20 replies to this topic

[Abydos]

Abydos: Aye, I use avast! 4 on my personal PC. I found AVG 8.0 to be somewhat "lacking". The process, avgrsx.exe, constantly took up 50MB of RAM when the computer idle. Thus, I migrated to avast!, a ex-AVG user. I also found that AVG 8.0 constantly found false positives from SpywareBlaster and Spybot-SD's immunization.

The new AVG 8.0 does have its, hmm, faulties. But its still a very good AV, and with the AVG-Anti-Spyware incorporated into it its really
capable. I know the facts about SpywareBlaster and Spybot S&D (and Advanced Windows Care), but those aren't the only good
security applications which can be had for free. As for the resource hogging, lowering its priority in the Task manager will do the trick,
same goes for Avast (Which also can hog resources.)

Abydos... you wouldn't suggest ZoneAlarm?

I usually don't recommend anything I don't have first hand knowledge on. (Thats also why I have placed Nod32 as outsider under AV)
But should I recommend Zone-Alarm, it would be the paid version, and not the free.

I have used Comodo once... it was weeks ago. I got nagged to death from the DEFENSE +. It constantly told me that this process and that process need this and that. *sigh. I could disable DEFENSE + correct?

You could disable the Defense+, but then you would lack are very important feature in the Comodo Firewall. Defense+ also protects your other security prgrams from being shut-down by malware! Comodo Firewall Pro.3.0 is a so-called "Loud" firewall. But in my experience, the learning curve is much faster in the new version. I use it myself, and have no popups worth mentioning, unless I install things. Even when using its "Installation-mode", it still generates popups, altho not that many as without. That said, it is the strongest free Firewall around, and no Firewall, not even paid ones, (besides Online Armor) beats it in leak-tests. Its HIPS are very effective.

I have never tried Online Armor. I'm not sure of it's true potential.

Online Armor is almost (in my opinion) as strong as Comodo in leak-tests. Its HIPS is the opposite of Comodo, a quiet Firewall. The free version does lack some important features, like auto-updating! But its still a very strong and capable firewall. One drawback about Online Armor, is that there are quit a few programs it doesn't get along with.

Hope that answers the most

Regards Abydos

[drragostea]

It answered the most. I had no idea that Comodo was the toughest out of the all firewalls. What I didn't like about ZoneAlarm is that updates would take months and maybe forever just for one update.

But I have to admit Comodo was strong... and I liked it's GUI. What was complex to me was all the settings and allowing what to go and what not to go. I rarely touch the Advanced Settings unless I had to check something out or wanted to see how it worked.

I know, some Malware can disable AV programs. Just that I had to constantly face pop-ups when installing a Canon driver even in installation mode.

Thank you very much Abydos for the valuable info. There's always more to learn.

Oh, I gave NoScipt another try. Sadly, I still couldn't accept. I

For one instance, I had to allow cookies just to login to Download.com's user profile. Many like "revsci.net" are tracking cookies. They don't bother me, but it's just NoScript that's bothering me. I took a look at FlashBlock, but I decided that it wasn't worth it (just in my opinion). It works almost the same like NoScript. It sounds so much like SpywareBlaster and Guard as being a team, lols.

Thanks a bunch Abydos.

[Abydos]

Hey Eric

Heres a link for the latest test on firewalls made on Matousec, I
thought you might find it interesting.

However, always take these tests with a grain of salt, and always
be a bit skeptical. It does however, give some idea of the strength
of the individual firewalls. Like, it would be unlikely that the bottom (poorest)
would be better than those above average.
I also would encourage you to read the detailed results, as some
things may be explained why a particular firewall did poorly in that
particular test. And read Vendor's responses, which also may shed
some light on their product.

LINK

[drragostea]

Yes, indeed it is interesting. I found that Comodo Pro was the toughest out of them all. I was a bit surprised that Lavasoft's firewall and AVG IS did so poorly. ZoneAlarm was satisfactory. I have no idea what the tests are and what they do. However, from the ratings I can see that Comodo ranked number one. I think I'll use that before I update my Windows XP next time I format. Thanks much for the info., Abydos.

[Tokamak]

Why no layered protection? Was Microsoft Updates just too much work for you? Or was this a test machine?

Operator errors? Can you explain?

Formatting should be another year or so for me.

Yea, I agree. Even the best protection with lots of money won't protect you. No AV or browser is invincible. I see a lot of people paying so much for memory hogging Internet Security software. It's just up to user decision. And it's up to user decision whether what goes into the PC.

I think he means idiots like me who sometimes follow the process:

User: "Oh hey, I think I'll try program X today"

*goes to do some downloading*

User: "Yay, lets get it installed! Oh sod off teatimer, of course Im making reg changes, Im installing here!!!"

NIS: "virtumonde has been detected at c:\blahblahblah"

"Oh bugger, well I pay for Norton so it must be able to kill this crappy infection"

*runs Dr Web, runs HJT*

User: "Feck"

[drragostea]

Thanks Tokamak for your contribution to the conversation. I have a much better understanding now of the topic. : )