Looking for Anti-virus and firewall software

I have found another one for free use:

AntiVir at : http://www.winplanet.com/file/13383.htm

but not sure whether it is good or not

Which one you prefer on both product

Hi happyprogramming,

My personal preference for the firewall would always be Zone Alarm. Remember that Zone Labs (the manufacturer of Zone Alarm) is now owned by CheckPoint, one of the most respected and longest running firewall manufacturers in the world.

Good Luck
;-)

my choice?
firewall always zone alarm [free, user friendly, very easy for home PC]
anti-virus? i'm so used to AVG but i've found out that many AVG users switched to Avast but i'm not ready yet ;-D
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/archive/index.php/t-46976

try testing one of them for a period, if you don't like its performance, uninstall then change
>>don't run both together<<

AVG or Avast? They are both r made in Czechoslovakia
http://www.tech-forums.net/computer/topic/18722.html

Another firewall:

http://www.kerio.com/

And if you have a spare old computer (ie a 486) have a look at this:

http://www.coyotelinux.com/downloads/channel.php?ChannelID=5
http://www.freesco.org/

Please be aware that the new AVG Free version 7 is buggy, specially in Win9x/me.

See this:

http://forum.grisoft.cz/freeforum/index.php?0

Zee

If you are looking at windows XP as your operating System, don't forget SP2 now has a builtin Firewall, you don't really need another. As for an Antivirus Software, I find that Avast! Antivirus is the best (has already been mentioned up there somewhere).

"SP2 now has a builtin Firewall, you don't really need another."

I and many others would argue with that fact. The builtin sp2 firewall is better than *nothing*, but it still does not protect as well as other software firewalls. I say this because the builtin in xp firewall does nothing to protect against outbound connections.

The builtin firewall is a good idea in that many users will never even think about a firewall (and many don't even know what one is)...and this will atleast *help* protect them....but if you are an experienced user then I would suggest zone alarm any day of the builtin firewall.

I have instaled Avast now i having problem that when ever i boot my PC it takes longer time than before to load all my icons on desktop.

Is there any config i need to do for better performance, usually what Avast do in common.

do you installed any firewall software?
go to start>run>type "msconfig" then OK
check out wat's inside Startup tab, disable unneeded services http://netsquirrel.com/msconfig/
oso check in Services tab, tick hide all microsoft services, then disable unneeded services too
i'm not avast user but i guess it do some scanning (memory?) during startup..and i think it should allow u to disable the scan on startup somewhere

cwkhang no i don;'t have any firewall s/w installed but planning to installed Z alarm soon. Does firewall slows down my performance?

please advice me how to increase my performance

u should b able 2 use zone alarm with avast
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=8712
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=9;action=display;threadid=8679

>>usually what Avast do in common (previous post)
they perform the boot-time scan. u can find that option in the menu
Boot-time scan is available on NT-based Windows only (Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003).

>>>slow down performance?
you hv to understand tat firewall software protects the resources of a private network from users from other networks.
and it certainly wil use up some resources.
however, XP SP2 includes the new Windows Firewall, which monitors and blocks inbound attacks only.
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/xpInfoCenter/index.jsp
so for better protection, we use 3rd party firewall software.

I have read SP2 is slow in performance in some forum

COuld you please explain me what Avast exactly do for, what are its features that i need in my daily use. could you please let me i have just installed the Avast. I mean what are the actual benifit from it

And i am planning to installed Z alarm as well could you please let me know some of its feature too, that is useful for me as above

Regards

what FREE avast do : http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home2.html
what FREE zone alarm do : http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/zonealarm/znalm_details.jsp?lid=zaskulist_info#benefits