What do you guys think about my plan...

I am considering purchasing Bitdefender (Pro maybe) and Outpost 2.6 (family editions) so I can protect the computers of my family. I think this is a strong solution. We currently have Panda Platinum 2005 (recent free upgrade from 2004 - the firewall is kinda cheesy) Panda (2004) recently was installed late and would not remove a virus my son had already gotten propting my new interest in change. Let me know you opinion.

Thanks,
Zis

 

While you have certainly selected two very powerful apps to secure your home, getting Bitdefender Pro is pretty much redundant. If anything, its built in firewall will conflict with Outpost, and even if they get along, it will afford you really no extra security. BD8 Standard is cheaper and is more likely better suited to your needs than Pro. Otherwise, looks good to me

Oh, and perhaps you should consider a dedicated AT (antitrojan) as well? I have had great success with ewido as an effective scanner (it has a free version), and BOclean has a very generous licensing policy, though it has no trial (there is a 30 day money-back guarantee, however).

I hope this helps, and if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask

 

Very cool.. I pick BD pro 'cause of the spamin'.. but Outpost has a similar feature so... Thanks for the Input... Zis.......

 

Well, Outpost doesn't really have a spam filter. It only removes attatchments and quarantines them, if you want it to. If you really like BD's antispam capabilities, then go for Pro, but make sure that you disable its firewall to avoid any problems.

Alternately, you could migrate to a mail client like Mozilla Thunderbird, which has some rather powerful antispam tools built right in, for free. Just food for thought, though. I'm no evangelist

 

Q,

Have you seen BD pro's firewall... Is it pretty good? I just was very disillusioned with the Panda version. I have been a loyal panda user for many years so.... I todays world I feel I need to harden my defenses...

 

The main problem with BD's firewall is that it offers inbound protection only, meaning it will probably keep the bad guys out, but has NO outbound protection, so it won't alert you to what is trying to connect from your system. This could include a trojan, spyware, whatever. Outpost is hands down more effective in terms of firewalling.

 

So... Back to BD pro with firewall disabled... and Outpost 2.6... just as a twist you like Kerio FW?
Zis..

 

Not as much as Outpost

I'd say BD Pro + Outpost is a very nice combination. Just make sure to run trial versions to make sure everything plays together nicely.

 

For my own computer I use Outpost Pro and GData AVK. For the family's computers I let them choose what they feel most comfortable with. For their shared desktop that means Norton Internet Security 2005. One kid uses the same on her laptop, another uses McAfee v9 and MS firewall on his. I don't think it is so important as to which products they use as long as they are happy using them. So I would say to your plan: be sure to check with the users before you purchase to make sure that they will like BD and Outpost (or whatever you decide on) as much as reviewers do.