Posted on 03/18/2010 9:12:40 PM PDT by doc1019
Just bought a new computer and I'm looking for the best firewall that will protect me. I used Armor with my old XP system and it seemed to work well, yet all the store gurus seem to think that the built in Windows firewall is just the "best". Any ideas?
I have both on, just checked.
Avira & Spybot
I like Trend Micro’s “Internet Security”.
You think Zone is better than the built in windows firewall?
Sorry .. My mistake.
You have to turn off Microsoft Defender.
Yes, I uninstalled Windows Defender, as I understand that MSE takes over many of the same functions.
I’ve been using McAfee firewall & antivirus. Seems to get the job done OK with straightforward configuration and minimal resource footprint. It was part of my Dell laptop bundle.
Watch out, some over here will come after you for mentioning McAfee.
I've been using McAfee since the early 90's and have never been stung by a virus. Using McAfee Total Protection 2009 now on a very old Gateway running XP Pro, very happy with it.
Windows firewall on, download and install “Microsoft Security Essentials”, and turn on automatic updates in Windows.
“Watch out, some over here will come after you for mentioning McAfee.”
Why?, what’s so bad about McAfee?
Same here. I’ve gotten so many viruses while using McAfee. And there virus scans never seem to work.
Since I switched to Norton Security, I’ve never had a single problem.
Nothing I can find, but some dislike it with a passion (accuse it of nearly being a virus itself and bogging down the OS).
My new Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q880 laptop, according to tracking, should be in tomorrow. Will be loading McAfee in it.
“Nothing I can find, but some dislike it with a passion (accuse it of nearly being a virus itself and bogging down the OS).”
Oh, OK then. I haven’t had any issues with it running on my Dell Inspiron 1720 + Vista, but I get that everybody’s experience will vary with different platforms 7 software configs.
My pet hate is Norton’s AV, I’ve had nothing but nightmares with it in the past,across a wide variety of platforms.
That's what my new Toshiba laptop will have on it from the factory. One of the first things I intend to do is remove Norton and install McAfee.
The built in windows firewall has made irrelivent 3rd party solutions for MOST things. If a random hacker from 123.123.123.234 tries to connect to your PC, the windows firewall will simply reject the connection because your operating system doesn’t already know about this IP address and will reject it. This works very well for internet based threats. The only way around this is for malware to exploit some windows weakness that disables the firewall or adds itself to the list of exceptions. If this happens, I can see having a 3rd party firewall as POSSIBLY helping, IF said malware doesn’t also disable that firewall as well.
Personally i’ve been using just the windows firewall since XP and haven’t looked back. If you’re behind a router, especially one with SPI, that in conjunction with the windows firewall is a very tough nut to crack. You’d have to literally go to an infected site and not have an antivirus catch things coming through your HTTP port to get infected. I used to fix computers for many people and businesses and the single common denominator for badly infected computer was kids using it.
It’s 99.9% about the operator not clicking on “FREE DOWNLOAD” indiscriminately, because that’s where most of the malware i’ve seen come in. If you’ve got a router, windows firewall running and windows up to date, your likelyhood of being infected just for being “on the grid” is extremely low, think 0.000000000001%.
I wouldn’t consider the firewall alone to be adequate. It’s basically a shield against someone scanning for open computers to attack, but I don’t believe you’re secure from malicious scripts and stuff like that from web pages you visit.
If you have a home network and are behind a router (wireless or just the kind you plug your network cables into), that’s the best possible firewall, because your computer is literally invisible to outsiders. Instead of having addresses to the outside world, your computer(s) would just have internal ones the router uses. To the world you’d just show up as a router, which makes no sense to attack since it doesn’t execute code like a computer. Legitimate info is routed appropriately by the router, but any attack is just like junk mail being delivered to a hotel lobby.
Of the 3 free programs I recommended, I use Avast. It was literally a several minute process. I looked through the options to see that it was set up to update automatically and not harass me about whatever, and haven’t given a second thought to it since.
It sits there doing its thing, updating as necessary, without any action on my part. If I hit a questionable link it’ll intervene by popping up a message saying it’s found something, and I continue about my business with the crisis averted.
He is wrong, the Windows built in firewall and MSSE work fine together. And are all the security software that you need. Windows 7 is pretty secure.
Do NOT buy some random “antivirus” software off the net. Most are crap or outright scumware. The best way to protect from malware on the web (after you have installed MSSE) is described here:
http://www.malwarehelp.org/how-to-effectively-prevent-malware-hosts-file.html
It is just a bit technical (you have to download a file and put it in the right folder with the right name) but not hard at all. Just follow the instructions.
A home or small office router, wireless if you wish is a good addition. Their default settings are pretty secure and they are easy to set up. It makes your pc pretty invisible to the outside world. If you get a wireless router turn on the wireless security (wpa or wpa2).
“That’s what my new Toshiba laptop will have on it from the factory. One of the first things I intend to do is remove Norton and install McAfee.”
Good luck with that uninstall, I’ve had to just about perform an exorcism to get NAV out of our servers! if it wasn’t for the downtime I’d just as soon format the sys vol and start from scratch.
Toshibas are generally nice machines, I used to support a fleet of over 1,200 units for a large business consultancy. The hardware was surprisingly robust.
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