Need some computer advice

[snikr]

OK...here is another question for you. I can get McAfee through Comcast for free. How good is it? I know, I'm a CHEAP bugger. And you have given me others to look at when the budget allows.

Tom

 

[CRMH Eagle]

I switched to ESET Smart Security. Besides the fact I'm trying to figure out how to get Flash and Adobe to work on webpages without having to constantly authorize it's use I find it to be very excellent. No hi-jackers, no key-loggers, no-viruses, and very little ad pop-ups. I think the pop-ups come from sites I use on a constant basis. It requires less memory than Norton ****-works and because it deosn't require much memory I have not seen a slowdown in application speed. Norton & McAfee require a good bit of memory and will slow down your system. Plus both of those have had problems in the past with catching recently-released viruses which is why I looked into something else.

 

[uctofeej]

So, I know this is kind of an off topic hijack...
But there's one really big thing that has always bothered me about virii and such... Who has anything to gain by infecting the world with some malevolent virus?

I can only think of one group. The antivirus companies.

Discuss...

Any criminal has something to gain, including:

personal info for exploitation

financial records (credit cards, bank accounts, etc)

corporate espionage

government espionage

blackmail

sending an army of infected PCs on a denial of service attack against the big guys (like shutting down Yahoo!)

Governments and non-state players are now getting into the act, too, using infected PCs to attack critical infrastructure of enemy countries (i.e. Russians vs Georgia, China vs. US)

and the list goes on and on and on and on......

 

[git-r-dan]

While back, I did research on finding out the best security. Found out that Nod 32 from Eset (Australia) and Kapersky (Germany) were the two best rated. I used Nod 32 for a couple of years with no problems and switched to PC Security Shield, which is the American version of Kapersky. Been using Security Shield which has firewall software built in for about 3 years with no problems being a little more user friendly.

Note: the only time I've had viruses that destroyed the operating systems were with McAfee and Norton. Never will use those again.

git-r-dan :beach:

 

[Philip V]

Been using AVG for years with GREAT success. I have the free on some units and the paid on the others. I gotta say that the paid version really kicks but and handles all the spyware etc. as well. Out of 8 computers, not one virus since switching to AVG. Dam I sound like a commercial!!!

 

[Philip V]

I used (and recommended) AVG Free for more than 10 years. However, in the last 3 versions it's started to bloat in an effort to be-all for-all like it was trying to add as many check marks in a list to compete against the other bloated mainstream offerings. As it's done so, it's slowed down, become a bigger resource hog, and has become indistinguishable from the other hogs like Norton (except it doesn't corrupt your hdd) and McAfee (slow and hungry).
About 6 months ago I jumped ship and moved to NOD32. WOW! What a difference. It ain't free but a 3 PC license for 3 years averages out to about $15 a-year each for 2 family members and me. It's fast (a 2 hour AVG scan takes about 30 minutes and catches things AVG missed). It does 1 thing and does it very well without the overhead of system resources the others hog.

I have a Linksys DSL router that helps with firewall activies. I don't use Windows Firewall and have since dropped ZoneAlarm. I have no problems as I set up all user accounts on my XP Pro home PC as Users (limited access) so that no one can install software without logging out and logging back in as the Admin account. It prevents guests or family members from installing something that sounds "cool" and it blocks rogue web sites from installing MalWare as the User level doesn't allow for software installation.

Again, if I were going with AVG it'd be because it was free. If I have to pay for something, I'm very happy with NOD32. And that's even though I could use McAfee for free as part of their contract with my company.

Not a fair comparison to put the NOD against the free version of AVG. Try it against the paid and you might think differently.

 

[mvette]

ESET Smart Security, top rated. No pop ups, no ad ware. No user input, just does it's thing, never know it is there. Short update every boot up. Low CPU usage.