Are AVG, Avast, Comodo Anti-virus really good enough for us? Same with zonealarm, kerio 4, Comodo for free firewalls? Are are we better paying hard earned cash for NOD32, Norton, McAfee and such like?
2006-10-01 10:32:17 · 11 answers · asked by paranoidandroid1975 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Internet
AVG and Kaspersky are actually among the best virus scanners available today.
Norton is good, but in my personal opinion, it's not worth the money, especially when it's competitors are offering a free version of their software.
As far as firewalls go, I don't see much difference between the free and paid versions, other than some free versions are limited to certain tasks.
ZoneAlarm is a good firewall, and does it's job. It hides your identity on the Internet, it stops certain programs you request from accessing the Internet and it stops abusive users from accessing your computer. That is all you would ask from a free firewall, and ZoneAlarm does it very well.
Other firewalls you pay for, however, give you much more advanced features, such as the ability to block certain port ranges, or even only open specific ports, such as 80 for HTTP and 21 for FTP.
If an antivirus has very regular updates, and the updates are reliable, then there is no reason why a paid one can be a better than a free one such as AVG and Kaspersky. The only reasons I would see is if it would scan for viruses, spyware and adware, all in one search, instead of needing two or three applications to do it all.
As far as firewalls go, it all depends on exactly what you want it to do. Do you want it to just hide your identity and stop dodgy programs accessing the Internet? If so, then a free one is fine. If you want to block ports, stop certain users accessing the connection, etc, then a paid one would be a better option.
Hope I helped! :)
2006-10-01 10:59:07 · answer #1 · answered by Mike 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
2
2016-08-21 00:54:13 · answer #2 · answered by Derrick 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For anti virus i stick to Norton - its never let me down, I use zone alarm but only as a backup as my router has a very effective firewall anyway, as for spyware i use spybot search and destroy although some people swear by ad-aware. Zone alarm is good enough, it'll keep out most stuff but the types of people that can get past it aren't really interested in home users anyway. You'll be fine with zone alarm and either ad-aware or spybot.
2006-10-01 10:48:52 · answer #3 · answered by thecoldvoiceofreason 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I use only the firewall that comes with XP SP2. For anti-virus, I use AntiVir, and for anti-spyware: AdAware Personal Edition SE and Spybot- S&D. All free. No spyware, couple of times a few tracking cookies. No viruses, no tojans, no worms...the only time I get anything like an ad is when AntiVir connects to its site for updates, and that is just a window with stuff in it and I just close it when it comes up - sometimes it's just there when I return to the computer, so I close it and go about my business. Not much hassle at all.
2006-10-01 10:43:08 · answer #4 · answered by sonyack 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My friend has been using his computer without any firewall or anti-virus for two years.
The computer progressively became slower and slower - until it was unusable.
Two weeks ago we installed AVG Anti-Virus. We ran a scan and picked up over 500 undesirable objects including one very bad Trojan which had replicated itself in 7 guises.
Then we installed Ad-Aware SE and ran a scan. We picked up over another 500 undesirable objects.
Then we installed Spybot Search and Destroy. We gathered up a further small but significant number of intruders [over 100, I think].
Now his computer runs like a smoking new toddler, zipping around the Internet again, in and out of everything.
But this time he is wearing armour-plating!
(We still need to fit him with a breastplate [i.e. Firewall]....)
2006-10-02 05:37:01 · answer #5 · answered by SearchingForTruth 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well it depends how do you use your computer. Simply speaking if you occationally turn off your firewall to access nasty sites..u will face the hard reality in future. However free staffs are good but hey they are free and would prompt you to get the real staff when there is a threat to your computer.
2006-10-01 10:42:00 · answer #6 · answered by Topu 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Zonealarm works fine for me.
2006-10-01 10:40:20 · answer #7 · answered by Teacher 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have Zone Alarm and it works fine, but if youre actually expecting viruses or spyware then you should definetly buy sumthing
2006-10-01 10:38:02 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
AVG and ZoneAlarm are good enough. Don't be wasting money, folks.
2006-10-01 10:39:54 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Well they are free so I recon they must be inferior to Norton etc. You don't get much for nothing in this life I am afraid.Good question though.
2006-10-01 10:43:12 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 4⤋