What Anti-virus/Firewall Software Do You Use?

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Sandbox Magician

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 4, 2005
Messages
142
What is the best way to go, as in what is the best software to get that won't be a resource hog and mess up my gaming FPS. I'm getting a new gaming system pretty soon here... AMD64 3000+, a gig of pc3200 dual channel, nforce 4, sata 720rpm etc...

I've always liked Norton, but it is a resource beast. With the specs I listed above, will Norton really even make an impact on FPS and other performance while gaming?
 
I have the internet security package (2005) When playing games I simply turn off the virus protection (cuz it's not needed) and everything seems to be ok. But I really don't notice anything
 
I don't use firewall software.

I have a hardware firewall

Norton sucks ass
McAffee too


In no particular order : I use avg and avast at the moment. I use kaspersky on corporate clients, as I think their server based scanner is the best [and less processor consumptive]
F-Prot is also a good corporate scanner [www.f-prot.com]

AVG, [www.grisoft.com]


Kaspersky [www.kaspersky.com or .ru (which I used to read before they got themselves and english site)]

Avast! [www.avast.com] [I get some false positives with them though.. ]

AntiVIr [www.free-av.com]
 
Sygate personal firewall (great and free)

+ Symantec Corporate AntiVir 9 (free from work)

+ Router w/NAT

Seems a good combo.
 
Netrat33 said:
:rolleyes:

so tired of people bitchin about the two. It's like windows and linux and fighting "the man"
Click to expand...


Why would you make that comparison.

Linux versus windows is comparing different approaches of two very competent operating systems. Both do their job well for the most part, at a decent price, and with decent efficiency

Norton and McAffee are bloatware that interfere with your connectivity (can't windows update with many norton machines, can't visit certain websites with mcaffee machines. my uncles computer skips like crazy playing back mp3's in winamp with mcaffee installed. Norton costs $50 to purchase (legally) and gets 90 days support, then it's $40 a year for updates. AVG is $33 for 2 years, updates included.

Norton gets updated about once over 10 days, avg gets updated about once every 3..

Norton has to run *9* programs for the full suite to function. Taking well over 100mb of memory on many systems. Avg runs 4 applications tops, taking 26.2 mb on my machine.

AVG is truly free for personal users. Norton is Not, McAffee is not.
AVG runs faster, requires less cpu time, has MORE VIRUSES in it's definition files than norton [by over 1,000]

Norton/Mcaffee are specifically targetted by over 85% of 'stealth' viruses. [they write specific sub-routines to look for and disable them]. AVG is not.

Additionally, with norton, you have to UNINSTALL IT to actually disable it.

I recently had a customer whose norton install wasn't able to remove 97 viruses [different viruses, yes, unique names] that it DETECTED but "couldn't fix" - when I installed AVG, norton kept 'PROTECTING' the files that avg was trying to repair..

I shut norton off completely. Killed all processes in device manager [NOTHING norton specific was running] ran ibprocman to check for hidden processes, and took norton out of his various startups [msconfig, startupreg, startupfolder, non-microsoft services] and rebooted. - And dammit, NORTON started ANYWAY.

I had to not only uninstall it, I had to then RENAME the directory it left behind in \program files\ and \program files\common files\

Ran avg..
all 97 viruses found, and removed.
Ran avast.
Found nothing.
Customer stopped me from putting his norton back on his machine as he could see "damn, this program sucks donkey d!k" as he said it.
 
I dont

I got linux running and the only things that have any ports open are

1) the http port
2) the ftp
3) the ping port

none are vulnerable so dont need a firewall
 
Laforge said:
Why would you make that comparison.

Linux versus windows is comparing different approaches of two very competent operating systems. Both do their job well for the most part, at a decent price, and with decent efficiency

Norton and McAffee are bloatware that interfere with your connectivity (can't windows update with many norton machines, can't visit certain websites with mcaffee machines. my uncles computer skips like crazy playing back mp3's in winamp with mcaffee installed. Norton costs $50 to purchase (legally) and gets 90 days support, then it's $40 a year for updates. AVG is $33 for 2 years, updates included.

Norton gets updated about once over 10 days, avg gets updated about once every 3..

Norton has to run *9* programs for the full suite to function. Taking well over 100mb of memory on many systems. Avg runs 4 applications tops, taking 26.2 mb on my machine.

AVG is truly free for personal users. Norton is Not, McAffee is not.
AVG runs faster, requires less cpu time, has MORE VIRUSES in it's definition files than norton [by over 1,000]

Norton/Mcaffee are specifically targetted by over 85% of 'stealth' viruses. [they write specific sub-routines to look for and disable them]. AVG is not.

Additionally, with norton, you have to UNINSTALL IT to actually disable it.

I recently had a customer whose norton install wasn't able to remove 97 viruses [different viruses, yes, unique names] that it DETECTED but "couldn't fix" - when I installed AVG, norton kept 'PROTECTING' the files that avg was trying to repair..

I shut norton off completely. Killed all processes in device manager [NOTHING norton specific was running] ran ibprocman to check for hidden processes, and took norton out of his various startups [msconfig, startupreg, startupfolder, non-microsoft services] and rebooted. - And dammit, NORTON started ANYWAY.

I had to not only uninstall it, I had to then RENAME the directory it left behind in \program files\ and \program files\common files\

Ran avg..
all 97 viruses found, and removed.
Ran avast.
Found nothing.
Customer stopped me from putting his norton back on his machine as he could see "damn, this program sucks donkey d!k" as he said it.
Click to expand...

So you say..this happens to everyone?

Didn't think so
no problems here. what update problems? I have non. And I have a full year. I don't know what your talking about 90 days. And don't think viruses aren't targeting AVG too. That's once again, mentality "linux is more secure than windows" For the MOST part, I call it user error
 
I use Norton. It's fine I suppose, my main problem with it is that it takes up more memory than I'd like, and the hard drive scans take reeeaaaally long. When I bought it I didn't even know that there were other antivirus programs out there besides those by Norton and McAffee. Just from reading the threads on this forum I've been convinced to use AVG once my Norton Live Update subscription ends.
 
eeyrjmr said:
I dont

I got linux running and the only things that have any ports open are

1) the http port
2) the ftp
3) the ping port

none are vulnerable so dont need a firewall
Click to expand...

I think you mean none are as vulnerable as windows. Depending what servers youhave runnign on your system there will be a cackload of bugs, not neccessarily in ping, but certainly http and ftp servers.
 
no - not vunerable - I am not running any servers

Browse the web, ftp some files...
 
eeyrjmr said:
no - not vunerable - I am not running any servers

Browse the web, ftp some files...
Click to expand...
if you're not running servers, why have ports 20/21/80 open at all? They're not used for outbound traffic.

Anyway, OP answer: Linksys NAT, McAfee. XP Firewall on my laptop's 802.11 connection.
 
eeyrjmr said:
no - not vunerable - I am not running any servers

Browse the web, ftp some files...
Click to expand...

So you are saying you only have those ports open outbound? Otherwise, why would you listen on http or ftp if you werent serving?
 
I use Sygate Personal Firewall 5.5. (not 5.6 as it causes problems with some xp systems).

AVG Free (Have realtime and everything turned off. I just right-click and scan a file when I want to).

As for Norton ( the firewal or the anti-viruse), I won't touch them. They do more harm than good. If I see them on a computer, they get uninstalled.

on the forums.techguy.org, it's common for people to have problems displayling certain websites where no one lese has a problem. They spend lots of time trying to figure it out.

Now, the first thing we ask is, "Do you have any Norton products"? If they say yes, we tell them to disable them and if that doesn't work, we tell them to uninstall them.

Norton products are usually the culprit. Also, most that use Norton get it with their computer and only update for the free 6 months. After that, they just let it go. That at least is the person's fault and not Norton.

Norton also has a messy uninstall and tries to integrate itself even more than IE is. McAffee is the same way.
 
I use the nvida firewall that came with nforce4. Works pretty good and is fairly easy to manage. Since the firewall function is in a separate chip, the load on CPU should be minimal.
Definitely, I would not use any software firewall. Better off with a hardware firewall.
 
omg, this topic has been beaten to death time and time again.

please save us the hassle and use the search before posting
 
compslckr said:
omg, this topic has been beaten to death time and time again.

please save us the hassle and use the search before posting
Click to expand...
For your information, I did do a search on this topic. There were 2 threads that had to do with it. One was asking the best antivirus for dial-up, and one was asking what antivirus would install on Windows 2003 server. Neither apply to what I was asking for.

This is a public forum. I don't see what the big deal is about asking for opinions/advice about what antivirus and firewall to use that doesn't interfere with your system resources. If you read a thread's topic that doesn't interest you, THEN DON'T READ IT.
geez...
 
your search queries could use a little work then :p

there are indeed hundreds of theses threads,
but then we expect there will be hundreds more :p


regarding defending McAfee
today would be a singularly unfortunate coincidence I guess
McAfee flaw leaves users wide open


eeyrjmr said:
none are vulnerable so dont need a firewall
Click to expand...

LOL, man I want some of what your smokin :p

exploits happen
http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php/id;1774310172;fp;2;fpid;1


mylinux boxes (Suse Pro 9.1) arent on the net,
though I employ Knoppix alot for surfing,
lets see malware explot a RAM Drive and CDROM :p

on the Windows boxes NOD32
and alot more aps listed in the Sticky at the top of the forum
Rampant Paranoia 101
 
Laforge said:
Norton sucks ass
McAffee too
Click to expand...

Netrat33 said:
:rolleyes:

so tired of people bitchin about the two. It's like windows and linux and fighting "the man"
Click to expand...
No, it's like people telling you that AIDS is a bad disease to have, so face it. They both suck. McAffee is worse than actually having a virus, and no matter how hard you try, you can never have a clean running machine, if you have McAffee installed on it. It may be the Prince of Bugginess, but Norton is the King of Bloat. Norton should be classified as a registry hijacker, but you can't get rid of it with any known spyware remover. It clutters a registry beyond belief, and steals all the extra resources that it can. However, it does actually work, unlike McAffee, a program engineered for those who want to discover the best way to reformat a hard drive, or rabid Compaq users.

Look it these comments as McAfee/Norton awareness sensitivity training for the technologically impaired.;)

Knowingly putting a "Sin Against God" on a computer should require at least a thousand Hail Marys for penance. My son, you have sinned.
 
mosin said:
Look it these comments as McAfee/Norton awareness sensitivity training for the technologically impaired.;)
Click to expand...


aww...this from someone who obviously had problems with McAfee. Cuz it COULDN'T possibly be user error. Sorry I have working machine and you don't :rolleyes: I might also add...never had a virus *knock on wood over and over again :D * This is actually my first year getting an antivirus so I must be doing something right. Yet the millions of people and companies who use it who don't have problems might argue against you. From a company who is thriving with there successful business.

Yes Norton has STOLEN ALL MY RESOURCES!! help me someone PLEASE help! I can't run anything EXCEPT norton and Internet explorer! I'm am being F'd Right now by Norton because my games are playing at a CRAWLING speed. I mean it's a slide show all over the place.

Scarcasm for the scarcasm impaired.
Knowingly putting a "Sin Against God" on a computer should require at least a thousand Hail Marys for penance. My son, you have sinned.
Click to expand...

Like I said...EXACTLY the same mentality for people who hate windows and like linux.

"You're using micro$oft and they suck and you should use linux because there is no bloat and blah blah blah blah secure blah blah blah" GET OVER IT
 
@Ice Czar

Yes I know vuln exist but there hasn't been any exploits for them?
Since I am running as a non-root shouldn't do too much damage if something did happen anyway.
 
eeyrjmr said:
@Ice Czar

Yes I know vuln exist but there hasn't been any exploits for them?
Since I am running as a non-root shouldn't do too much damage if something did happen anyway.
Click to expand...

recently, and published :p
 
Netrat33 said:
aww...this from someone who obviously had problems with McAfee. Cuz it COULDN'T possibly be user error....blah, blah.
Click to expand...
No it couldn't, and my machine has been up since April 2003 on the original install. I have another one that was upgraded from Win95 with a Win98 upgrade CD in late 1997, and it is still going strong. Neither ever had McAffee, however. I know how to properly configure and maintain a computer, and one thing that I am absolutely certain of is that McAffee sucks. It isn't rocket science.

I routinely fix other peoples' computers that have McAffee installs. I could write a list of troublesome programs, and McAffee would be near the top of that list. If you happen to be the one guy who got it to work without a hitch, you are extremely fortunate, and I wish you much continued success. You might take a look at that flaw that Ice Czar linked, though.

As far as what companies run...

I have seen what they run. I am amazed every time that I go into a mortgage company to remove spyware, malware and other meanies from the same machines that hold the private banking information of their clients. I have seen company officials panic because of their computer ineptness, or the ineptness of their so-called system engineer who knows how to network, but little beyond that. Kid, I've been around the block.



You can take a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. :D
 
NOD32 (Best AV in the industry), Windows firewall (completely sufficient) and my router's firewall. Never had spyware. Never had a virus.
 
look both Norton and McAfee's reputation as bloated Hijackware is pretty evident
some flavors of Norton are far better than others, but they really dont compare to many of the lighter options available when it comes to resources and more importantly ease of uninstalling

there has been a history of "issues" with both
but then most software has some history of that
the most popular software just gets more coverage


thats just once facet of a scanner however
fanatism from either side of the aisle doesnt really help the rational discussion of the issue

so play nice ;)
 
Boss,
We are really, really nice guys. We have artistic differences, though. ;)
Netrat33 and I probably agree on some things.
 
I use NoD32 and Sygate PFP for my firewall, both work great and run in the backgorund without much intervention on your part, unless something is horribly wrong of course. They also use very little memory.
 
mosin said:
No it couldn't, and my machine has been up since April 2003 on the original install. I have another one that was upgraded from Win95 with a Win98 upgrade CD in late 1997, and it is still going strong. Neither ever had McAffee, however. I know how to properly configure and maintain a computer, and one thing that I am absolutely certain of is that McAffee sucks. It isn't rocket science.

I routinely fix other peoples' computers that have McAffee installs. I could write a list of troublesome programs, and McAffee would be near the top of that list. If you happen to be the one guy who got it to work without a hitch, you are extremely fortunate, and I wish you much continued success. You might take a look at that flaw that Ice Czar linked, though.

As far as what companies run...

I have seen what they run. I am amazed every time that I go into a mortgage company to remove spyware, malware and other meanies from the same machines that hold the private banking information of their clients. I have seen company officials panic because of their computer ineptness, or the ineptness of their so-called system engineer who knows how to network, but little beyond that. Kid, I've been around the block.



You can take a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. :D
Click to expand...


*Laughing* Kid? Me? Now that's funny. Btw, you should know by now that you should have formatted and reinstalled your copy of windows LONG time ago to get the maximum amount of performance out if it anyway. ;)

Ice Czar: Agree with you. Memory wise, it probably does take up more than most programs. is it REALLY a big issue like some people make it. I don't think so with today's computers. Does that make Norton or McAfee the enemy. HELL no and that's what makes me roll eyes seeing how everyone boo's them.

Mosin: Your right too. We can disagree on this but there are probably a bunch of other things we can agree on.
Just the nature of how things go.
 
Yep, we can agree on some stuff, but not on reformatting. That's for another thread, however.

mosin signs off
 
I perform phone tech and have seen more issues with both Norton and McAfee causing games to not run. The game or the A/V of choice gets an update and that A/V program decides that the game is bad and won't allow the game to run, until you uninstall either McAffee or Norton. It's one of the first things asked when players call with connection problems too.

When gaming those programs aren't really necessary, since you are on those games respective secure servers. And the more you have running at the same time the more chances of a disconnect from those games.

I am not saying that it's bad to have them for normal everyday use, and I think they are very important for businesses, and normal web browsing. But they aren't necessary while gaming. These are my opinions on the matter.

That said I have McAfee on my PC currently and am about to remove it. If I feel I might have a virus I will use housecall.antivirus.com for a nice free scan that has more updates than McAfee or Norton.
 
Netrat33 said:
:rolleyes:

so tired of people bitchin about the two. It's like windows and linux and fighting "the man"
Click to expand...


Lets put it this way..

AOL has embraced mcaffee as their security solution..


How good can it actually be, if AOL uses it..

I mean, look what they did to icq.

Look how they ruined winAMP {or, more directly, stifled it's growth in the direction it was meant to go} -- Not that I blame justin for selling out.. they paid him an ASSLOAD of money.. [I know, I've seen the pictures] :)

I mean, is anyone from the original team still on the winamp project? [other than mike the llama, that is?]


/me steers back on topic. - norton, while it actually does sometimes catch a virus, uses 300 to 500% more resources to do so. It's much more expensive, to own, the TCO of administrating a symantec protection system is higher, [take this from an admin]

Yes.. SOME people can use the product with no problem.. SOME people can stare at the sun without going blind, or get shot 9 times like fitty cent and still live. -- It doesn't mean that there isn't a problem with the program.. it just means that YOU ARE LUCKY TO NOT HAVE EXPERIENCED IT.

McAffee anti-virus has REPEATEDLY identified an .ISO image file I have created of my tools cd as a trojan backdoor. Suffice it to say, it is not a virus or trojan In fact, it can't even be executed.

Mcaffee has also told me that my Counting Crows "August and Everything After" cd has a virus on it. - This is not a BURNED disk. It is not a HYBRID disk. I use this disk as my "inside joke" to prove to people how poor quality mcaffee is. It HAS NO COMPUTER DATA ON IT. Just raw MUSIC.

The aforementioned link from ice czar mentions that the mcaffee "serious flaw" is in *23 versions of the program*

Does avg have problems? Yep. It doesn't seem to like my old inspiron 1100's video card drivers [intel extreme 2] But have I found over 40,000 viruses with avg in the past 6 months on COMPUTERS THAT ALREADY HAD VIRUS SCANNERS ON THEM?

yes.

As I am a service business, I actually record this information.

Year to date :

Viruses Removed :
191,420
Spyware entries removed :
1,375,860

Percentage of clients who are running Windows XP : 84%
Percentage of clients who have a functioning firewall : 9%
Percentage of clients who are using AOL [dialup or broadband] 67%
Percentage of users using Aol "Seurity Edition" 89%

Average number of virus infections on AOL based computer systems.
143

Average number of virus infections on non AOL based computer systems
17

Average number of ADDITIONAL viruses found by OUR scanning techniques.
81


Most popular virus scanner :
McAffee
Norton Antivirus

Typical status of Virus scanner :
Expired : Came free with computer system, user did not pay for additional coverage as the software never prompted them to.

Usage duration of AVG Free Personal : "Free until grisoft changes their minds"
Usage duration of FREE norton trial : 30 days or 90 days [depending on oem supplier agreement]
Usage duration of FREE mcaffee trial : 5, 14, 30, 90 days [depending .... ]

Cost of Commercial Version of AVG : $33.00 = Includes 2 Years of Updates

Cost of Commercial Version of Norton Antivirus : $49.95 = Includes 1 year of updates
Cost of additional year now only $24.95

Total Cost for 2 years "protection" from AVG : $33.00
Total Cost for 2 years "protection" from norton : $75.00

Additional years : $16.50 vs $24.95
note : norton USED To be $40 a year.

mcafee..
$49.99 + $40 a year
 
Netrat33 said:
*Laughing* Kid? Me? Now that's funny. Btw, you should know by now that you should have formatted and reinstalled your copy of windows LONG time ago to get the maximum amount of performance out if it anyway. ;)
Click to expand...

Only if you find it hard to remove programs that you don't want, or if you frequently install and uninstall new programs.

If your system is clean, installed, and upgraded, you should never have to format. That's called STABILITY.

The only reason to reinstall windows is if you fscked it up. If it's clean and properly installed, and NOT TAMPERED WITH, it could run until the hardware dies.

Now me? Since I install and uninstall about 20 programs on average every month [or upgrade a piece of equipment], I do reinstall often, it's easier than cleaning up the tracks that software leaves behind. But my girlfriends computer only got a windows reinstallation when I upgraded her from an XP1700+ to a P4 2.6c.. It's been running clean ever since. My uncles 2nd computer has been running flawlessly on Win95 since, well, it was new. It does what he needs it to. Types up reports and prints to his printer, .. Same install for *10 years*

Your post shows just how naive you really are.

The rule of thumb that "you should reformat once a year" or whatever denomination you want is taking into consideration 1 really big thing... Most users are idiots who do completely asinine things with their computers.

My webservers haven't had a single software change[except for apache and IIS], or operating system reinstall since they've been built.

8 linux boxen, 2 windows NT boxes
 
Laforge said:
Only if you find it hard to remove programs that you don't want, or if you frequently install and uninstall new programs.

If your system is clean, installed, and upgraded, you should never have to format. That's called STABILITY.

The only reason to reinstall windows is if you fscked it up. If it's clean and properly installed, and NOT TAMPERED WITH, it could run until the hardware dies.

Now me? Since I install and uninstall about 20 programs on average every month [or upgrade a piece of equipment], I do reinstall often, it's easier than cleaning up the tracks that software leaves behind. But my girlfriends computer only got a windows reinstallation when I upgraded her from an XP1700+ to a P4 2.6c.. It's been running clean ever since. My uncles 2nd computer has been running flawlessly on Win95 since, well, it was new. It does what he needs it to. Types up reports and prints to his printer, .. Same install for *10 years*

Your post shows just how naive you really are.

The rule of thumb that "you should reformat once a year" or whatever denomination you want is taking into consideration 1 really big thing... Most users are idiots who do completely asinine things with their computers.

My webservers haven't had a single software change[except for apache and IIS], or operating system reinstall since they've been built.

8 linux boxen, 2 windows NT boxes
Click to expand...

OH MOTHER F'R! I just typed a huge thing and I just lost it!! *laughing!*

ANYONE SHORTER VERSION of what I typed and you'll never see it now :(
Me naive no: just didn't go into it as much assumed everyone on forum uses computer more than net
uncle machine: sure it's being pushed alot. you full of crap saying flawless. Windows95 crash master. you being naive
girlfriends computer: ditto. not being pushed

this sooooo sucks. I wrote something longer and something just happened :)

Mcafee is right, your Counting crows is a virus. They suck!
 
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