Advice on Anti Virus and Firewall

  • Thread starter Thread starter bluetreetop
  • Start date Start date
B

bluetreetop

I've just reformatted a computer (PII, 350mhz, 128 RAM) for a friend with
Win 2000 SP4, MS Office and a few other bits and pieces.
I've added a 56K modem so he will be surfing and emailing for the first
time. My question is what would people recommend for firewalling and anti
virus?
I have an outstanding licence for Norton Internet Security 2002 but I am
worried that this might slow the computer down to an unacceptable level.
Can anyone recommend anything lighter (and perhaps free?) for a basic
start-up computer?


Thanks.
 
Three good products, all free, to handle antivirus, adware, and tracking
malware. Google to download:
1. Avast! antivirus
2. Spybot Search & Destroy
3. Ad-Aware

Avast is self-updating and can be set to check all bus traffic
(internal, LAN, email/internet/ftp) automatically 24/7. I've not noticed
any slowdown, except when it is autodownloading large AV signature files
or processor updates. It does try not to usurp machine cycles when the
OS is very busy.

The other two are manually initiated, manually updated (button press).
End-of-day stuff.
I've just reformatted a computer (PII, 350mhz, 128 RAM) for a friend with
Win 2000 SP4, MS Office and a few other bits and pieces.
I've added a 56K modem so he will be surfing and emailing for the first
time. My question is what would people recommend for firewalling and anti
virus?
I have an outstanding licence for Norton Internet Security 2002 but I am
worried that this might slow the computer down to an unacceptable level.
Can anyone recommend anything lighter (and perhaps free?) for a basic
start-up computer?


Thanks.




---
avast! Antivirus: Inbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 0607-2, 02/16/2006
Tested on: 2/20/2006 10:35:08 AM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2004 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com
Click to expand...



---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 0607-2, 02/16/2006
Tested on: 2/20/2006 10:44:05 AM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2004 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com
 
Dan said:
Three good products, all free, to handle antivirus, adware, and tracking
malware. Google to download:
1. Avast! antivirus
2. Spybot Search & Destroy
3. Ad-Aware
Click to expand...
<snip>

and SpyWare Blaster
and Kerio Firewall
 
Thanks. Avast seems pretty good for free. Although it's not a firewall per
say.

I don't know wether to chance installing N.I.S. IT's not very good at
completely uninstalling itself if I make a bad decision.

I'll also take your advice on Adaware and Spybot. Can't do any harm.

Thanks again
 
NIS 2002 is very out of date, and probably no longer supported.


| Thanks. Avast seems pretty good for free. Although it's not a firewall
per
| say.
|
| I don't know wether to chance installing N.I.S. IT's not very good at
| completely uninstalling itself if I make a bad decision.
|
| I'll also take your advice on Adaware and Spybot. Can't do any harm.
|
| Thanks again
|
|
| | > Three good products, all free, to handle antivirus, adware, and tracking
| > malware. Google to download:
| > 1. Avast! antivirus
| > 2. Spybot Search & Destroy
| > 3. Ad-Aware
| >
| > Avast is self-updating and can be set to check all bus traffic
| > (internal, LAN, email/internet/ftp) automatically 24/7. I've not noticed
| > any slowdown, except when it is autodownloading large AV signature files
| > or processor updates. It does try not to usurp machine cycles when the
| > OS is very busy.
| >
| > The other two are manually initiated, manually updated (button press).
| > End-of-day stuff.
| >
| > bluetreetop wrote:
| > > I've just reformatted a computer (PII, 350mhz, 128 RAM) for a friend
| with
| > > Win 2000 SP4, MS Office and a few other bits and pieces.
| > > I've added a 56K modem so he will be surfing and emailing for the
first
| > > time. My question is what would people recommend for firewalling and
| anti
| > > virus?
| > > I have an outstanding licence for Norton Internet Security 2002 but I
am
| > > worried that this might slow the computer down to an unacceptable
level.
| > > Can anyone recommend anything lighter (and perhaps free?) for a basic
| > > start-up computer?
| > >
| > >
| > > Thanks.
| > >
| > >
| > >
| > >
| > > ---
| > > avast! Antivirus: Inbound message clean.
| > > Virus Database (VPS): 0607-2, 02/16/2006
| > > Tested on: 2/20/2006 10:35:08 AM
| > > avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2004 ALWIL Software.
| > > http://www.avast.com
| > >
| > >
| > >
| >
| >
| >
| > ---
| > avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
| > Virus Database (VPS): 0607-2, 02/16/2006
| > Tested on: 2/20/2006 10:44:05 AM
| > avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2004 ALWIL Software.
| > http://www.avast.com
| >
| >
| >
|
|
 
You're right, blue - The free firewall I forgot to mention (which is the
4th protective product I use) is Tiny6 Personal Firewall.

As others are pointing out, there's a pretty good selection in the
bargain basement.
Thanks. Avast seems pretty good for free. Although it's not a firewall per
say.

I don't know wether to chance installing N.I.S. IT's not very good at
completely uninstalling itself if I make a bad decision.

I'll also take your advice on Adaware and Spybot. Can't do any harm.

Thanks again








---
avast! Antivirus: Inbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 0608-0, 02/20/2006
Tested on: 2/20/2006 8:16:23 PM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2004 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com
Click to expand...



---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 0608-0, 02/20/2006
Tested on: 2/20/2006 8:18:47 PM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2004 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com
 
typo - Tiny, not Tiny6

Dan said:
You're right, blue - The free firewall I forgot to mention (which is the
4th protective product I use) is Tiny6 Personal Firewall.

As others are pointing out, there's a pretty good selection in the
bargain basement.




---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 0608-0, 02/20/2006
Tested on: 2/20/2006 8:18:47 PM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2004 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com





---
avast! Antivirus: Inbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 0608-0, 02/20/2006
Tested on: 2/21/2006 10:40:44 AM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2004 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com
Click to expand...



---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 0608-0, 02/20/2006
Tested on: 2/21/2006 10:41:28 AM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2004 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com
 
Thanks for all that. Looks like Tiny is no longer free (unless you know
otherwise). Might only have been free when in Beta. I found an old link
but that seems to be for ver 2.0.14 which must be quite old.

Kerio loses most of its functionality when in free mode so I think I'll skip
that.

I'll keep looking. The general consensus is that NIS will impact my
relatively low spec machine so I'll avoid that for now as well.

Thanks to everyone for all advice so far.
 
Kerio loses most of its functionality when in free mode so I think I'll skip
that.
Click to expand...

That's why I still use KPF 2.1.5. It does all I want from a personal
firewall. I have a NAT router that does the heavy work.

Sometimes the older applications are better. I still use Eudora 3.0.5.


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