Security settings for dial up user

Was at dad's dial-up computer this weekend. NIS 2004 subscription service is set to expire and I refuse to pay the $40 for another year's service. I was wondering if AVG anti-virus and the windows sp2 firewall might be enough protection? He's online sometimes for quite awhile but as far as I know doesn't really actively seek out hacker and other sites that might be more conducive to a virus or trojan horse. However while using his computer, I got a NIS message saying it had blocked a port scan attempt. Would Windows SP2 have done the same thing? Is the free version of Zone Alarm a better alternative? I know the SP2 firewall does not monitor outbound material but in his case I don't think that will be a problem as he will have very few outbound new programs, only what I give him.

 

I believe you're thinking right.
AVG or Avast and ZONE alarm or Kerio (all free)
are suitable for this...

 

Look at IBK's post.Will help making a decision on an AV alittle easier.As far as firewalls go, i would still go with a 2 way and set it so it's not alerting your dad with constant popups.But enable logging so you can periodically look them over for suspicious outgoing attempts.Zonealarm free did so poorly on the recent Leaktests, i would go with another one.

 

ZA free would be fine for basic protection. leaktests arent everything.

 

Yes, they aren't everything but still should be factored into the decision process.I was disappointed my Kerio4 only scored 11.Zonealarm free only scored "4"!.I don't think i was the only one who was alittle shocked how poorly it did and what a difference in scores between "free" and "pro".

 

I used to use ZoneAlarm free, good solid basic protection. Never failed a leak test, if the new version does fail the leak test so what. I used Zonealarm Pro too, I can't say thing bad aginst ZA Pro, at least before 4.5. Now I use Outpost Pro 3.5 .

 

I don't think you should be surprised with that kind of results with ZA (free). ZA (free) only contains the traditional outbound protection which would not be able to monitor the newer leak tests that depend on injection, hijacking of legitimate processes etc.

Whereas in paid versions of ZA, they come with the OSFirewal(ala HIPS) feature which do monitor those kind of things. I used ZA (Free) and was happy with how it performed already so I didn't mind spending a bit more for far more superior protection features in ZA Pro. Hopefully when you use ZA (free), you'd be happy with it and be enticed to get other types of ZA with far better protection.

 

It should be OK with the following freebies...

avast! Home Edition + ZoneAlarm Free + Spybot S&D

On my machine, I have only avast! Home Edition + Windows Firewall + ewido (backup on-demand scanner), it's enough for me.

 

Avast makes a decent choice if you turn off the Web Shield. Tends to be slow for dial up users, and I have REAL experience in that department.