Good free AV and firewall software.

by **LordShard** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 6:29 pm

Originally posted by Lord ZOG
http://www.grisoft.com

AVG 7.0

Free for residents.

Good for you. Mmmm!

Good for me. Mmmm!

I've been recommending it to my clients since early February.

http://www.synergygaming.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=1972&PN=1

After reading that thread which was posted on the BF:V forums, I now am glad I tossed norton and downloaded AVG, even though I still have to use the crummy windows firewall.

by **Lord ZOG** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 8:05 pm

The main reason I've given up recommending Norton (or any Symantec product) to my clients is the simple fact that their products are bloated resource hogs.

That, and they're needlessly complex, especially for most end users. I've spent more time troubleshooting problems with Norton Anti-Virus, than I have actually cleaing viruses off a machine.

It's simple math; why pay to spend hours trying to fix Norton Anti-Virus, when a smaller, more efficient and free program works better?

Firewalls are a tricky subject. Again, we're talking software that is much too complex for the majority of most end users out there, and often times what-ever configuration process you go through can be lost through buggy application interfaces oir just plain unreliability.

I tell my clients; keep things simple and uncluttered. AVG and Windows Firewall are free and are efficient enough for most people's needs (provided they're not completele idiots when it comes to browsing the Internet).

by **Savage Bulldog** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 8:32 pm

I downloaded AVG and ZoneAlarm last week. They are both very good programs,and easy to use.

by **Attica** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 9:38 pm

I've used AVG and ZoneAlarm for a few years now and they've always done me good.

With the SP2 addition to Windows, the built in firewall seems to do just fine.

by **Mugzy** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 9:40 pm

I tried ZoneAlarm, but it always gave me fits. Every time windows crashed and I had to reboot, ZoneAlarm would loose all the settings.

I had to make sure to backup the settings and then restore after a crash.

by **Lord ZOG** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 9:56 pm

Ugh, Zone Alarm. I tried and tried to get this thing to work. Just like you said, Mugzy....one day you'd boot up and all the frikin settings you tweaked and set would be gone.

I had a client's server running that, had the proper ports for Remote Desktop opened and one frikin day it just forgot the settings and stopped me from logging in remotely to check on backups. I had to pack up and go there in person.

It can be enticing to go with a software firewall, but you're much better off with a hardware solution, even if it's some cheapie LinkSyS NAT router.

by **Starlite** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:24 pm

Zogs so smart:P

Don't kick me now...but I've been using Zone Alarm. Only because it's free:P

by **El Cabron** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:57 pm

http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=588

Here is a good article on memory usage.

Good free AV and firewall software.

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