firewall and antivirus?

[andrewas]

None of the programs you listed will demand payment, though ZoneAlarm and AVG both come in both commerical and free versions.

Only the first two are anti-spyware. The third is antivirus, and ZA is a firewall.

As for the difference between spyware and virus - a virus is a self replicating programs, a spyware is a program which steals information. Its possible for a program to be both virus and spyware.

[Luvian]

Originally posted by Variol (Farseer) Elmwood: Spybot S&D Ad-Aware AVG Anti-virus ZoneAlarm I tried all of these. Some seemed like they wanted to take over too much. When I ran 1 of them, it searched, then asked if I wanted to clean things. I said said yes and it brought up a window to register and said save $10 now! At that point I closed everything and removed it. I also don't understand the difference between spyware and viruses. The ones listed above seem to be all spyware programs.

I think you're thinking of the wrong program. Spybot S&D for example is totally free, there is no option to buy it, it's totally freeware.

Adaware does have a free and a pay version, and I think you can get a 30 days demo of the pay one, but the free version does clean up files and doesn't ask you for money either.

Zonealarm is a firewall, it doesn't search or clean anything, and doesn't ask for anything.

I'm not sure what you mean about taking over too much, but those are security programs, if they are to do their job they have to be active and running at all time, just like paid for security programs.

But there ARE viruses that pretend to be anti-spyware/adware programs but are really scam. Those are the one that pup up telling you you have a problem and let you scan, then ask you to register before you can remove the fake things they found. But the one above are not like that, which is why I think you're thinking of the wrong program.

[ 11-27-2006, 08:34 AM: Message edited by: Luvian ]

[Bungleau]

Originally posted by Variol (Farseer) Elmwood: Spybot S&D This may have a window that pops up asking for donations. It does so once, as I recall; at least, I can't remember the last time I've seen it Ad-Aware Some features are only enabled if you buy the full version. IT will still clean, however, and provide basic protection. It shouldn't encourage you more than once to upgrade to the pay version (unless you try to use something that's only in the pay version) AVG Anti-virus I think it asks you once when you first get started. It doesn't ask again after that, as I recall, although it may ask again if you upgrade to a newer version. ZoneAlarm When you first install, it asks if you'd like to install the full product as a trial, buy the full product, or install the free product. If you installed the trial, it will ask you to upgrade when the trial expires. If you don't, it puts you back down to the free version, which has less functionality. I don't bother with the trial any more; I just install the basic version. I tried all of these. Some seemed like they wanted to take over too much. When I ran 1 of them, it searched, then asked if I wanted to clean things. I said said yes and it brought up a window to register and said save $10 now! At that point I closed everything and removed it. This sounds like the ZoneAlarm registration window. It will offer you a discount if you upgrade to the paid version; you don't have to, though.

I can tell you that none of these requires a payment in order to protect and clean your system. I have made a donation to Spybot in the past, but I have not paid any money to the others. And I made the donation to Spybot because I felt like it, not because the software insisted.

I think you may be giving these tools a bad rap. I'd encourage you to try them again.

[JrKASperov]

So no one knows comodo?

After using it for a few days, it has given way less problems than ZAPro. It allows my wife to connect my shared files, it doesn't block sites like google, and I don't have to put it to off to upload files to someone else. Also, it has the same 'give the program access' dialogs as ZApro, and the ability to scan your harddisk for known ok programs. I find it easy to use, the same as ZApro in fact, it has the same UI except for where stuff is placed and the colours.

Added plusses: it shows your ip address in the firewall, together with your network address. It also (and this is VERY handy!) shows all your active programs and what ports they use and where they are connecting to, together with a short description(if known) of what the program does with it's connection. Very user friendly.

You have to give your email address, but then you get comodo with a full free key without extras like popups asking for more. Also, it is remarkably silent, using only 15 mb of ram. I haven't seen any suspect activity, and it is on a couple of lists of 'free firewalls'.

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

Ok, I didn't read all that, but I will. So, if I were to take Norton system works out of my 2 PC's which would y'all recommend to replace it?

[JrKASperov]

For me, comodo firewall together with Avast! or AVG.

[Hivetyrant]

BTW, there are versions of Zone Alarm that clean viruses and spyware/adware

[Huwge]

Comodo is the FW of the moment. A paid av like NOD would be worth spending the money on

[Bozos of Bones]

I swear by the godlike combination of Ad-Aware/AVG/Spy-Bot/Sygate for being absolutely free and awesome. Alas, Sygate is no longer with us(curse you, symantec! May a thousand hungry zerglings infest your crotch!), but ZoneAlarm no longer sucks and actually rules now! W00t!
And if you wanna pay money... don't. The only thing that works better than the afore-mentioned combo is replacing AVG with NOD 32. The only anti-virus that beats AVG in my own home-brewn benchmark.

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

Would the add/remove program option be the best to remove Norton, or should I let it uninstall itself, if there's an option?

[ 11-28-2006, 08:18 AM: Message edited by: Variol (Farseer) Elmwood ]