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christensent
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christensent
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PostThu May 01, 2014 4:46 pm 
I've tried a lot of products and live in a high threat environment on a fairly high risk system, and I would never trust my network to anything other than Norton Internet Security (not North Antivirus or Norton 360, the former is lacking in protection features and the later is just plain weird, I have experienced all three). I'm in an environment where using Windows Firewall, I am hit with trojans probably monthly and am personally actively attacked by a hacker once every few years. With Norton Internet Security, I have never had anything get by. I've been using Norton as my primary firewall choice for probably 12+ years. It is true that back in the day it was very bloated, but sometime around 2009 they completely revamped it and it really isn't bloated anymore. Any modern computer doing typical operations will have no evidence that a firewall is running from a performance standpoint regardless of what brand is chosen (possible exception being certain configurations of McAfee which IT departments can lock down ridiculously tight in a dangerous corporate environment - consumer versions ought to be fine although I've not used them for a few years).

Learning mountaineering: 10% technical knowledge, 90% learning how to eat
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Tom_Sjolseth
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PostThu May 01, 2014 4:58 pm 
A couple of points here. Just because someone hasn't got a virus using .... that means pretty much nothing. For one, you could have a virus and not even know it - in fact, most of the time that's the case. Depending on what security suite you are using, a virus might only present as a slowing down of your system, an inability to use a program or programs, or some other broken functionality. With the latest malware, your security suite probably won't alert you to its presence. Your propensity to contract malware depends on what you are using your computer for, what programs you use, how often you update your OS, how often you update your Java and other browser extensions, how often you update all programs that have internet access, what links you click on, what web pages you visit, and several other factors. I can tell you right now that if you're using Microsoft Essentials to protect your computer and you haven't had a problem, you should consider yourself lucky. Over the recent years, computers have become a lot more powerful, so hardware being bogged down by running security suites isn't much of an issue any more. How do I know what I'm talking about? A lot of actual experience dealing with security-related issues on Windows platform. I figure I've spent hundreds of hours troubleshooting, researching, and removing malware. I've been repairing people's computers as a hobby since the internet came about in the mid 90s (since Windows 95). During that time, I've seen people come in with Norton, McAfee, AVG, and many other big-name security suites... who have had rootkits or trojans and didn't even know it. In fact, Norton has been the worst. Since Kaspersky came out, using the tools it provides for virus removal, I have never NOT been able to repair a virus, rootkit, trojan, or worm on someone's system. Often it takes other actions besides just using the Linux boot Kaspersky, but no other program allows me to reliably rid a system of malware without a reformat - I've tried them all. Once I install Kaspersky on that person's computer, they never have a problem in the future. I have repaired several people's computer on this forum - several of who went to the Geek Squad, or other computer repair centers who told them their problem couldn't be fixed without a reformat. Maybe they'll chime in. Is it THAT big of a deal? Probably not to most people. But people's lives are on computers these days. I want the BEST option out there for security and protecting my data. Kaspersky is indeed the best.

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Sore Feet
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PostThu May 01, 2014 7:15 pm 
Tom wrote:
Avast. Been using it for years. Can't go wrong with it IMHO.
Another vote for Avast. The all-in-one packages like what Kaspersky offer are certainly good, but you're paying for a lot of unnecessary power there. Most home users don't need a software firewall - the majority of issues a home computer will be the target of will be the result of click-jacking, something attached in your email, or from something you willfully download, and this will almost always result in some sort of botnet hijacking, or ransomware being installed. The chances of a malicious individual actually trying to either delete or steal data from your computer explicitly are close to zero - your personal information is much more vulnerable on the websites you frequent. Firewalls won't do anything to prevent that sort of thing. I've used Avast + MalwareBytes (also free) for several years with no issues so far. If you're concerned with ad-blocking and such, use Chrome or Firefox with Adblock+ installed.

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hiker1
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PostThu May 01, 2014 9:47 pm 
Just want to add one more layer of protection I've been using for years: a hard wired home use router, such as a DLink EBR2310 which I have. A little tricky to set up properly, but once that's done you can leave it alone. It blocks incoming signals except when you are on the internet and click on a website. Routers like this small one have many other uses, like being able to block specific websites, connect to more than one computer, link computers, etc. From another website:
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Routers provide a hardware firewall, DHCP, and NAT. A firewall can be tailored to prevent programs that roam the internet to determine who you are or how many computers you have connected (no one's business but your own). DHCP allows you to connect multiple computers to the router and share the internet connection. NAT is the privacy I mentioned. On the outside, those programs only see one address (the router) saying 'hi' to friendly signals and 'buzz off' to those that would probe you for weakness.

falling leaves / hide the path / so quietly ~John Bailey, "Autumn," a haiku year, 2001, as posted on oldgreypoet.com
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Sore Feet
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PostFri May 02, 2014 8:42 pm 
hiker1 wrote:
Just want to add one more layer of protection I've been using for years: a hard wired home use router, such as a DLink EBR2310 which I have.
FYI, not all routers have a built in firewall, and wireless routers are much less likely to have firewall capabilities than wired routers.

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