The Best...anti-virus, spyware and firewall?

I am just wondering what everyones opinion about which is the best Anti-Virus, Spyware, and Firewall software for winxp.

I have been hearing good things about panda, but have not tried any.

Since well...I ever got winXP pro. I have always used the AVG Free, Zone Alarm free, and adaware, and now along with adaware MS Antispyware.

If somone could tell me about an all in one software suite from another software company that can do a better job, that would be great. Besides Norton, or Mcafee, I have used those in the past and don't like them one bit every machine I have used with those suites, usually slows the machine down to much. 

nod32

>>1

MS-DOS 6.22.

>>1

I've heard good things about F-Secure.  I'll probably order a copy of there software once my current subscription runs out.

lunix

>>5

Is that, like, new, or something?

>>5

Is that, like, new, or something?

I've asked this question many times, and although it can appear to be complex, it's actually quite simple.

Kaspersky is the best antivirus scanner on the market, however it's extremely clunky. If you want its highest protection, you're going to get hard hard performance hits- so use the second best, NOD32 for active scanning, and Kaspersky for suspicious files.

The best firewalls are Outpost, ZoneAlarm, and TINY's- levels of sandbox in that order. A firewall itself is of very little use, what you need is a Windows security upgrade that asks whether such and such file's dll should be phoning home, not to STOP HACKERS. I use ZoneAlarm because Outpost can be buggy, but it's a heavy program at the benefit of having the most approachable sandbox system out there. It will prevent shit from calling home, and that's all you can really ask of it or should be worrying about.

Using the above and doing a hard spyware scan should not be getting you any spyware. There's no single answer for this. Try Microsoft AS, Adaware, Spysweeper, PestPatrol- then, don't install any suspicious programs, use a secure browser, and you won't get spyware. That simple.

Conclusion: NOD32 AV, ZoneAlarm FW, Kaspersky for on-demand. I've been clean for years and use cracks and keygens embedded with viruses daily.

$sys$virus heh

It will prevent shit from calling home, and that's all you can really ask of it or should be worrying about.

Considering how software firewalls are written, no, it won't.

Any decently-written trojan or spyware will use certain characteristics of the windows protocol stack to bypass any software firewall easily. If necessary, they can pass frames right to layer 2.

So what you're gaining by running a software firewall is rather little.

Hey thanks #8 poster !

Hmm...thats going to cost me a bit. Heh I do dearly want to switch to linux...buuuut. I play to many games...oh to many and I love STEAM. The hassle that is Linux Gaming does not appeal to me.

As much as some IE-fans will have me put on a cross i'd say this..

On many of the boxes i've used that happened to run a Windows OS the best solution was to use either Firefox/Opera as a browser, that alone cut down most Spy/Mal/Ad-ware. Then the other side of protection needed was to actually seal up the holes the OS itself provides.

The easiest solution to that was either a Hardware Router/Firewall. or if that was'nt available a software firewall of somekind(note: not Windows XP SP2's built-in) ;)

My 0.02

>>10
again, sandbox. The firewalls I mentioned are incorporating features found in Process Guard and AntiHook, while lessening the thousands and thousands of prompts those programs give you. It's a compromise, but it's working for me.

I want to scan files i dl occasionally. I don't want something running full time scanning everything killing performance. What do  should I use?

>>14
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

>>14
Kaspersky.
Housecall scans all your computer. :/

Also, surf smart with Firefox/Opera and you won't get any viruses or ad/mal-ware.

- AVG free
- Good hardware firewall/router (try WRT54G)
- spyware? well try firefox w/ adblock and be responsible about what you install. hijackthis works well too.

If you are too lazy to pay attention to what is being installed then you deserve to get owned.