AntiSpam and Anti-Virus for Exchange

Just wondering if any of you have a recommendation for a good anti-spam and anti-virus solution for a Windows small business server running exchange and hosting web sites. Currently everything is behind a sonicwall vpn/firewall device. Also, what about the network pc's. Do you just protect them individually with av software or is there a network option? Thanks,

Hello coldsmoke. There are various products that are very good. One of the best anti-spam products I have ever worked with is what is now called WebSense E-Mail Filter. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with that product, but it is expensive. Microsoft now offers forefront security that I have a feeling is pretty good, but I have never used. Exchange 2007 offers many new options, with forefront integration also, to help stop spam and viruses. A low cost alternative is to use an Untangle box to filter spam (and websites). For viruses, there are multiple options but I would suggest a two pronged approach. First, have antivirus on every PC. Good products like AVG and Avast can both be very cost effective and centrally managed from a server. Second, use a webfilter product to filter known and questionable sites that can spread this malware. Avoid any gateway type anti-virus solutions. They can be attractive price wise, but they have a significant performance impact. I have had nothing but problems with them. Mainly, they will attempt to scan items such as streaming media, and ALL downloads which cause it to appear to the end user that their download is not functioning properly. This is because it holds the file back until a significant portion is downloaded and scanned before it sends it on down the line to the workstation. It is just way to confusing for average users, and way to annoying for a technician to tell people over and over and over again that just because it says their download will take 7 days, it really is downloading normally and will finish shortly.