MdKnightR Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 I hope this hasn't been posted before. My subscription for Norton Systemworks Premiere 2005 and Norton Firewall is about to run out and I am considering switching to iolo System Mechanic, which is now in version 6. I was wondering if I could get some guidance on the issue of system utilities and firewall software from the experts here in my favorite forum . Any thoughts or suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingerhs Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 well, i use a mixture of free programs, all of which i found on http://www.download.com. Anti-Virus- AVG Free Anti-Sypare/Adware- Ad-Aware SE & Microsoft AntiSpyware Firewall- ZoneAlarm and yes, all of these programs work just as well or better than the tools on Norton SystemWorks. my only gripe is that the AVG scanner is really slow compared to Norton, but it gets the job done. hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 I use norton internet security 2005(dont like 2006) spybot and adaware. That seems to keep me clean from net nasties I also run registry mechanic every now and then to keep that nice and trim - which is very important to do mtfbwya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vladimir-Vlada Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 Oh! Great! Another tech thread. I am just going to try and ignore this thing before I get called ignorant, a hypocrite and so for using some ancient software. And get a lot of bashing that I 'Pick software and opinions from any man on the street' and that I 'Endanger everyone here because I use bad software'. If I hear any of that directed towards me, I'll report that person with the threatening yellow button called: "Report Bad Post". It was about time I said that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Lion54 Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 well, i use a mixture of free programs, all of which i found on http://www.download.com. Anti-Virus- AVG Free Anti-Sypare/Adware- Ad-Aware SE & Microsoft AntiSpyware Firewall- ZoneAlarm Listen to him! The man knows what he's talking about. hehe AGV is good. I'v been using it for over a year and can't see going back to norton. Ad-Aware is good, too. I also like Spybot. They pick up different things sometimes, so you get a little bit better protection. Though the number of files found has seriously gone down since I swithced to FireFox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sitherino Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 AVG, spybot, ad-aware and common sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 I use ad-aware, avast!, mircosoft spyware scanner, and spybot. Gotta catch 'em all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Obi-Wan Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 I use AVG - Free Edition, Spybot, and Ad-Aware..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MdKnightR Posted December 9, 2005 Author Share Posted December 9, 2005 Wow, seems to be a general consensus here about the issue so far. I haven't heard of most of those programs. The ones mentioned primarily protect from malicious items, but I need to know what to use for disk defragmenting, disk scanning, disk cloning, etc. I did like the way Norton did those things, and I have been fairly pleased with Systemworks for years, but I don't want to fork out another $70 to renew my subscription to the whole shebang. Has anyone used System Mechanic at all that can give me any clue as to its performance? I bought it yesterday because Wal-mart had it for about half the price of what it goes for everywhere else, but I haven't opened the box yet so I can still take it back if it turns out it was a bad investment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spinkle Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 I use Water Works and the Electric Company. If I'm lucky enough to get all the Railroads, I'm a dangerous man. but seriously, I use a hardware firewall and SpyBot S&D, then occasionally do a sweep with NAV. I'm also a Firefox and GMail user, so my spyware/virus instances are pretty rare anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth333 Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 I use pretty much what has been listed by Stingerhs and winpatrol which notifies me of what's going on in my PC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sitherino Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 I use Water Works and the Electric Company. If I'm lucky enough to get all the Railroads, I'm a dangerous man. And you smoke monopoly homes, correct?[/off topic] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renegade Angel Posted December 10, 2005 Share Posted December 10, 2005 I use Zone Alarm, it works great, it ahs a pop up blocker and anti-spyware protection anda nti-virus. You may have to buy it though. (Or go to google and find Zone ALrm's website, then you can get a free trial.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spinkle Posted December 10, 2005 Share Posted December 10, 2005 And you smoke monopoly homes, correct?[/off topic] Bwahahahahah But let's not forget I also smoke Greedo. And Kermit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted December 11, 2005 Share Posted December 11, 2005 Oh! Great! Another tech thread. I am just going to try and ignore this thing before I get called ignorant, a hypocrite and so for using some ancient software. And get a lot of bashing that I 'Pick software and opinions from any man on the street' and that I 'Endanger everyone here because I use bad software'. If I hear any of that directed towards me, I'll report that person with the threatening yellow button called: "Report Bad Post". It was about time I said that. Vlad, you should have ignore this thing and just not posted in the first place When I see a thread that may potentially be unsavoury, I just (try to) stay away mtfbwya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Det. Bart Lasiter Posted December 11, 2005 Share Posted December 11, 2005 McAfee, I got it for free, with an unlimited subscription from Comcast. Also, recently, FireFox has also fallen to Internet Explorer in terms of security since IIS 6.0 (which has better security than Apache now) came out with a host of other updates. It's an odd scenario with Microsoft, but it's true, Google it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevanA4 Posted December 11, 2005 Share Posted December 11, 2005 well, i use a mixture of free programs, all of which i found on http://www.download.com. Anti-Virus- AVG Free Anti-Sypare/Adware- Ad-Aware SE & Microsoft AntiSpyware Firewall- ZoneAlarm and yes, all of these programs work just as well or better than the tools on Norton SystemWorks. my only gripe is that the AVG scanner is really slow compared to Norton, but it gets the job done. hope that helps. you use avg I use avast its loads better than AVG plus its free but it also has a enterprise edition which thier site explains why the home edition is free also has a linux version for spyware programs I use Ad-aware SE/spybot/pest-patrol (this one is perks of my job) firewall a hardware firewall and zone alarm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathdisco Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 Yup, AVG anti-virus and the last version of Sygate's Personal Firewall(R.I.P.) damn you Symantec As far as spyware don't use IE unless you absolutely have to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MdKnightR Posted December 14, 2005 Author Share Posted December 14, 2005 I use avast its loads better than AVG plus its free Thanks for the link! Can someone post links to the other utilities mentioned so far? Or are they readily available from Download.com? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevanA4 Posted December 14, 2005 Share Posted December 14, 2005 Thanks for the link! Can someone post links to the other utilities mentioned so far? Or are they readily available from Download.com? all mine are except for pest patrol which isn't free hense the prenthisis in my post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Lion54 Posted December 14, 2005 Share Posted December 14, 2005 Thanks for the link! Can someone post links to the other utilities mentioned so far? Or are they readily available from Download.com? Most can be found on Download.com. For AGV antivirus- go here http://www.grisoft.com/doc/1 Grisoft is the company that makes it, if you were wondering. What does everyone think of Avast? Is is better/worse/the same as AGV? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted December 14, 2005 Share Posted December 14, 2005 I think avast is pretty nice. It updates it's virus database ever few days so it always has the most up to date virus definitions. I know it caught some stuff on my comp right when I got it that my old virus scanner didn't catch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MdKnightR Posted January 5, 2006 Author Share Posted January 5, 2006 Thanks for all the advice guys! I decided to go with Zone Alarm and AVG Anti-virus. So far I am pleased. AVG found 5 viruses on my system that had gotten past Norton! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevanA4 Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 Thanks for all the advice guys! I decided to go with Zone Alarm and AVG Anti-virus. So far I am pleased. AVG found 5 viruses on my system that had gotten past Norton! =_=" Avast PWNS AVG I've used both and avast does stuff avg doesn't do and its more through than both avg and norton here is what avast does other than what Avg does Internet Mail: - Scan outbound mail [sMTP] - Scan inbound mail [POP3] - Scan inbound mail [iMAP] - Scan inbound news [NNTP] - Scan outbound news [NNTP] - Heuristic sensitivity: medium Instant Messengers: - MSN Messenger - ICQ - Trillian Messenger Network Shield: - Show messages Outlook: - Scan inbound and outbound mail - Scan unread messages on open - Heuristic sensitivity: medium P2P Shield: - Kazaa & KazaaLite - Direct Connect - Direct Connect++ Filesystem: - Scan selected files on write - Scan selected files on open thats all done in the back ground also you should get both spybot search and distroy and adaware SE and use them both they spybot catches stuff adaware doesn't and adaware catches stuff spybot doesn't oh and Avast catches pesky Adware, Spyware, and Malware before it gets to your pc (only the most dangerous ones though) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emperor Devon Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 I use spybot, anti-adware, and norton antivirus. But I think I'll download AVG. It sounds very useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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