Originally written on Jan 27, 2009. Last updated May 19, 2009.
Malicious people with malicious intent are constantly trying to gain access to your computer to make a buck at your expense. Whether it be your credit card number for a quick transaction, or something more personal like a SS number for identity theft, anyone anywhere can be infected by all sorts of malware and viruses. The following list contains 9 free programs that will help provide excellent protection for you and your computer allowing you to have peace of mind. Why pay when you can get excellent protection for free?
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Unless specifically stated otherwise, all software is supported by 32-bit and 64-bit.
Anti-Virus, Spyware, Malware, and all-around Anti-Scumware
What: Avira AntiVir Personal Free Edition
Why: It is quite simple. Having one of the best detection rates amongst the top tier anti virus programs and being the least resource intensive, Avira AV is the best free AV out there. Avira Free Edition provides protection against viruses, rootkits, dialers, phishing scams, spyware and adware; in other word Avira Free Edition provides you protection against all scumware/malware. When combined with the rest of the programs on this list, Avira helps keep you and your computer clean and safe.
Avira system requirements:
- Processor: 266 MHz or higher
- Operating system: Windows 2000, SP4 and update rollup 1 or Windows XP, SP2 (32 or 64 Bit) or Windows Vista (32 or 64 Bit, SP 1 recommended) or Windows 2000 Server, SP4 and update rollup 1 or Windows Server 2003, SP1 (32 or 64 Bit) or Windows Server 2008 (32 or 64 Bit, SP1 recommended)
- Hard drive: At least 100 MB of free hard disk memory space (more if using Quarantine for
temporary storage)- RAM: At least 192 MB RAM under Windows 2000 Server/XP or at least 512 MB RAM under Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows
Server 2008
Anti-Malware On Demand Scanner
What: Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
Why: You ask why, I say I have three words for you: lightweight, simple and effective. Malwarebytes is a popular free anti-malware protection that provides on demand scanning. It is very lightweight and the malware detection rate is pretty high. It scans pretty quickly also. And since this does not provide live protection, it will only run when you tell it to. At this point you may be thinking 'why do I need Malwarebytes when I have Avira', correct? Well here is the thing. Technically speaking, Avira will provide excellent protection against malware. So in essence Malwarebytes is really just optional. However, having an on demand scanner is always nice because it provides a different angle to things and may pick up something Avira misses, because we all all know that no protection software is 100% perfect. Best of all it does not conflict with any program or use computer resources (except hard drive space) on a daily basis because it is an on-demand - it only starts working when you tell it to.
Malwarebytes system requirements:
- Processor: 250 MHz or higher
- Operating system: Windows 2000 and higher. Vista may only support 32-bit - I am finding conflicting reports about it.
- Hard drive: At least 3 MB
- RAM: 64 MB or higher
Alternatives: Ad-Aware AE Edition or Spyware Doctor Starter Edition or SUPERAntiSpyware or Spyware Terminator or a-squared Free
Firewall
What: Outpost Firewall Free
Why: Originally when I wrote this article a few months ago, I recommended PC Tools Firewall Plus because:
- Threatfire, another program that was on this list, is made by the same developer as Firewall Plus so there would be little to no conflict between the firewall and main anti-spyware software;
- Many people, including me, had compatibility issues with Comodo and Online Armor (for me they both crashed my computer.
Since then two things happened:
- Avira 9 came out with anti-spyware/adware protection eliminating the need for Threatfire (although Threatfire can still add excellent "extra" protection if you feel you need it);
- Firewall Plus literally self destructed on me - and killed my internet, amongst many other mean things, with it =(. It just happened out of the blue - no idea why.
Since all the top four firewalls perform similarly (the average home user most likely will never feel the minor differences in protection between either of them) I base my recommendations on compatibility and less annoyance. Lucky for me, recently Output Firewall Free 2009 was released so I went to check it out. Providing excellent protection (pulling second place in Matousec firewall tests amongst free firewalls), having an excellent "intelligent rules wizard", and being a hell lot less annoying than Firewall Plus, OutPost Firewall Free 2009 is, simply put, a winner.
Outpost system requirements:
- Processor: 500 MHz or higher
- Operating system: Windows 2000/XP/Vista
- Hard drive: 30 MB
- RAM: 256 MB
Alternatives: Comodo Personal Firewall Pro or Online Armor Personal Firewall Free Edition or PC Tools Firewall Plus or Windows Firewall
System Monitor
What: WinPatrol
Why: Simply put WinPatrol is a lightweight program that provides excellent supplementary protection. WinPatrol is not an anti-virus, or anti-spyware, or anti-[insert catch phrase here], per se. WinPatrol is an anti-make-system-changes-without-my-consent... if that makes sense. WinPatrol sits in the background and monitors your computer for "hijackings, malware attacks, and critical changes" and alerts you about them. A few very handy things WinPatrol protects you against include, but are not limited to, homepage changes, ActiveX changes, and startup program changes. I can't tell you how many times WinPatrol has saved me from an ***hole developer who thinks he can change my IE homepage without asking me. Excellent program this WinPatrol is.
WinPatrol system requirements:
- Operating system: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7
Alternatives: AnVir Task Manager
Website Advisor
For Firefox/Flock users
What: LinkExtend
Why: The two most popular website advisers are McAfee Site Advisor and Web of Trust. Both of them provide good information on websites and help steer us away from possible websites. Of course no one service is perfect (it is impossible to be 100% accurate on every website on the internet). This is why we have LinkExtend. LinkExtend is a Firefox/Flock extension that provides information on:
- Safety - Informs you if a web page is malicious, sends spam, contains spyware, online scams, identity theft, and more
- KidSafe - Alerts you about sites that are unsafe for children and let's you erase these sites from your Firefox history automatically
- Ethics - Rates ethical behavior of a site's company including social responsibility, business practices, environmental impact, etc.
- PageRank - Represents how important a page is on the web, based on the Google link analysis algorithm, ranked from zero to ten
- SiteTraffic - Shows you how popular a site is, based on the average page views and users for a particular site or web page
- Visited - Tells you when you last visited a site, what pages you accessed, and lets you remove the site from your Firefox history
If you prefer to not view all this information, LinkExtend options let you pick and choose what you want to see. Additionally if the toolbar annoys you, if you "Customize Toolbars" (right click) you can click + drag any of the ratings, place them at a different position on your Firefox toolbars and turn off the LinkExtend toolbar. That way you don't have that annoys toolbar there yet you can still enjoy LinkExtend. LinkExtend also has a context menu feature that allows you to view the ratings of a link - Shift + right click on a link to see it.
The great thing about LinkExtend the ratings generated by LinkExtend are from a combination of sources, including Site Advisor, Web of Trust, Browser Defender, Google Safe Browser, and many more. You can also view the individual ratings from all these individual services. So in essence LinkExtend is the "Google" of site advisers - it gathers ratings from popular services and shows you all of them for the website in question. Of course since it gathers information from multiple sources, LinkExtend does cause a minor increase in website load times but that is the trade off for the abundance of information you get.
For everyone else
What: Web of Trust (WOT)
Why: Web of Trust provides preemptive warnings about websites before you visit them. It places a circle next to a link, and depending on the color of the circle, you know what kind of website it is (green = good, red = bad). If you visit a website below a certain level, you set the level through preference, you will be warned about the website and must confirm you want to visit it. WOT information on websites comes from a cross reference of its databases and community rating/feedback. WOT rates websites based on four categories: trustworthiness, vendor reliability, privacy, and child safety. The information on WOT is generally good and reliable although not perfect. While McAfee and WOT are generally similar in performance, I chose WOT over McAfee because WOT supports more platforms. Currently WOT has plugins for Firefox and Internet Explorer with plans for a plugin for Chrome in the near future; for Safari and Opera, it provides a bookmarklet. McAfee only works with Firefox or Internet Explorer.
Alternatives: McAfee Site Advisor or Finjan or K9 Web Protection
Preemptive Spyware Prevention
What: Spyware Blaster
Why: Spyware Blaster is a program that blocks cookies, ActiveX and URLs of known malware websites in Internet Explorer and blocks cookies for known malware websites in Firefox. The great thing about Spyware Blaster is that it is not running all the time. Spyware Blaster is somewhat like an vaccination shot for your computer: you run it once and your computer is vaccinated against all those spyware websites. However you need to update the Spyware Blaster database at regular intervals (suggested is once a week but once a month should be fine - you have to manually update it) and re-vaccinate your computer every time you update the database.
Spyware Blaster system requirements:
- Operating system: Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista
- Browsers: Internet Explorer (or any browser that uses the IE engine), Firefox, Netscape, Sea Monkey, Flock and K-Melon
Alternatives: OpenDNS
Anti-Dangerous Outdated Software
What: JavaRA
Why: Java Runtime Environment is often times targeted by scum looking a way to install scumware onto your computer. To respond to this, JRE (Java Runtime Environment) is often patched and updated. The problem is, after a patch/update the older version are just... left there. This, obviously, is very dangerous - more harm than good. JavaRA is a simple program that removes old version of JRE. JavaRA does not run all the time. Just run JavaRA after you download it for the first time and run it every time after you do an update of Java. Vista users need to run this as Administrator.
JavaRA system requirements:
- Operating system: Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, and Vista
What: Secunia PSI
Why: Secunia PSI is a software that focuses on updating software which cause a security risk. Secunia scans your computers and looks for software that are missing security patches or are "end-of-life". If it finds them it tells you and you then fix the problem as necessary. Secunia PSI is the desktop version (you must download it) while Secunia OSI is the online scanner (slower and less features). You should just run this scanner once in a while to make sure you don't suffer from a dangerous out dated software.
Secunia PSI system requirements:
- Operating system: Windows 2000 SP4, XP SP2 or higher, 2003, and Vista
Secunia OSI system requirements:
- Operating system: Windows 2000 SP4, XP SP2 or higher, 2003, and Vista
- Browser: Internet Explorer 6 or higher, Firefox 2 or higher, Opera 9 or higher and Safart 3 or higher
- Required software: Latest version of Windows Update and Java JRE 1.6.x or higher
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***Optional***
I say the following program is optional because I find these types of programs to be extremely annoying - I do hate them. If you use all the programs mentioned above, and are smart about the websites you visit and the stuff you download, you do not need to worry about getting the following program. However it is a good program and worth the download (gives you a unique method of protection) if you are interested.
Ad-hoc Host Intrusion Protection Software (kind of)
What: GeSWall
Why: GeSWall has taken it upon its self to be the "prevention" part of the three step computer security plan. Similar to Sandboxie, or any other sandboxing program, GeSWall "isolates" programs; however GeSWall focuses on the main "entry points" from where scumware can enter your computer, including but not limited to, your internet browser instead of all programs in general. Different to Sandboxie, or any other sandboxing program, GeSWall's "isolation" does not involve sandboxing programs; rather GeSWall limits file permissions and restricts access to system resources/important files. The "isolated" program runs just fine but all files (and/or folders/registry keys) downloaded from an "isolated" program (knowingly or unknowingly) are automatically treated as "untrusted". "Untrusted" files/folders/registry keys have no system access - no permissions. Therefore with no system access, even a scumware file/folder/registry entry will be able to do diddly squat to your computer. You are told anytime an "untrusted" file tries to make any system changes. Just go and delete the scumware files and no harm is done. Simple, yet effective. If you ever want to download something, yet your are running an "isolated" browser, you just need to manually right click on that file and make it "trusted" after you finish downloading it.
The one thing I like about GeSWall is that it does not slow down your browser if your run it "isolated" as opposed to minor lag if I run a browser "sandboxed" with Sandboxie.
GeSWall system requirements:
- Operating system: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista
Alternatives: Sandboxie or SafeSpace or Altiris SVS or JauntePE
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That sums up my recommended list of 9 best free protection software. The logical behind this list is quite simple: prevention, detection, and cure. The combination of these 9 software will provide you all-around security for you and your computer. However they are not a replacement for the human element - the best way to stay safe is to avoid shady and questionable websites/downloads! Good luck =).
Feel free to post your thoughts, experiences, or suggestions below.
***Retired List***
Originally all of these software were in my list for one reason or another. However now I feel my list provides enough diversified protection that these software are no longer needed; therefore this the "retired list".
Anti-Malware (Spyware, Adware, etc.)
>>Speed up your computer with Auslogics BoostSpeedWhat: Threatfire
Why: Varying from the norm signature based protection, Threatfire uses a unique 'behavior based' detection system. This methodology not only helps prevent conflict and slowdowns if Threatfire is used with other security software like Avira, but it provides a whole new angle at detecting scumware on your PC. Threatfire is one of the only free anti-malware programs that provides full real time detection and protection. Other programs such as Ad-Aware AE and Spyware Doctor provide limited real time protection that are signature based, raising the chance of conflict between security programs. Threatfire has the ability to detect all kinds of scumware; however the real-time protection is only for malware (which is why it further compliments Avira since Avira PE Free does not detect spyware and such) while there is an on demand scanner for everything else.
Alternatives: Ad-Aware AE Edition or Spyware Doctor Starter Edition or Spyware Terminator.
Extra Note: Unfortunately, Threatfire is only for 32-bit systems at the moment. However, PC Tools is working on a 64-bit version.
Ashraf
@Liam K: Threatfire actually isn’t a HIPS but yes using Threatfire could add onto everything but between all the programs you are pretty well covered imo.
GeSWall should be good enough HIPS if you need it imo.
Liam K
Okay. I’ll take a look at GeSWall — I’ve tried some sandboxing programs and didn’t really like the bugs.
Speaking of HIPS, have you taken a look at DriveSentry? It’s recommended by Gizmo’s.
Ashraf
@Liam K: No I have not but from that article:
Sounds similar to GeSWall. However DriveSentry does sound interesting.
@Ozzie: In terms of security I would have to say WinPatrol tops AnVir; AnVir offers other features to make up and it a worthy program. Don’t quote me on this but I believe WinPatrol monitors ActiveX and file type association changes while AnVir doesn’t. Also AnVir’s “security ratings” seem kind of weird for some programs.
@Kinetix: Well Outpost prompts you a hell lot less. I really like this “intelligent rules wizard” thing that ran when I installed it. I believe it scanned my computer and created rules for popular programs for its database. Firewall Plus, on the other hand, prompted me for everything.
Ashraf
@Ashraf: Come to think of it GeSWall nor Threatfire are not “proper” HIPS. Maybe next update is due for a proper HIPS.
Ozzie
Great, thanks Ashraf!
Roland
Many thanks for this update. It’s good knowing what’s the best current protection. Too many times i’ve found reviews of antivirus or firewall softwares as old as 2 years and never updated.
Glad to learn my personnal choices all appear in this list too.
I might try Outpost Firewall as a replacement to Online Armor as i’ve had some troubles playing LAN games with OA running and the only solution i found was to close the web connection from the router control and quit OA whenever i wanted to LAN-play. However, from the publisher’s page, it doesn’t look like Outpost has some IDS features as Online Armor.
Paul
Hey Ashraf
So when did this hatred towards Spybot begin, eh?
Roland
Stupid me, i need more cafeine.
Ignore the end of comment #56, I just realized Outpost does include some IDS protection even in the free version. I will give it a try. Online Armor is good but sometimes rather hard to use.
Mags
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Did I say thank you?
I haven’t even finished reading the article. I stopped dead when reading about Agnitum Outpost Firewall.
I used to use it years ago and was extremely happy with it. Unfortunately once I switched to XP it caused problems, and just wasn’t as good anymore. So started using Commodo V.2, which I was happy with. Then upgraded to Vista and of course Commodo V.2 didn’t work, so tried PC Tools until Commodo V.3 came out and of course wasn’t happy with it. So went back to PC Tools.
I am now a happy camper to learn that Outpost firewall free has been updated. Woooooot Wooooooooooot.
Going to download it right now.
Jean-Luc Picard
@Mags:
Tell us how your experience is with it!
surfriot
I have been using pctools firewall, after reading your post here would like to try outpost firewall (again) how user friendly is it? When I tried it, seems like it was for advanced users.
Ashraf
@surfriot: How user friendly is it? I literally just clicked “Next” during install and have yet to mess with it. It has this feature that automatically settings rules for commonly known applications… it is really nice.
Samantha
The best security appliance which came to my mind when i read this article was Cyberoam – Unified Threat Management Solution.
mike
@Jon: I have a 6 month premium license key extra if you would like it let me know.
sunkuamarspace
i think anvir task manager is better than winpatrol
darrell
Uninstalling Outpost Firewall Free 2009 fixed my XP laptop hanging on suspend. It was a pain for me because Outpost kept popping permissions dialogs about Nokia Suite Bluetooth connections to my phone. I couldn’t seem to convince it that Nokia SW was OK. I really need suspend to work to conserve my battery so I was lucky that the first thing I removed fixed suspending. I’ll try one of your other recommendations for a firewall.
Ashraf
Did you set Outpost to “Auto-Learn Smart Mode” (or something like that)? That is what I do when it keeps asking about something like bluetooth.
darrell
@Ashraf:
Yes I did use the learning mode more than once. It seemed to think there was something new or different about every start of both Bluetooth and the Nokia Suite.
Online Armor handles it a little better, but even though I put remember and trust everywhere I can for these programs I still get prompts. Even worse I get a BSOD when I resume from standby.
I will start looking for a USB cable for my phone so I can keep Bluetooth off, but for now I will remove both Bluetooth and the Nokia Suite to see if I can get stable.
sos4ever
Ashraf, I wrote a comment on your page where the offer links to the free Online Armor, stating that Online Armor does not work on Windows 7. Also Outpost Firewall Free 2009 does not work in Windows 7.
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the basics:
spi router, upnp off
pfw
HOSTS
proxomitron. (works with all browsers, but complex)
also, avoid ie, but set inetcpl.cpl strictly. (google appropriately for guides)
turn off java in any browser.
opera has persite settings, so begin overall settings: js, cookies, referer off.
ff has noscript, but it’s a “pain” to keep setting persite. (tho interesting to see the different “sites” “running in background”). rather cumbersome is to use capability policy prefs.
kmeleon has the older style (nicely detailed) cookie settings. lots of prefs.
read email as “plain text” to avoid “webbugs” (some have unique id, which let bulk spammer know your email address is “real”).
sos4ever
@sos4ever: Just an update, Comodo Personal Firewall Pro does work in Windows 7RC Build 7100. Thanks for this great list Ashraf.
Ashraf
@sos4ever: Thanks for the update sos4ever.
LunarWolf
Hi Ashraf,
LunarWolf from Raymond.cc. Good combo. Free and efficient.
The last time I use Avira with Comodo, my whole desktop went blank. Never the less, I am using Comodo with KAV 2010.
Good list.
LunarWolf
I am a Comodo fan true blue. lol
Child Genius
Shadow Defender
Eset Nod32
Online Armor
Mamutu
PeerGuardian
Wot
Proxy
Need I say more?
mohd
Thanks a lot Ashraf for the Advice,
and thanks to Avira bcoz give anti virus for free
iam student save my money again..
Ashraf is gud Author and genius.
two thumb up i give u n two thhumb up more frm my youngest brothers:)
Mimor
I’m missing ubuntu!
Or any other Linux variant.
No Splash Screen
Microsoft Security Essentials
Only thing I’ve tried that’s Windows 7 compatible…
Here is a download link.
Ashraf
@No Splash Screen: Avira works on Win7 >.>’.
Shankar
After reading the main article with its 79 comments, I am more confused on what to use and what not to use. Secondly, even after using so many freewares one is not sure of security. In that case, is paid up versions are the solutions and does it provide all needed securities. If so, can you please list on such paid up versions with its relative advantages and disadvantages. Alternatively where can it sourced?
Steelers6
Hi Asharf,
Thanks for the great list, I have had a problem, my internet has slowed to a crawl. I’m using Secunia PSI which is running at about 38K seems to be slowing my system down. That along with winpatrol.
Tried just to use PCSI as a run as needed but it auto starts on it’s own and I can’t find a way to turn it off in Services.msc or in Revo.
I have contacted PCSI but they haven’t responded, here is what I use hope you can help.
I’m use Vista 64 bit OS Home Permium with 6 GB of ram on new dell xps mini tower.
PCSI
Avast: Lightweight
WinPatrol: Pretty heavy on resources
SuperAntivius
PC Tools firewall
JavaRE as needed
Malwarebytes only manual as needed.
Hope you can help I took your suggesting but now computer is a drag.
Thanks Asharf!
Steelers6
To Add to that I have WOT and Key scramblers.
My system is Vista 64 Premium Home 6 GB of Ram and using Internet explorer 8
Thanks
Dan Bromberg
When I unzip JavaRA it is empty !?!
Dan
Doug
From download.com about version 9:
“Savvy users will notice the removal of the on-demand e-mail scan”
If this means no real-time active scanning when e-mail message arrive, that is a show-stopper for sure.
giovanni
Hey!!
Look at this outstanding list of free security programs (probably the best and more comprehensive list available on the web now):
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/probably-best-free-security-list-world.htm
Enjoy!!
Giovanni
P.S. Unexpected turn of events!! According to the last renowned and reliable Av-Comparatives independent test, GDATA, NORTON, F-Secure, BitDefender, eScan, ESET and AVAST can be considered better than KASPERSKY and AVIRA 9 as AV because, despite having a good detection rate, they also have a high FALSE POSITIVE RATE in comparison with AVAST for instance.
And since, as you should know, the DETECTION RATE is not the only thing that matters for an antivirus, Av-Comparatives.org came to conclusion that both AVIRA and KAV are not the best AV out there, because an AV successful to detect a high percentage of malware with a high FALSE POSITIVE RATE may not necessarily be better than another one which detects less malware with a lower rate of false alarms.
That’s why AVAST has been considered by Av-Comparatives.org a little bit better than AVIRA itself (Advanced+ vs Advanced).
* Advanced+: GDATA, Symantec, Avast, F-Secure, BitDefender, eScan, ESET
* Advanced: Avira, McAfee, TrustPort, Kaspersky, AVG
* Standard: Microsoft , Norman
DETECTION RATE
1. G DATA Antivirus 20.0.4.9: 99.8%
2. AVIRA AntiVir Premium 9.0.0.446: 99.4%
3. McAfee VirusScan Plus 13.11.102: 98.7%
4. Symantec Norton Antivirus 17.0.0.136: 98.4%
5. Avast Professional Edition 4.8.1348: 98.0%
6. F-Secure Antivirus 10.00.246: 97.9%
7. BitDefender Antivirus 13.0.13.254: 97.8%
8. eScan AntiVirus 10.0.997.491: 97.7%
9. Trustport Antivirus 2.8.0.3017: 97.6%
10. ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4.0.437.0: 97.2%
11. Kaspersky AntiVirus 9.0.0.463: 94.7%
12. AVG Antivirus 8.5.406: 94.0%
13. Sophos Antivirus 7.6.10: 91.3%
14. Microsoft Windows Live OneCare 2.5.2900.28: 90.0%
15. Kingsoft Antivirus 2009.08.05.16: 86.4%
16. Norman Antivirus & AntiSpyware 7.10.02: 84.8%
http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_report23.pdf
So I think you’d better update your nice review taking into account the latest news mentioned above.
zach
What do people here think about Rising Anti-virus the free version? I have used it for some time and haven’t had any problems. Using Win XPSP3 and Firefox browser. No Firewall
PTLdom
@Mimor:what for? is FF safer just because it runs under unbuntu?
calebstein
you forgot Microsoft Security Essentials
Van
Errrrrrr giovanni…..
The title of this article ends in (and I’ll emphasize) FOR FREE. Most of the apps you listed from Av-Comparatives.org are commercial.
This industry desperately needs an overhaul. Most reviews online are seriously biased (notice the affiliate links accompanying most “reviewed” products). When $$$$ is involved, don’t trust the shit dribbling down their chins. All they want is the affiliate commission. They don’t give two hoots about the integrity of the product. BitDefender for example rates highly on many review sites. It is a bloated POS that has numerous bugs. It lasted all of 12 hours on my machine. After the 5th “Critical Error” it was outta here. Zone Alarm was the best firewall until CheckPoint took over, it’s been a steady decline in product integrity since.
Anti-virus “DETECTION RATES” are misleading. These results will vary with each definitions update. The main concern is what the product will do when an unknown virus hits your system. Face it, that’s something that will always be inevitable. Zone Alarm ISS is still one of the best commercial products to protect you with its “anti-make-system-changes-without-my-consent” as Ashraf puts it. Add the fact that it’s very strict with internet access rules (more prompts that most other products), it will save your behind when an unknown virus does hit you. Trust me, been there done that countless times.
You want an AV that gives a lot of false positives, anything suspicious should be scrutinized thoroughly. You want a firewall that alerts you for every single network connection. Who cares if it takes a week or two in order to configure the access rules. Take a leaf from *NIX security. Everything is blocked until you allow it. There’s a reason for this and why it’s soooo much more damn secure.
Kudos to Ashraf for posting an unbiased non-affiliated article. We need more people like you my good man.
Ginger
Avast is “free” and does rate higher than AVIRA antivir tested in av comparatives is their premium paid version and its detection rate is excellent. However, it also has a “very’ high false positive rating. I am currently using Eset and the techs which I have dealt with many times have always been polite and helpful. However, when my 2yr contract is up this March 2010,I am going to give Avast a try.
I’m using the following security software:
Eset
SuperAntiSpyware(lifetime active paid)
Malwarebytes(manual scan free)
sandboxie(free)
returnil(free)..sandboxie and returnil work well together
PCTOOLS Plus
ff3.5.5(my fav)
ie8
k-meleon
PS I tried keyscrambler twice and both times after about a yr of use, I ended up with my keyboard driver corrupted!
Also, using Update Notifier..very helpful “free” app.
Thanks for all your great reviews…a loyal fan
cjsavvy
[Bleeeeep] you dude!
Mayank
Just Want To Say That It’s A Great Post For Those Who R Newbie To Computers N Net…
Locutus
What about AVG link scanner?
Caleb
I have avast (antivirus), clamwin (on demand scanning), and Iobit security 360, Spyware Doctor, and Spybot S and D (for antispyware).