Hello,

I am in the process of reinstalling my operating system for un related reasons.
I wanted to upgrade to a new anti virus and firewall (doesn't need to be the same company as long as they can work side by side). I'm not really sure what's good out there. I don't care if it's free or not since it's about type I got one. I just want to know what everyone thinks about what's out there. I heard zone alarm is good, but is their anti virus good too? (was looking at the security suite). Any info on this would be appreciated (sorry if this is disscussed somewhere else, I didn't install my grapic card driver yet so it is running anything visual really slowwww)

This topic lists several kinds of security programs that are available. Many of them are free. There are some other legitimate programs as well - if unsure about one, post a topic about it and ask.

This tutorial discusses means of staying safe on the internet.

I personally use:

SpywareBlaster
Spyware Guard
Spybot
Ad-Aware SE
and ZoneAlarm Security Suite

I now use the free version of Edwido as a standalone manually operated spyware checker on my Windows XP SP2 Home Edition.

It's important to make sure that whatever product you get will be compatible with your operating system.

An important thing to consider when getting an Anti-Virus product is your e-mail:

I used to have Symantec Corporate Edition as my Anti-Virus, and my university e-mail account was IMAP, and Symantec - AKA Norton - doesn't scan IMAP mail, only POP mail. I find it very interesting that the 6 virus files that Panda Online found were all attached to my IMAP mail, and none to my POP mail. I do know that ZoneAlarm AntiVirus will scan incoming -but not outgoing - IMAP. I don't know about the others, other than Norton/Symantec which doesn't. (I find it very odd that the University strongly recommends Symantec when the e-mail system is IMAP).

Hope this helps,

Orange Blossom

I highly reccomend Zone Alarm firewall. As for antivirus I use a share ware so I cant really reccomend a good one. Anyways heres a good list from BC where you should find nice freeware programs. (Note: its a bad idea to run 2 or more antivirus/firewall for they may interrupt each other.

Here is a new anti-virus program that is also available for free.

Active Virus Shield powered by Kaspersky.
You will have to provide an email address to receive an activation key.
Installation Instructions and Active Virus Shield FAQs.
The scanner comes bundled with an additional toolbar for Internet Explorer that shows the PC's security status and contains a password manager. During the install, it is recommended to uncheck the Security Toolbar component because of its adware functionality and tendency to freeze the browser.