Cheap and good protection

**HipHoper** · May 19th, 2008, 02:34 AM

I moved most of my clients to Nod32 antivirus about a year ago, And generally speaking I'm quite satisfied.
The thing is that me myself got infected with some trojan about 2 monthes ago, And since nod32 is bought per year of use basis, I'm looking now to some other alternative.
I need something that won't leech system resources, So thought about :
avg free + comodo free firewall + windows defender
The thing is that the comodo blocked to much things when I tested it few weeks ago, Which disturbed me, So I've installed Zonealarm pro for the meanwhile, And it's firewall is much more friendly - And also helped me get rid of the trojan I've had).
the programs I've mentioned are all free solutions, And not system hugging (Maybe except for MS defender).
I would be happy to hear from your experience, And to have some of your suggestions for other protection solutions (Doesn't have to be free).

Thank you :O)

**Ferrit** · May 19th, 2008, 09:50 AM

I have yet to see cheap and free be a good solution.

**HipHoper** · May 19th, 2008, 09:52 AM

Hey ferrit :O)

As opposed to which costly and efficient one ?

**Ferrit** · May 19th, 2008, 10:04 AM

Well none is a silver bullet thats a given right off,
As to which is a paid better version.
That's usually left up to opinion.
But i see a numnber of people through the chat and with my buisness and AVG is no solution.
NOD32 I have not used but I hear its good.
If I read it right you said on NOD you got a trojan. Thats not unusual for any antivirus. It's a war they make em smarter and then we get smarter AV.
We are allways playing catch up.
Personally and through my buisness I use Norton 2008 AV
As far as I can see it uses a low amount of memory for the protection it provides. I buy it for like 20 bucks for an OEM copy.
Now that being said no it isnt problem free I have seen some issues with it as I have seen varying amounts in a lot of other software.
I dont use anything but the anti virus on its own soley.
No Norton 360
No Norton Utilities
etc etc

Just as an extra note. I am now using a lot of Symantec End point protection in office situations.

**Matridom** · May 19th, 2008, 02:48 PM

I'm also using norton, but i got a corporate version, it's simple, it works, and it's not in your face like the retail versions of the software that is available.

**HipHoper** · May 19th, 2008, 04:07 PM

And guys, What about firewalls ? The xp built-in one is not such a "hit". As a matter of fact the trojan I got just disabled the windows firewall.....

**CCT** · May 19th, 2008, 04:16 PM

There's nothing wrong with ZoneAlaram in that is allows you to set up which internal programs can access the internet as well as blocking external access into your system.

I use AVG 8.0 and run Ad-Aware 2007 and Spybot S&D and routinely run HijackThis and A-Squared HijackFree with Windows Defender running.

I surf lots and get minimal problems. Once a month I run a reputable on-line scanner.

**NooNoo** · May 19th, 2008, 05:01 PM

ZoneAlarm is not as effective as Comodo.

**HipHoper** · May 19th, 2008, 10:10 PM

The Defense + feature of the comodo seems a bit annoying. Is it needed ? I ask this since I feel like the avast is already gives some protection for spyware and such. Is the MS defender is also needed in that case ? I just don't want the system to get over defensed and working slow....

**NooNoo** · May 20th, 2008, 06:12 AM

Defense + can be annoying... but I haven't gone into it in detail - perhaps have a rummage on comodos site.

**Platypus** · May 20th, 2008, 09:32 AM

One of the big claims for Comodo is that it watches for code injection. This can defeat firewall application monitoring, as malware runs as a parasite within an already permitted application, or makes it appear that a trustworthy application is requesting permission.

**HipHoper** · May 20th, 2008, 12:56 PM

I played with the comodo for the last day and it is quite annoying.Most of my clients wouldn't be able to deal with the notification AND stay sane, And I love them (The clients, Not the notification :O). I guess I'll need to stick to a friendlier solution although less effective like NIS 2008 or such.
Thanks all for your input.

**pbolduc** · May 20th, 2008, 06:57 PM

I don't understand why people install software firewalls unless its on their laptop. If I was you I'd consider an inexpensive router as a basic firewall which is quite effective for 99% of the world. Secondly remove Microsoft windows defender crap as well as any third party firewall crap software. Just a recipe for disaster. Install Super Anti-Spyware from here: http://www.superantispyware.com/
and Download and install Free Anti-VIR for your trojan and virus needs.
http://www.free-av.com/

Problems solved.

**HipHoper** · May 20th, 2008, 07:05 PM

Thanks Pb,
I've had some experiences that Router's firewall did not protect users as well as software UPDATEABLE ones. And even then the windows built-in firewall didn't do it's job. So if you want good protection, A software firewall is a MUST unless you have Checkpoint S-Box, or some other hardware updateable firewall.
I'll check out the Super ant spyware. I hope the Anti-Vir AV got better than 2years ago, Since you needed to update it manually, And it's definitions update weren't that often.....

**amyb** · July 30th, 2008, 02:11 PM

I went this route for my client today. A workstation got hit with the XP virus worm. A nasty thing.
They have Norton, but that has been a thorn in my side since I started consulting with this business.
I am using that workstation as a test so I can show the head cheese that norton bites and didn't even detect this worm/virus.
So, thanks for the link.