Which Firewall and Virus Protection to Use?

[GMTECH]

Thank You for all of your help on this forum! What are you guys using for a firewall and virus? I use Norton, but I'm thinking about changing. Thank You for shedding any light!

[LiLbRo]

I wont lie, I use nothing, but I have never had a need too...

[Hawk]

I set all my WinXP Pro security firewall settings, so I'm not using a 3rd party firewall. And I use AVG Antivirus (http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php) which is a good free (small footprint on your pc) program. Also, I check my pc at the end of every day with Ad-Aware SE personal edition (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/) and Spybot-Search & Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html) which are both free too. Then once a week just to be sure, I run an online virus scan- Trend Micro PC-cillin (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp) . Keeps my pc's nice and clean. Of course you have to run Windows update on a regular basis too, for all the security patches. Sounds like a lot of trouble, but it's nothing compared to getting a virus,trojan,hijacker, etc and having to wipe your HD and start over. I used to use Norton a long time ago, until I found out how much it takes over your pc and hogs resources. Hope this helps.

[kryyst]

I use AVG and Ad-ware for the software side of things with a hugely edited hosts file to block most garbage links. Then everything is passwing through a linksys WRTG54 with Seasofts firmware so I have firewall stuff and bandwidth mapping through it. Other then the router everything else was free software. I have XP's firewall features and ICS completely dissabled.

[Hawk]

And here is kryysts edited hosts file walkthrough- Blocking Spyware/Adware/Unwanted sites (http://icrontic.com/articles.php?fetch=articles&id=7)
Which is in the Articles section, on the front page.
Very good read. :thumbsup:

[fatcat]

Norton Antivirus 2002....I have one of those versions that never expires ;) I dont use any firewall, just whatever the netgear router has, has worked for me.

[GMTECH]

Thank You for all the input, I will try AVG etc etc. Thank You!