I want to make sure I'm using a safe combo of virus prevention. I used norton for about 8 years and finally ditched them after losing everything to a virus it never recognized(yes it was kept up-to-date) Currently I'm using AVG, Firefox w/adblock, Spybot, and Zone Alarm. Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated.
Hi If your using the full avg rather than the free one its better. But don't get me wrong the free one is good too. Anyway in my opinion you've got the best set up. I ditched Norton last year and went to avg with spy bot SD. Never looked back. So yea You've got a great set up. HasaModer
IMHO since you use the FOX get the NoScript plugin. I used to format the hard drive and reinstall windows partition every 6 months due to virus/spyware on my kids computer till I started setting them up with that. no problems since.
- While I'm unsure as to how good AVG is, the fact that you stopped using Norton as your primary AntiVirus software is the smartest thing you could have done. - FireFox as your primary browser was also a good decision. Viruses are generally written for MS products. - With Spybot, I found it lacking after I started using MalwareBytes AntiMalware. MBAM found so much more than Spybot in my experiences. - I no longer use ZoneAlarm. I used to use it a long time ago, but found it to use a lot of resources. Now I just use Peer Guardian and common sense. I second using NoScript. Many websites have annoying scripts that run and NoScript puts an end to a lot of that. You just have to be sure to look at the various URLs and enable one at a time starting with the main website. Many sites have scripts running from other domains that you may not be aware of and NoScript helps block that from happening unless you allow it.
my setup 1.basic zonealrm firewall 2.avg 8.0 free antivirus 3.firefox 3.0 browser 4.free returnil anytime I surf the internet That's my setup (no antispyware software since it slowed me down too much), I haven't been attack in years. Returnil is the most important software there, it will defeat all known/unknown virus/spyware, when you enable it, it instantly goes into virtual mode(no delay) this seperates the internet from your system partition/drive. Any virus/spyware that might slip through your defenses (it will occur) only live in the virtual world, to get rid of them you just reboot. http://www.majorgeeks.com/Returnil_Virtual_System_Personal_Edition_d5702.html Your system looks almost like mine except for returnil.
Thanks for the help. I do hate that zone alarm slows start up so much, so I installed mcafee and will see how it's firewall does. Peer Guardian has been no use to me as it seems to hate Vista. With Returnil, is it a resource pig, or does it basically run unnoticed. Also, with the noscript add on w/firefox, do you manually configure it to allow scripts on specific sites, or is it automatic? Thanks again for the advice.
McAfee is crap as well. May as well leave the window unlocked in your home... that's how good their products are. Peer Guardian is only useful for Peer to Peer programs, especially torrents. NoScript, I believe, starts off blocking everything. Then you manually allow domains one by one... well that's how I do it at least.
Returnil does not slow anything down. It runs unnotice, since it runs in system memmory when enabled, it actually might speed up your internet surfing(but won't make it any slower). typical use I boot up my computer (returnil is always disable by default) , download the latest virus definitions etc (anything that I want to survive the next reboot). If I decide I need maximun protection that's when I enable returnil. As long as you have returnil enable, you can even live dangerously by using "internet explorer" as your browser (event though I.E. attracts all the virus/spyware/trojans/rootkits) returnil will protect you even from internet explorer! Someone before mentioned that the best way never to be attacked by virus/spyware is to not browse in dangerous websites. Returnil will let browse wherever you want but returnil is only the last line of defense (it will allow virus/spyware to infect your computer but only in the virtual world, they die during the reboot) That's why it's good to have a firewall and antivirus to protect you in the virtual world. The virtual world is a copy of your actual computer that is in RAM memmory, seperated from the hard drive. Anything you want to save to survive the reboot, you need to save on another partition or hard drive.
