Firewall/Antivirus
 

I know about Avast! But does anyone know any others

Thanks and

...

You guessed it

SMILE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Well it is my first post):ok:

If you're on Windows then the built-in Firewall is "good enough" and for antivirus I'd suggest Grisoft's AVG antivirus - http://www.grisoft.com/

Beware of Norton, it's very intrusive and sometimes has strange effects on people's systems.

If on a Mac or Linux (my current fave distro is Kubuntu) then you really don't need to worry about such things.

Thanks, but i was looking really for a free downloadable version :-)

Smile,

There's a sticky at the top of this Forum that I suggest you read - The Ultimate List of Free Software.

SD

Hmmm ... the shortfall on XP Firewall is that it protects you against unwanted and potentially dangerous inbound traffic only.

It doesn't monitor outbound traffic, so if you do pick up a trojan or other unwanted program on your PC, XP Firewall will not spot it (or block it from) transmitting information from your PC to the internet.

For a good (free) Firewall that offers both inbound and outbound protection, take a look at Sunbelt's Kerio Personal Firewall. It's a free download, fully featured for 30 days then drops back to restricted free functionality (IMHO you don't need the paid for stuff).

Absolutely!

RC

I'm using Avast and find it very good. Testing sites/forums suggest it has a slightly higher detection rate than AVG, and not as good as the other big freebie, Avira. Avira is extremely good, up with the better pay for A/V's, but doesn't incorporate an email scanner in the free version. You can make what you will of some of these tests, they're all around the place, have varying criteria and I think, at best, give a pretty good indication. The real test is how protected the average user is against viruses in the wild, on regular internet surfing, and for that, Avast, AVG, and Avira are generally quite adequate. In addition you need a firewall, preferably outbound as well as in-especially if you're a high risk user, and a resident antispyware program is advisable.