Hi,

I've been doing a lot of recent research to 'catch up' on things as I prepare to setup two new laptops for the wife and daughter (neither are 'technical' in the slightest, but needed laptops for school/work.. ), but there really doesnt seem to be a whole lot of info/recommendations out there for security software for the non-technical. I dont think it would be wise or fair to force 'my' security software on them (nod32 for av, zonealarm pro for firewall, random spybot/adaware sweeps here and there.. oh, and spyware blaster gets a random run every now and then and was used to initially 'secure' the browsers). Anyway, I really think that zonealarm/etc 'pop-ups' are going to cause the most problems (wife always clicking 'deny' b/c of paranoia and daughter always clicking 'allow' without a thought), and wanted to see if there were any other recommendations you guys had for a 'family friendly' firewall and/or anti-virus (free or not) that will do its job without bothering them too much. I obviously want to give them something better than the windows firewall, but am worried about zonealarm (free or pro) popping up quite a bit. AV wise I was thinking maybe to go with the free version of Avast since other people have said its 'bulkier but fairly user friendly'. I'm open to any suggestions really, and would prefer to go with a freeware version as they wont be doing anything serious (beyond im/email/surfing and basic office work).

Thanks for any help.

anybody? =X

Hi amking.

Those allow/deny questions can be very confusing so personally, I use Kerio Firewall in simple mode, no questions=no wrong answers.
For AntiVirus I prefer Avast for its automatic updating and ease of 1 click dealing with what it finds.
AntiMalware is up you, my preferences are in my sig below.

Good Luck

Cheers

You might try Sygate Personal Firewall, which allows you to manage permissions by application; you could then quickly and easily set permissions and reduce the number of pop-up requests dramatically.
AVGFree is also relatively easily to use, and seems to be less resource intensive than is Avast, at least on some computer configurations.

If your family is going to use computers, however, it seems to me that they are going to have to learn some semi-technical aspects just to keep secure. BC has some excellent Tutorials on using many security products that you can download and then print for their reading. Also are several good pinned discussions about the necessary steps to remain secure. Some introductory reading and discussion will pay big dividends, since the best security device invented is a reasonably informed user.

Cheers,
John

alright thanks for the replies so far, i'll give kerio a try and look @ avast again..

Maybe I should add that Kerio free version in simple mode does nothing but what Windows Firewall does.

thats.. not good D:

Thanks Mr Alpha

Didn't realise that.

Cheers

This would explain why I passed grc.com Shields Up but failed the Leak Test.
Couldn't change the settings in Kerio so have installed SygatePF as recommended by jgweed.
Will go and do some testing.
Cheers