Buying an AV vs a Suite

Nowadays it seems that every security company has both a bare bone antivirus and a security suite.

Are these suites really beneficial? I mean, other than the Firewall that they add, I see all the extra add-ons are gimmicks I don't use such as Safe Banking or Parental Controls, etc.

What is your take on this? Is it wiser to just get the AV component from those companies and stick to the Windows Firewall or are they really worth teh 3xtra moneh?

 

there are different point of views on this topic.
Personally i like suites like KIS BIS Norton Zonealarm and Agnitum . They have their pros and cons such as heavy slow atc but i would not bother using KAV and buy a firewall because KIS firewall is more stronger than say AVG.
But what i hate about the suites (avg and zonealarm ) and other as well
they promote
AV FW Parental Control back up and other stuff . When you end up buying they say pay some more for the features such as tune up parental control or others . It is pure promotional message . i do not like them because of this .
Sometimes we pay because we want attention and service from the costumer support. well Avast will not be that prompt to answer you. Norton is quite well on this .
But when they are quick enough to answer( McAffee for instance ) they want you to pay 99 bucks if you get infected ....... how about that
So take sometime and see which gets to meet your needs the best and what expectations you have
gery

 

Well the reason I ask, is because most people tell me the built in Windows Firewall is good enough coupled with some common sense (ie, not clicking on any weird links)

Even Avast! Free offers a URL link scanner so this makes me wonder. I think the suites are not really worth it

what do u think bro?

 

My setup's foundation is LooknStop FW, SandBoxie browser patrol, DefenseWall (malware blocker), & Kaspersky Suite with the FW disabled. Before my good luck chancing upon KiS I ran Avast AV free stripped down to the file guard. DWall is the main barrier internally & SBoxie the browser. The AV is really for basic perimeter patrol & mopping up. When I go up to x64 DWall will have to be replaced with App guard. With SBoxie & DWall / App Guard there are basically no positions vacant for Internet security suites to apply for except the file guard. And even that could easily be replaced with standby scanners.

 

Suites are good when you want to avoid hassles in upgrading, compatibility, uninstalls and reinstalls, support etc.

Other than that it doesn't matter either way. Though, in general, someone paranoid about security would want to mix and match the best components rather than rely on many components from the same vendor.

 

I used to run AV + zone alarm FW but that really slowed by PC. That was the main reason that I migrated to Internet Security stuff.

However, since most security products have evolved and become really fast, this does not hold true now.

Using AV has advantage that you could use it for free coupled with free FW and still have great protection but IS costs much more.

Its up to you. In terms of security, I do not think you would be at much risk if you an AV and Win FW ( since Win FW is decent enough too).

 

To save you a bit of research time, many of the more knowledgeable posters here I have noted rate win7 FW up there with LnS & better than most stuff around. The general opinion when you add it all up seems to be "next time I'll use Win7 FW plus (whatever) rather than an outsourced FW."

 

i prefer a all in one type of solution personally. i just dont like adding more programs than i have to on my systems. i also like having the fw integrated to work with the av and in some cases i have seen with separate ones they dont always play nice together.

but yeah for the most part if you are fine with that then use separate it works as good and or better than a suite just another program to mess with.

 

I'm paranoid about security , but now security softwares are more complex and less compatible - I think also for competition reasons - so it's more difficult to create a multi layer defense with different components without have some programs conflict.

 

Let's face it; the main reason that we are all members of Wilders Security is because we are all paranoid about computer security.

I used to be an AV suites guy personally and I still recommend them for those that have no idea how computer security works. For power users, individual components often have an advantage because you can have more security layers.

It's no secret here at Wilders that I like, use, and recommend the following products:

Webroot SecureAnywhere (either by itself or in conjunction with another AV)
PrivateFirewall
MBAM Pro

As usual ( ), I expect to take some anti-aircraft fire for saying the following true statement:
I have never seen a system become infected with any malware while running the above three products. So far this combo is running on my five systems and twenty or so client machines. I will freely admit that this is a very small number of computers and thus a small sample size, so your highway mileage may vary.

Flak jacket now on.

 

I prefer to stick with stand-alone apps that do one thing very well.You can choose the best from each category.
And you can get equivalent protection from a mixture of paid and free standalone applications at a lower price.
Just for the record,I don't hate suites.I just like to mix things

 

No flak from me my friend.If it works for you then by all means carry on.
pity WSA does not have a free option as i would use this also but i dont like running trial software.

 

Target is still selling the 2012 3-PC version of WSA Antivirus for $20 for a one-year license, and you get a free upgrade to the much-improved 2013 version when you install it. That's $7 a year per system, and while that is NOT free, it probably won't break-the-bank.

 

Yeah im considering having a look at this.Unfortunately this product has been receiving a lot of flak and im not sure why.

Im not going to judge it either way until ive tried it myself.
I was also considering installing kingsoft cloud av as this also is apparently compatible with installed security programs plus it uses the avira engine which is an added bonus.

 

Once Kingsoft AV 2013 comes out, you should see a marked improvement. It's actually out for our Chinese friends. It has the Avira engine with the new BB. Looking forward to it.

 

I agree with you 100% on this.
I would like to use it as a compliment to CIS and im not aware of any issues in doing this.
It would be a welcome additional layer in my opinion.

 

Yep. Once my EAM subscription runs out this is what I'll be adding to Comodo firewall.

 

Yeah i find the comodo av is very good but i just wish they would submit it for testing.

 

I say use what you want and works best for you.

If you like a certain payfor AV/Suite then buy it.
If you feel that a Free solution has everything you need then go for that.

In the end it all comes down to the product it self imo, and not whether it is Pay vs Free or AV vs Suite

 

The only thing why I prefer a suite, is because you configure the different protection modules in one program. If you chose for a stand alone approach you have to configure each software separately instead of one configuration module when you use a Suite.