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Any recommendations for a good free internet security suite?

My computer is running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Edition, AMD Phenom II quad-core 955 processor at 3.2 GHz, and 8 GB of ram.

Uh, default Windows Firewall and Microsoft Security Essentials?

Despite all the bashing Microsoft has gotten in the past about security, this combination alone is adequate for people who aren't exploring the dark corners of the internet or downloading every freeware program and game crack. It's also resource light.

My system is very similar to what you listed, and that's what I use, with MalwareBytes for the occasional second opinion on otherwise questionable files.

avast! and Avira have some of the best protection out of any of the free packages, according to AV Comparatives.

Both Avast and Avira ended up letting my system get trashed. MS Security Essentials is my last try at free AV, and then I'm just going to suck it and buy Norton.

Norton is crap, and it'll let a lot of viruses through that it shouldn't. Malwarebytes will nuke the stuff that a lot of antiviruses can't catch.

AVG + Malwarebytes
Avira + Malwarebytes

Virus scanners will not catch most malware these days because the fight is now a two front war of people trying to harm you or steal information and people simply trying to monitor you or shift search results.

Norton will trash your computer by itself Do not under any circumstances buy Norton, it's garbage that causes sytem instability and a hord of other problems. Norton installs it self not just into it's own folder but in several locations in the C drive as well as trying to get windows to lock it's install sectors and all sorts of other nastiness like over-writing your boot record with it's own version.

If you must buy then BitDefender based are good, middle tier is Mcaffee and N32, and bottom fucking tier is Norton.

I run Ad-Aware + MS Security Essentials + Malwarebytes.

adam_grif wrote:I run Ad-Aware + MS Security Essentials + Malwarebytes.

Ad-aware is suspect when they de-listed a company's malware in exchange for payments back in 2008. Not saying it's bad, it was a good program but the fact they agreed to do it once makes them suspect in my eyes. Running it on top of Malwarebytes however is no issue but I would not single source Ad-ware as my only anti-malware tool.

Echoing everyone else here, Norton is purified crap. So is McAfee.

A combo that has never let any malware onto my computer has been Avira + Spybot Search & Destroy + Spywareblaster. Add in Malwarebytes if you want, I haven't needed it. For a firewall, I use the Windows native one. The above mentioned combo is not even hard on the system resources. Microsoft Security Essentials is also a good pick if you want free.

I had Norton and I'd say don't buy it. Others gave enough reasons, but I'd like to tell you that if you have a LAN in your home (to share the same internet connection on multiple computers, like me), Norton goes crazy and locks out other computers or resources as it sees fit (usually the modem-router, cutting you off the Internet), refusing to let them work.

Since then, I've installed Bit Defender and works good (no infection in 3-4 years, and I go into dark corners of the net and download lots of debatable stuff, sometimes it detects some cyber-pest and blasts it away).
I have a far crappier rig than yours (not a quad core, 4gb of ram and running XP), and doesn't slow down even while playing games. (while Norton was a so heavy memory hog I had to keep all games installed in another partition without antivirus installed, seriously)

I have an external modem-router with integrated firewall, and all open-port checking sites say it does its work correctly (no port showing open). I bought it since I wanted to share my internet connection on more computers, and I was annoyed by viruses that used my connection to call weird telephone numbers and then I had to pay 20 or so euro for each call in my telephone bill.

Another thing that I'd like to recommand (while not actually a security suite per-se) is the web browser Firefox with an addon called Scriptblock, that locks any active content from web pages you are looking at until you give a confirmation (but builds a white list of "trusted sources"). You see only text and images until you give confirmation, and I take great pride of keeping blocked the Google Analythics thingy present in most sites that tracks you moves to make that site's access statistics (how much visiotrs per day, what was visited most, and so on).

I'm going to put up another vote for Avast!, which has the boot time scan feature which I quite like for some nastier flash drive based viruses.

I've also had good service from Avast, and ZoneAlarm is pretty good if only because it has a "Game Mode" that can be set to auto-deny or accept any request while you're running a full-screen app.

And, since someone has to say it, there's always Linux.

Zaune wrote:I've also had good service from Avast, and ZoneAlarm is pretty good if only because it has a "Game Mode" that can be set to auto-deny or accept any request while you're running a full-screen app.

And, since someone has to say it, there's always Linux.

ZoneAlarm?

And it hasn't shat on you yet? You're a lucky man, then. I used to have that piece of shit, but a couple of years ago it started spazzing out and randomly corrupting the TCP/IP stack, blocking all internet connections and other similar shit and reinstalls didn't cure that. The bugger went out the door after that and I will never even consider installing it again.

Note that this was not an isolated occurrence either. We had a ton of calls at work about how the customer's internet wasn't working, scan the line and it's okay, direct them to payline support and check the customer side OS and software settings and every fucking time they had ZA, uninstalling it fixed the problem. Mind you, that was AFTER ZoneAlarm had fixed all the problems their incompetence had caused with the worldwide DNS infrastructure upgrade.

So yeah, I wouldn't use that shit if you paid me. Well, if it was a LOT of money...

Seriously, the Windows firewall is enough for most people's needs. Most freeware firewalls are either crap like ZA, ancient like Sygate or a fucking pain in the ass like Sunbelt (formerly Kerio) or Comodo (which is the only decent one, but you REALLY need to know what you're doing).

I run Win 7 WITHOUT any additional firewall or antivirus. System and software updates are your friend. I had all kinds of AV, none have stoped malware in the long run, but most managed to trash my system by themselves. The security tools tjat MS wrote for Win 7 are indeed all you need. (For the OS itself, for safe browsing my preference is FF + addons.)

Edi wrote:ZoneAlarm?

And it hasn't shat on you yet? You're a lucky man, then. I used to have that piece of shit, but a couple of years ago it started spazzing out and randomly corrupting the TCP/IP stack, blocking all internet connections and other similar shit and reinstalls didn't cure that. The bugger went out the door after that and I will never even consider installing it again.

Note that this was not an isolated occurrence either. We had a ton of calls at work about how the customer's internet wasn't working, scan the line and it's okay, direct them to payline support and check the customer side OS and software settings and every fucking time they had ZA, uninstalling it fixed the problem. Mind you, that was AFTER ZoneAlarm had fixed all the problems their incompetence had caused with the worldwide DNS infrastructure upgrade.

So yeah, I wouldn't use that shit if you paid me. Well, if it was a LOT of money...

Define "a couple of years ago"; I used Zone Alarm up until 2008, which was when I took my A+ Certification and found out that connecting through a router made it almost completely unnecessary.

Zaune wrote:Define "a couple of years ago"; I used Zone Alarm up until 2008, which was when I took my A+ Certification and found out that connecting through a router made it almost completely unnecessary.

Hmm, must have been the latter half of 2008 (or possibly already in 2007) when the shit hit the fan with ZA. So, two and a half years ago at minimum.

That would explain it; I had to perform a system restore around that time (thanks for nothing, AVG) and never bothered reinstalling a software firewall.

Is Comodo really that difficult Edi? I've heard some fairly good things about it, and while I understand it's apparently a pain to get setup initially, I thought it was supposed to be fairly low maintenance afterwards.

Archaic` wrote:Is Comodo really that difficult Edi? I've heard some fairly good things about it, and while I understand it's apparently a pain to get setup initially, I thought it was supposed to be fairly low maintenance afterwards.

I tried using it myself once, but three days later I uninstalled it. You really do need to read the ~70 page manual so you know what you're doing. Once you get everything set up and running as it should, it will no doubt work like a dream, but it's the getting to that state that's the fucking pain in the arse. If you do get it to work as needed, you can save the config files and can apply those to a new computer later very easily.

If you have ANY other users on the computer who are less skilled than you are, forget all about it. I'm in that position, so there's no way I'm installing anything that gets me yelled at because she can't use the internet without being asked for permission for something she doesn't understand every five seconds.

Johonebesus wrote:Both Avast and Avira ended up letting my system get trashed. MS Security Essentials is my last try at free AV, and then I'm just going to suck it and buy Norton.

A plurality of my customers with compromised machines used Norton.

Ultimately, an antivirus is not a cure-all for being an idiot on the web. At best it can only help. No AV provider has scored particularly stellar results in AV Comparative's restrospective tests.

Which is why it's better to use programs that don't flummox the users. Had Norton worked, I still doubt I'd have used it, because interface -- practical usability -- does matter. For instance, an obtuse system may teach user to approve processes by reflex rather than advisedly, because the system hammers the user with random information yet provides little context the user can act upon. A security system the user can't trust is a liability, because the user will circumvent it when it's needed, and will only have the illusion of protection.

Of course, it doesn't help when issues less benign start cropping up. When I bought my laptop, McAfee came preinstalled, and it sent me into fits of rage. It constantly reports that my computer is facing imminent disaster, and that apparently I can use their tools to save the world. Of course, upon clicking the button for install, it turns out that these installed tools that come with the computer "for free" are only free after you purchase them. So I uninstalled the fucker.

Lo and behold, a week later it returned. I cleaned it out eventually, but it was enough for me to unreservedly label McAfee as malware.

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