M$ Firewall/Antispyware?

[dammit]

Opinions on these please. Anyone use these in favour of AVG... Zonealarm etc?

[black mirror]

Zonealarm... okay
AVG okay

both on my pc no problems so far.. if my opinion counts for anything:D

[dammit]

Lol... I was asking if anyone uses M$ anti spyware/virus/firewall and found them as good or better than AVG or Zonealarm etc. :D

[black mirror]

Im sorry

[uripyores]

I use the M$ Antispyware [they call it Defender now don't they?] with a separate non-M$ firewall [Outpost at present] seems ok to me. No probs.
As far as I know Windows still doesn't stop outbound stuff so I avoid it.

[oracle128]

You mean Windows Defender? Paul Thurrott says it's good, but he may be just a tad biased. Maybe you could ask Seth_ to include it in his next anti-malware experiment?

As for the XP firewall - well, it works. I'll give it that much. It's not very advanced though. If you need a high amount of configuration, advanced rules, complete functionaly or detailed logging, XP firewall isn't good enough.

[chryssi2001]

I use XP firewall with some exceptions and works fine. But lately i've watched people having problems with Zone Alarm.

[Pi rules]

The XP firewall is inferior to the ZoneAlarm free one, but there are some conflicts. Windows Defender can't really be compared with AVG because they aren't targeted for the same type of malware. I prefer Avast! over AVG for a free AV program.

[stummies]

Zonealarm can conflict with other AV programs, such as Avast!, and even disrupt connectivity. I usually use Avast! for antivirus, and the Windows XP SP2 firewall.

[uripyores]

Paul Thurrott says it's good, but he may be just a tad biased.
Plus, the review I read by him was comparing it with not having one at all. http://www.smileypad.com/v224/Feelings/Dunno2.gif

[oracle128]

Plus, the review I read by him was comparing it with not having one at all. http://www.smileypad.com/v224/Feelings/Dunno2.gif
The one I read simply said he thought it was one of the best anti-spyware tools.

[dammit]

Hmm not seen anything yet to persuade me to turn M$ protection on! :D

[uripyores]

The one I read simply said he thought it was one of the best anti-spyware tools.
Sorry, got me lines crossed - I was on about the Windows Firewall. :hmm:

I like Windows Defender.

[sho-dan]

Hello dammit

The only time I can see using M$ firewall is when the user does'nt have a firewall installed. I dont use M$ antispyware due to the sites I go to, no downloading of music, games, etc. Just research and repair apps, boring to some but fun for me. :D I use SpywareBlaster, Ad-Aware, ZoneAlarm pro and AntiVir AV. Thats about it. :cool:

[stummies]

The M$ firewall is more than enough if a software firewall is all you need, if information on your PC is that valuable, getting a hardware firewall would be the next choice. With how much resources are lost to running all the different kinds of software 'protection' suites, it can become a hassle. I very rarely get spyware, viruses, etc, usually I do not have a proactive virus scanner installed, and just use the XP firewall, I use Mozilla for browsing, and other non M$ internet programs like Sun, but, on the other hand, I am careful about how I browse.

[uripyores]

I usually use Avast! for antivirus, and the Windows XP SP2 firewall.

I very rarely get spyware, viruses, etc, usually I do not have a proactive virus scanner installed, and just use the XP firewall,
Isn't Avast "proactive" - I was under the impression that it was - not much use then is it? :confused:

[stummies]

Avast! is, but I only 'usually' use it when I feel I should check for viruses. I was only stating that I don't normally have an anti-virus program installed on my machine, but when I do install one for a check, I use Avast!

[uripyores]

What do you do with it after the check- do you uninstall it? Why not keep it installed and running - probably safer that way. You can always do online scans without installing anything.

[black mirror]

Avast! is, but I only 'usually' use it when I feel I should check for viruses. I was only stating that I don't normally have an anti-virus program installed on my machine, but when I do install one for a check, I use Avast!

I would recommend avg free edition available from CTH download section (http://www.cybertechhelp.com/download/file/avg-free-edition).. i have NEVER had a virus slip through it

[stummies]

To be honest, in the last 2 years, I have found 3 viruses on my PC, one of which was rather recent. All 3 of them had been downloaded via embedded web material, but never executed. 2 were exploits for windows VM, and the other was an IE exploit... since I do not use either of those programs, they never were executed, and were cleaned without any problems... and I actually had Avast! installed when the 2 Java viruses were downloaded, and it didn't detect them until the screensaver scan found them. To me, its a waste of computer resources, it slows down file execution. Even the most efficient of scanners slow down PC's.

Yes, after I run a boot-scan check with Avast! I do uninstall it. The online scanners do not have the ability to do a boot-scan, so that is why I don't rely on them. I have never seen in my work with computers, having AV scanners installed and Spyware programs installed on a PC making much of a difference. It more about how you use the internet.