Best firewall for security noob

My recommendation for best firewall would have to be Comodo,it's default configuration offers a good degree of security,plus there is an excellent forum for help on any issues that arise.

Best free AV would be Avira AntiVir simply because it has the highest detection rate of all the free AVs (and most of the paid for AVs too).

 

Yes, but stay away from Avira if you're on dial-up. It often has large updates & slow servers.

For a security noob's firewall, my suggestion would be Webroot FW -- read about it on THIS Wilder's thread. It's free for $0, but **priceless** in protection.

 

For free and for speedy updates Avast rules, but free Avira offers added rootkit protection but no mail scanner. Updates are slow in free but the extra protection is well worth it.

 

I have dial up and use Avira, and I haven't found the updates slow at all. It updates daily and usually only takes a few minutes.

Webroot firewall would be one of the last firewalls I'd choose for a noob. I tried it and found it very confusing after using rules-based firewalls like Kerio 2.1.5 and Ghostwall. Also, the constant prompts about drove me nuts. I use Prosecurity as a HIPS and it isn't nearly as noisy as Webroot was. I wouldn't recommend Webroot unless you are a much more patient person that I am and have a mouse that doesn't wear out easily , cause you'll be doin' a lot of clicking. As far as ease of use, it doesn't get much easier than Zone Alarm. Even my father-in-law can use Zone Alarm... and if he can use it, anyone can. However, I'd try to find one of the older versions that don't take 100mb of memory to run and don't slow your system to a crawl.

 

Is it the free version?
If it is AntiVir PE Classic,wait til a large update is released.

 

I thought Webroot advertised that it doesn't bother you nearly as much as the competition cause it had some kind of learning mode or something? I was going to give it a try, but just haven't gotten round to it yet.. If it's that annoying then I definitely won't bother...

 

Webroot FW DOES have a learning mode. In fact, it has separate learning modes for its various modules. Moreover, the HIPS modules can be activated or not, as the user wishes.

As to an earlier poster's statement that he was used to Kerio, a rules-based firewall -- Webroot's advanced mode enables the user to do every bit as much tweaking as is possible with Kerio. However, the advanced mode is optional. If you enjoy tweaking, then tweak away. If not, just put it in learning mode for 7 days and "leave the driving to Webroot."

Webroot, Comodo beta 3, and Online Armor all offer free, state-of-the-art firewalls + (optional) HIPS. You can't go wrong with any one of those 3. I happen to prefer Webroot, but your preference might differ. As stated, any of those 3 is state-of-the-art.

For maximum simplicity use Notepad -- very simple settings. NO settings, in fact.

But seriously -- just plug into a router & you will need NO other firewall. In other words, the ***Best firewall for a security noob*** IS a router.

 

Amen to that......

 

Yes, I use the free version. That has worked pretty well for me.