defined rules that avoid you having to configure lower level things manually (e.g. windows file sharing and print sharing), and usually you can also create more advanced rules to filter traffic at the packet level if you need to.

Some firewalls also come pre-configured to popup alerts for certain kinds of traffic that can be identified as intrusion/hack attempts. These alerts are mostly useless and describe passive probing or general network traffic that your firewall is blocking anyway. Unless you believe you're under heavy attack from a determined hacker (and the chances of that are very low) you should just set the firewall to block the traffic and disable the alerts in the program preferences. If anything, these alerts tend to be marketing aids to sell more firewalls...

[ukb008]

Your post cheers me up condsiderably, and I am steeling myself for another brush-up with the firewall stuff.

Do recommend one, will you?

Regards.

[DigitAl56K]

My personal preference is Kerio Personal Firewall, although Zone Alarm is pretty good too (I used to use it a few years back).

I think it should be said that although firewalls have come a long way, due to their nature you will never find one with a truely simple "on/off" switch - my point being that it's probably best you try several and then persevere with the one you like best. As with any other software each will have it's own pros and cons in terms of functionality and UI. Even if you choose a firewall for it's UI rather than its feature list, that is still better than to choose no firewall at all ;)

Good luck!

[leadman584]

I used ZoneAlarm Pro, but since abandoning IE entirely, I find the free version, quite sufficient. An active antivirus scanner is essential. I like Anti-Vir, but many are very good. It may be free for home use, but in a corporate environment you will pay dearly. After 200+ virus removals, from client computers, Anti-Vir gets the job done for me. Although slightly outside the scope of this thread, I'd strongly recommend SpyWareBlaster for added protection.
When you run Spybot immunize, with SpyWareBlaster in place, You get a message, that essentially, you have the best already, why are you even clicking this button. 0 detections with SpyWareBlaster in place in over 6 months. Ad Aware and Spybot have found nothing. I have several other scanning programs, rarely used.

http://www.hardfolding.com/ftag.php/mem/6206.png (http://www.hardfolding.com?go=38&id=6206)

[DigitAl56K]

Originally posted by leadman584
When you run Spybot immunize, with SpyWareBlaster in place, You get a message, that essentially, you have the best already, why are you even clicking this button.

Yes, but what makes you believe the message? ;)