Quick advice

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Heya folks, I wondered if I might get a round of suggestions

A friend has just gotten herself online with a lappy via a shared wifi connection.

Anyway, she's off to Curry's in the morn to get herself her own wifi card and some protection, I use Zonealarm which I picked up from a friend (you know how that goes) so I only have a vague idea of the off-the-shell kit, I know Norton is rubbish but here endeth my knowledge.

She'll need a blindingly vicious spyware and virus killer, and a nice strong firewall.

So if you lovely people are feeling generous (or like showing off ;) ) would you see your way clear to giving us a few ideas?

 

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Firewall: XP SP2's own or free Sygate.
Anti-virus: AVG7 Free
Spyware: Adaware, and Spybot S&D.

Total cost: £0.00



Admittedly not the top notch but adequate for home user with enough intelligence to know how to light a match safely.

My 2€

 

Well...you've got a good start with Zone Alarm. It's a good freeware firewall and I tend to recommend it. You can just install a copy on her laptop and show her how it works.

As far as anti-virus, I'd recommend the freeware version of AVG. I dropped Norton quite some time ago and have never had a problem with AVG. You can find it here:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

 

I would go with Jakamoko totally except I believe that all the programs are excellent.

The best protection against spyware/adware is Javacool's Spywareblaster. It is not a removal program, it is purely a blocker. You don't need Spybot S&D or Lavasofts Adaware unless you already have malware on your PC.

Get Spywareblaster here - clickable link

 

I use spywareblaster, and I've always been a fan of PestPatrol (it's not free, but it's only about $25).
That is until I get his by Nail.exe and Aurora and nothing would shift it.
Zone alarm is good, but I hav run into the odd problem with it.

 

I use Zone Alarm firewall, AVG free anti-virus and Adaware anti-spyware. Have also tried Spy Sweeper which is a blocker and remover and it worked well. Most anti-spyware programs seem to be good when used in combination as different ones are better at removing certain things than others.

Try this web site and review their pages for 'Adaware and Spyware Removal', 'Antivirus' and 'Spyware Central'. www.download.com The baseline test they used to compare 5 different anti-spyware programs is quite revealing [under 'most effective anti-spyware tool].

 

Jaks suggestion works well enough for me.

 

wot was said above... plus don't use outlook express or IE if you can avoid.. install Open Office instead of MS Office, Mozilla, Thunderbird or Firefox to browse and check email and she's a lot safer straight away...

 

I use that firewall as well and the basic version is FREE!

 

I'm using ZonAlarm and Nod32 AV s/w. Both are working perfectly for me. My advice is, choose a right product whether it's free or priced,and regularly update. Without any updations, it'll be worthless.

 

ZA and AVG are set up on her lappy and it all works good as gold.

Thank you for your time you beautiful peoples

 

I use AVG at work and at home. As stated above you should be fine with xp's built in firewall (SP2). As it's an home computer i'd be inclined to go with ad-aware se personal, it's free and tends to do a good job. Steer away from Norton (i never install Norton these days). Zonealarm is a good bet. On the wireless side of things make sure you enable WEP encryption 128bit with a key! Don't leave your wireless connection open you are asking for trouble.

In addition, it's important you keep your antivirus up to date - i know that's stating the obvious but it's amazing how many people expect it to just work and know about new strains of virus without updates!!

 

WPA encryption is more secure than WEP. WEP can be cracked quite easily if you have the right tools, which are easily available on the Internet.

So go for WPA-PSK (pre shared key) to keep the baddies out

 

I realise that WPA is more secure i was just trying to say(not very well!) that at least have WEP on rather than nothing at all! How can i put it - if you put window locks on your windows the burglar can still break the windows to get in but he might think twice whereas he would most definately fancy his chances with no windows locks on!

 

While we are on the subject of wireless encryption, it appears it hasn't come full circle. WPA seems to drop the connection/make it hard to sync up with the gateway randomly...

 

Yeah I've noticed that too Boyce...My Linksys Router and Linksys PC Card is terrible on WPA. Drops the connection all the time.

 

I see Drum_dude has had the same experience.

I will have to investigate this because I am having issues with random drop outs at home. Using WPA could be the cause??

I will let you know.

Thanks for the heads up Boyce.