Anti-Virus/firewall Advice

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I use the free Avira (over AVG ) which i am more than happy with.

My parents have brought my nieces laptops as a one off special present to also help them with school etc

I need to install Anti virus and firewall software.

I was considering Avira however i dont think its user friendly enough for them (or my brother ), they are not computer literate.

Don't really mind if its free or commercial, free would be nice, but looking for the most set and forget solution available. I have never used it but i heard Norton 360 doesn't require user interaction

Only be using very common apps on it (os is vista).

Any ideas?

(i also need to ask the same question regarding parental controls??)

Cheer all.

 

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I'd get AVG (the firewall anti virus all in one)for them. I used to use Avira but notice a few holes in it whilst it updates and the updates can take forever.

Comodo is a good free firewall but is quite advanced.

I now use Eset smart security, it takes up less cpu usage than avira and it's a firewall and antivirus/anti-spam setup. And the updates are super quick. It costs £40 a year.

You can get it to ask every time something tries to connect to your pc or you try to send something out, create your own policies so everything is blocked unless it's in your policy list or you can do both.

Highly recommended for people with computer knowledge it might be a bit annoying or difficult for computer illiterates

 

These are my recommendations:-

Firewall - Sunbelt Personal Firewall - http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Home-Home-Office/Sunbelt-Personal-Firewall/

Anti-Virus - AVG Free (or Pro, but Free is... free ) - http://free.avg.com/download?prd=afe

Both are very easy to set up and leave them to do their job. I've been a user of AVG for a long time, and have never had to reconfigure it after setting it up initially.

As for parental controls, I'm not too sure. This PC Mag page may help though - http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,2806,1639158,00.asp. It contains detailed reviews of the most common packages out there, freeware and paid-for and offers some decent advise.

Enjoy

Qs

 

I currently run Avira on my main PC and AVG free on another

Avira yes it does have a update issueits to do with the update server load there end, so you have to do it at odd times. Avira detection and remove rate is much better than AVG,in fact better than alot of commercial packages , free AVG detection is pants at least upto version 7

Yes i use this, its too advanced

I'll have a look not used this one in a long time, only tried the antivirus on XP 64 because at the time was only 64 bit package

That's the main problem all the pop ups for rules

I will look into Eset

Anyone uses Zonelabs all-in-one?

 

Cheers i'll look at Sunbelt Personal, never heard of it!

Already I know Free AVG well (also not so keen because it asks to be installed and download latest every so often)

 

Goddamnit, I must have been half asleep. That's the exact reason I dislike AVG!! I meant avast! antivirus. Self-updating, set it up and it runs like a dream.

Download link is here - http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html


Meh... need more coffee obviously.

Qs

 

I used Zone Alarm for a while (if thats the same thing). It seemed good but had a bad colour scheme that would make an epiletic throw a fit.

With Eset if you set it to policy based and create your own rules, you do not get any pop ups, if you try and run something that needs to connect to the internet and you haven't created a rule it just won't run. That's why I like it, everything is blocked. you can try it free for 30 days http://www.eset.com/download/free_trial_download_int.php

 

Lol .. cheers

 

Zone Labs is the company.

Zone Alarm is their firewall software.

Zone Labs All-in-one is their internet security suite (afaik Zone Alarm is included in this)


Qs

 

Yes if i remember correctly there internet security suite uses the Kaspersky antivirus engine

 

ahh right, looked abit too much like nortons for me which put me of it. I am likeing my Eset.

 

I'll think i'll test Q's suggestions on my laptop over weekend. (try free route first)

Would be nice if i could find a suitable free perental control app now.

I'll google later ... I need to study and get through this chapter

 

Wait till you hit the permissions chapter (5 iirc)

Let us know what the outcome is, if I find any free parental control apps then I'll be sure to PM you matey.

Qs

 

Will do

Its chapter 5 and yes its the one i am doing now, just finished managing files and folders, next lesson 2 NTFS permissions

I know inheritance takes a bit to get head around

Think Chap 5 and the networking one are the biggies

Laters

 

The same could be said of the bundled Vista firewall. I think the point is that Andi wants something third-party and non Microsoft so he can be safe in the knowledge that there is an adequate (yes, that was a dig!) application in place.

If anyones interested in finding out more about Vista's in-built parental controls then a quick google search will give lots of info.

Official MS page is here - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/parental-controls.aspx

Enjoy

Qs

 

Yeah, really looking for self maintained and adequate. Parental controls in third party package are more likely to check against a up-to-date database of website nasties, yes i am also looking for content filtering.

 

looking at

k9webprotection.com

Looks like best free solution so far

 

I haven't put them through there paces on my laptop yet, but I think they will be ideal.

Haven't installed k9webprotection yet, i'll test it then brother will have to install using his password/email.
I'll also set up OpenDNS on their router, which has optional basic filtering and i use for DNS.

Take look at openDNS its a nice free service.