Zen Internet Support Forum

Hello,

YES! It is for this very reason (rip off prices) that I ditched Norton Anti Virus. My subscription ran out but the renewal fees kept going up and then to add insult Symantec wanted to charge an extra fee of £12 just because I wanted to pay by Debit card and NOT their preferred method of credit card, frankly it was the straw that broke the camels back.

**Also Norton was horrendous to remove (take off) my system, in the end I had to download a special uninstaller tool. Which did remove the package off my machine. My machine ran much better after Norton was removed.

**I switched from Norton anti virus to AVG Free anti virus which is actually a far better package and has free daily updates i.e. no subscriptions. AVG free has better features than Norton had (has). And will work with W2K.

**I use Zone Labs (now check point software) Zone Alarm basic free firewall. It is an extremely good program which I have been using for many years since.  And will work with W2K.

**I can also highly recommend a) SpyBot Search & Destroy 1.4 for XP or 1.5 for Vista. This is one of the best free anti spy ware programs I've come across. b) also A2Squared Free (free-ware) with free updates. And will work with W2K.

Regards Ivan 

I agree.

Norton is far worse than the diseases it aims to cure.

Cytek's advice is good.

There are plenty of free tools of equal or better quality, which won't infect your system like Norton.

pintosal:

Norton is far worse than the diseases it aims to cure.

There are plenty of free tools of equal or better quality, which won't infect your system like Norton

Agreed.

 I used to use Norton when I first had a PC and it was a real resource hog and it was also difficult to uninstall.

So like cyteck, I had to download a removal tool.

p.s. it was as bad as the dreaded AOL bloatware that I used to use (I migrated to Zen from AOL last year)
 

My advice, FWIW, is ditch Norton: it's a bloated piece of ****.

If only sensible people are using your machine you don't really need any antivirus at all (others will disagree, fine); you DO need a firewall but if you have a router then that'll (assuming you have UPnP and remote access turned OFF; and only the inbound services you've activated yourself activated) be good enough; otherwise make sure you have a software firewall of some sort (you don't need both router and firewall, just either).

If you must have antivirus then get AVG free.

Well chaps, thanks for your views and advice.

I guess I havent dumped NIS before is because all of the hassle to remove it from my system. I use a few other Symantec products (Winfax, Ghost and GoBack) and I think I will have to unistall all of them and then use the removal tool to rid myself of NIS.

Does anyone have opinions on Kaspersky Internet Security ? Otherwise I will probably take Cyteck's suggested route of AVG plus ZoneAlarm.

 Cheers guys

> ZoneAlarm

I'd not touch that with a barge-pole either (for the same reason I'd not touch Norton).

Are you using a router?   If so, then you don't need a software firewall, not even the built in windows one.

pwhyles:

> ZoneAlarm

I'd not touch that with a barge-pole either (for the same reason I'd not touch Norton).

Are you using a router?   If so, then you don't need a software firewall, not even the built in windows one.

I used Zone Alarm Firewall for many years and have been using their Security Suite since it's first release.  The only problem I have had with it was a couple of releases ago when it started to slow my PC to a crawl when first booted up.  This issue has now been resolved and I have always found it to be effective, un-intrusive, easy to use and good value.  It runs happily alongside Counterspy, which I also recommend for the same reasons.  I don't have Counterspy running all of the time, I just scan my system with it a couple of times a week.  It occasionally picks up items missed by Zone Alarm but I think that it is widely acknowledged that you should scan with more than one product anyway.

My router incorporates a hardware firewall but it is far from a 'catch all' solution, I know from experience, and I am very careful where I visit and what I download/open.

I guess it is easy to get paranoid about Internet security but I feel the above measures offer me a good balance between security and performance at a reasonable cost.

What price peace of mind?

pwhyles:

> ZoneAlarm

I'd not touch that with a barge-pole either (for the same reason I'd not touch Norton).

Are you using a router?   If so, then you don't need a software firewall, not even the built in windows one.

I had not intended to use the full ZoneAlarm security suite, since I tried that some time ago on a laptop, which then performed as if wading through treacle, just the free firewall, or are you saying that is bloatware too?

I connect to my home pc from work, and configuring the Speedtouch firewall to accept that connection, and only that connection, is proving problematical, so I would like the safety net of a software firewall.

 I am not too concerned over spyware as I use a couple of good scanners, Trend Micro and XoftSpy which I run once or twice a fortnight.

Hello,

Sorry!! I think your WRONG!! pwhyles, I have been using Zone Alarm's free basic firewall product for many many years (version 2.361) and its rock solid, its totally reliable, & has provided "set it & forget it" (SPI) stateful packet inspection protection ever since I installed it, I've never had a single moments problem with it.  

**YES! Agreed some of the more recent versions of the free product I haven't liked much because of the horrible GUI changes made. But the under the hood product doesn't appear to have changed much, its still uses SPI.

**YES! technically I guess you can (could) get away with only using a routers built in firewall but that only gives you x1 line of defense. Some people like myself might argue that to have a software firewall as well gives you belt & braces, thus a second line of defense. Call that paranoia if you like but if it doesn't cause extra problems I cannot see the harm in having a software firewall as well.

**YES! I have to agree I don't like the MS windows built in firewall in XP or Vista. 

Ivan 

 > are you saying that is bloatware too

I used ZA from just about day 1 and it's grown into bloatware.

When I went broadband via a router I ditched it as software firewalls are not required when using one.

Modern routers by default won't let /anything/ in: the only incoming allowed is a rsponse to your outgoing request.

However, if you have Up&p enabled in your router then programs you run can open ports in the router without your knowledge; that's why I say switch this off.

> Sorry!! I think your WRONG!!

No need to be sorry; I don't mind either way.

If you are using a router then you don't need a firewall, period. 

Running a firewall just wastes resources but since most home computers hardly ever get stretched these days it does not really matter about the resource loss.

> MS windows built in firewall in XP

Missed that.

Actually MS's firewall is very good.

If you /must/ run a software firewall than MS's inbuilt one is far preferable to ZA (because it has a low footprint and works just fine).

pwhyles:

If you are using a router then you don't need a firewall, period.

I prefer to have a software firewall as well to stop outbound traffic.

I use Sygate Personal firewall. 

pwhyles:

Running a firewall just wastes resources but since most home computers hardly ever get stretched these days it does not really matter about the resource loss.

Agreed.

Although I have a PC that is around 7 years old and only powered by an Athlon XP3000+, I don't notice a performance hit but thankfully I no longer use Norton! 

Hi again,

NOP!! cannot agree with you about routers being enough protection per say. Perhaps you are overlooking the fact that most average broadband users these days don't really know how to correctly configure a router, & that routers can have open ports without a user being aware of that fact. These are just some of the reasons you shouldn't in my opinion rely totally on just a router for security.

**Your not taking into consideration that not everyone has the same level of IT knowledge you might have. You might feel comfortable with running your systems that way but others wont.

Ivan