Deciding on a new security setup...

Hi,

I've been a long time user of norton products (even though i've had many headaches with their software) up until the 2006 version. Nortn's 'protection centre' was the last straw. Enter Trand Micro's Pc-Cillin IS 2007.

Pc-Cillin is infinately superior to Norton in so many ways and on so many levels i can't put it into words. Just take it from someone who has had far too much experience with norton products over the years. There is only 1 exception to my statement. Norton's phone support is the best i've had experience with. Yes, you have to pay for it but if you know how to handle them you can actually get advanced tech support for free.

Back to the issure - I was quite happy with Pc-Cillin up until a few weeks ago. Long story short - the firewall stopped working. When i say stopped working I mean the program thought it was working but in reality it had nil effect on all inbound/outbound connections. It was as if i didn't have a firewall at all. I rang their phone support but unfortunatley due to the fact that its free...well...I got the distinct impression that I (a slightly above average oridinary home user) knew more about software than they did. I was not impressed. Suffice it to say they couldn't help me.

I made a obvious guess at that point. Re-install the software. Tadaa - everything worked fine. One good point: Their software un-installs and re-installs without a hitch (a major sorepoint with norton) and most likely thanks to some left over registry entries I didn't have to re-activate and use up one of my 3 legal new install liscences. One last gripe on Pc-Cillin - Their software initiates far too many and unhelpful (poor detailed information) pop-ups. In the end i just disabled everything except for spyware, antivirus and firewall. Which is all I want in a security app. I don't want parental control (not part of pc-cillin IS 2007 thaknfully) or 'suspicious software alarm system' (I really hated that thing). One thing i forgot to mention, the anit-spyware system built into pc-cillin is the best i've come across so far (adaware, spybot etc)

Now due to other factors i'll be re-formatting my hard drive and decided to test the best free/cheaper than the big vendors/less well known security apps. To this end i've been taking a look at various offerings and am currently looking at this setup:

Firewall: Comodo (I like this alot more than Pc-cillin's)
Antivirus: Deciding between AntiVir, Avast, Bitdefender, AVG, Nod32 and F-Secure (am a bit confused as to which is the best solution for me)
Spyware: Adaware (yes, i know that it alone will not nearly be enough protection for spyware) and possibly webroot spysweeper as it seems to be the best program for that purpose on the market (at least form what i've gathered).
Other security: Autoruns and ProcessExplorerNT - both from Sysinternals. Although i have heard good things about Ghost security software - but i guess they both do the same thing.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback on which programs are the...dare i say it...best to use? I understand that none are probably better than the other but i'd still like to get input from people who have actually used the above mentioned programs and have thus had experience with them (good or bad).

Thanks ^.^

 

1. AntiVirus -If you are a low-risk surfer, ANY of these AV's will be a good choice. Recent results over at av-comparatives suggest that the free AV's are improving fast, particularly AntiVir.

IME, BitDefender and F-Secure may be heavier in real-time than the others. However, if you have a relatively new computer then you may not see any slowdown.

Other posibilities include AOL's free Active Virus Shield with the KAV engine and if you are not using Pc-Cillin again, then Dr Web has a migration license which works out very cheap.

The best solution for you is to see which of these possibilities suit you and your system the best. So you have to trial and test them on your particular setup, ensuring you completely remove one before you try the next in-line. I would definitely check that you have completely removed Norton from your system as it is well-known that its registry debris can interfere with other programs.

2. Anti-Spyware programs seem to be very heavy on resources if their RTM's are used so you might consider only an on-demand scanner such as the free Ewido. If you are also using a non-IE browser then you should be okay with just the occasional scan. For example with this setup, I only pick up a few cookies now when I scan for spyware. Spyware Terminator, seems to be an exception, in that it is a relatively light Spyware scanner which can be run in real time without a noticeable slowdown. You may also consider the use of a HOSTS file here.

Good free choices ( including those you listed );

Software Firewall- Comodo seems a good choice, especially if you like it already. ( Do you have a router?)

AntiVirus- AntiVir, Avast or AOL's AVS.

Anti-Spyware- Spyware Terminator in real-time and Ewido Free on-demand.

Some more ideas from past threads; Here and here.

It takes awhile to finally settle on a new security setup and I would advise taking your time. Wait for some more suggestions/comments and I would also advise using a good snapshot installer/imaging/rollback/registry snapshot software throughout your tests.

Good Luck and welcome to Wilders.

 

For a free suite nothing beats comodo + antivir + spyware terminator. If you have some spare cash then comodo + nod32 + spysweeper would be a good combo.

At the moment i am trying out the new Avira Premium Security Suite RC and although it won't be free it runs very light, is unobtrusive and covers all the basic security needs.

 

Ok, i've narrowed it down to AntiVir, nod32, kaspersky and avast. Testing is continuing...

One thing i did notice - on one occasion spyware terminator was running at 50% cpu usage for no reason. But after a restart it went back to normal. So far i haven't been able to replicate this behaviour.

Also, are any of the above mentioned anti-virus apps able to co-exist?

 

i noticed you said that you have used norton up to 2006,

norton 2007 is the best of them all, no install or un-installation errors, no errors in updates for signatures now, and it is now NOT a resource hog.
also the interface is the best of any suite so far.

i think you shouldnt be too put off by the label norton, as the 2007 version rocks. try the trial, you will see.

 

Of the four av's that you listed,they are all good programs.
Comodo for a firewall.
BlackCat made a good point about antispyware program monitors being heavy.
They are.
An alternative to consider would be to choose a few free a/s scanners(AVG AS,SAS,A-Squared) and run Win Patrol Plus as a monitor.It runs a lot lighter.
The license is lifetime also.

 

Go with Antivir, Norton isnt that great on Spyware.

 

I have just been trying out Norton Internet Security 2007 and i must admit that it is a lot lighter on resources than previous versions but i still had some noticable slow down due to my system being a few years old.

 

Gah, there are too many things to consider /sigh. Ok, now i'm deciding between Kaspersky, Avast and Bitdefender. They all have their pros and cons - excelling in some areas were the others arn't and visa versa.

Decisions, decisions, decisions....

P.S. The decisions processes i've used to narrow it down to those 3 (out of the dozen or so various offerings) are 70% objective and 30% subjective (I.e. personal preference).

 

Go with Kasperskys Internet Suite. It is currently the best out their.

 

I have:

Kav 6,Outpost 4, SSM free, Ewido,Adaware and Spybot.

I feel safe enough