security suite recommendation

[phigdon]

Currently I am running Windows One Care Live as my security. I like the suite since it came out, but at that time it went from free to $20 a year. now its up to $50 a year. I'm sure that some where out there is a suite that will do a better job for $50 a year. any recommendations?

[Staren]

My advice on the full suites, don't get one. You don't need all that, and it slows the system down. AVG Anti-Virus, Windows Firewall, and a router is enough security for me. Just don't go to weird sites like warez or cracking sites and change your e-mail options from HTML to plain text and that will take care of 99.9% of problems. Most all of your real security comes from your habits, and what I've listed will take are of the rest.

[glc]

I would also add a couple free anti-spyware apps to that mix.

[phigdon]

i run spybot spyware blaster and ad-aware personal.

[glc]

Plenty good. Just add AVG Free and Windows firewall. Router highly recommended for broadband connections.

[Negeva]

If you really want a full security suite then I highly recommend Kaspersky's Security Suite; one of the best AV out there, decent firewall, parental controls and all is customisable. And, as for resources I ran the trail version on an old P4 2.8GHz/1Gig RAM and never had any slow downs.

[glc]

If you want a full pay for suite I recommend AVG Internet Security.

[washablemarker]

so no norton or zone alarm recommendations?

i've been using them on my windows machine for a while, and they have missed quite a bit.

would you recommend that i switch to one of the aforementioned programs?

[rjfvillarosa]

so no norton or zone alarm recommendations?
would you recommend that i switch to one of the aforementioned programs?
Most certainly and not just for the reasons you mentioned.
Norton is a good package but it has become a bloated system resource hog, slowing your machine down to a crawl.
The built in firewall of XP Service Pack 2 does not play well with third party firewalls like ZoneAlarm, many people complain that the Windows firewall blocks everything coming in but nothing going out, if you keep your machine clean and hide behind a router you don't need to worry about anything getting out because there will probably not be anything to get out.
Practice safe surfing, stay away from suspicious web sites like warez, crack sites and those dreadful social networking sites that are riddled with dangerous scripts.

[Negeva]

Most certainly and not just for the reasons you mentioned.
Norton is a good package but it has become a bloated system resource hog, slowing your machine down to a crawl.
The built in firewall of XP Service Pack 2 does not play well with third party firewalls like ZoneAlarm, many people complain that the Windows firewall blocks everything coming in but nothing going out, if you keep your machine clean and hide behind a router you don't need to worry about anything getting out because there will probably not be anything to get out.
Practice safe surfing, stay away from suspicious web sites like warez, crack sites and those dreadful social networking sites that are riddled with dangerous scripts.


The new version of Norton 2008 is vastly superior to previous incarnations. Using less resources and improved detection rates for malware, viruses and web-based threats. Can actually recommend this product now.

Windows Firewall doesn't block everything coming in; leak test it to understand what I mean. Firewalls, can be used for more than just detect/block malware - they can be used to control what actually has internet access as and when you want it to. With so many applications thinking they need to 'call home' to check for updates and other useless tasks an firewall can help save precious bandwidth. And, it's still possible to get past a router. So don't be too reliant with them.

[rjfvillarosa]

Windows Firewall doesn't block everything coming in; leak test it to understand what I mean. Firewalls, can be used for more than just detect/block malware - they can be used to control what actually has internet access as and when you want it to. With so many applications thinking they need to 'call home' to check for updates and other useless tasks an firewall can help save precious bandwidth. And, it's still possible to get past a router. So don't be too reliant with them.
I have "Leak Tested" my Windows firewall on many occasions and it is sound, nothing in my machines is allowed to phone home so I don't have a problem with the firewall not stopping outbound traffic. I have been using a router and Windows firewall since XP Service Pack 2 came out and I have never had a single problem, only recently an image posted on this site by a now banned member possibly contained some malicious script and Windows firewall detected it and stopped it, followed by Spybot detecting it and deleting it.

[washablemarker]

hmm. thank you both for pitching in your opinions.

i had not used my win pc very much, so i honestly did not care all that much whether it was being protected efficiently. on top of that, i had assumed the built-in windows firewall would not stack up against competitors. apparently there are mixed views on this.

blocking a given application's internet priviledges seems like a must-have feature though, so i will likely begin using a zone alarm alternative. you say third party firewalls often do not play well with xp sp 2's built in firewall as well, so would i be better off not using the built-in firewall?

i've also heard of people who use a "back-up" firewalls. i imagine using two firewalls simultaneously would create complications, be ineffecient, or just be altogether uneccessary. any experience/advice with this?

[rjfvillarosa]

Personally I stop everything from phoning home except AVG and Windows security updates, as regards everything else it is stopped from starting with Windows via MSCONFIG and the update features are turned off. In the case of annoying things like Adobe, Realtime player and Quicktime player I just don't use them, I use a different pdf reader like Foxit and the spyware free alternatives of RealTime and QuickTime.

[washablemarker]

realtime and quicktime!? you have got to start experiencing the magic of vlc (video lan client) (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/).

[rjfvillarosa]

I don't even have them installed these days as JetAudio and a handy little app in the K-Lite codec pack seems to take care of most stuff, but I have been meaning to read up on that vlc stuff for a while, now you mention it I might just get around to doing it.

[shadowpr]

What does k-lite codec pack offer that JetAudio doesn't? I'm only asking cause all I have is JetAudio and still haven't found anything it doesn't play.

[rjfvillarosa]

Nothing really, it’s just a little convenience; I have JetAudio playing almost all the time my machine is on. The way I have JetAudio set up is that anything opened by JetAudio is automatically added to the current album, which means any web content it opens has to be manually removed from the play list, so I just use the simple little application in K-Lite for web content, it’s small and light on resources.

[shadowpr]

Ah. Ok. Thanks.

[washablemarker]

hmm. so back to firewall discussion, you recommend just using avg trial version? why not something completely free like threat fire? and like phigdon, i too am now running anti virus and anti spyware software, which is now in place of my soon to be unregistered version of norton. would i be better off taking the complete avg solution?

[glc]

The complete AVG solution is an excellent affordable suite, the antispam is kind of useless though. The antivirus, antispyware, and firewall are top grade.

[phigdon]

i had ZA on my system for a while but when I upgraded it loaded the processor to 100% and locked the system. I deleted it off and it runs fine now. the big problem with Windows firewall is that if you turn it off windows continually prompts you to turn it back on. i liked the ZA program and for a while it ran fine along with Win firewall. i had NAV but again the subscriptions prices are steep.