optimizing security

[anton muzic]

Hi all,
no problem, just wanting to know what "current opinion" thinks of this grouping of security dogs at the gate....

AVG anti virus (on all the time)
ZOnealarm
Spywareguard

they all seem to get on with each other's presence. What do other people use and if i can ask....why?
I have others using Sygate, but i have no issues with Zone....yet. Spywareguard has not issued any new updates for awhile.
This PC is used for internet activity a large chunk of the day, but runs on dial-up.

win98se, 350Mhz
384 Mb ram

cheers
anton :)

[classicsoftware]

You need to add SpywareBlaster

and

1) Switch to Firefox

OR

2) If you stay with IE, use IESPYADDS

[Budfred]

The ones you refer to are fine...

I find ZA to be a bloated mess and you will have trouble if you ever have to use their tech support, but it does work okay when it works...

AVG is fine, but not the best.... NOD32 is a very good alternative, but costs money... None of the other free ones seem better than AVG...

[anton muzic]

thanks for replying,

yes, i do use firefox.

Is spywareblaster similar to spywareguard? Does it do real-time checking?
I just worry about conflicts between software.

cheers
anton

[Steve]

I've had good luck with AVG, Zone Alarm and Firefox. Free versions all. I also use Trend Micro's Housecall once in a while, just to check.

I know it's being said that Zone Alarm is a bloated program but I don't know why. Right now as I check task manager, Zone Alarm has two running processes using 11,988K of memory while AVG has three running processes and is using 16,976K of memory. Heck, right now FireFox is using 27,916K of memory.

Bud', what is it about ZA that you think is bloated? On my w2k install, the FF program is listed as 14.2MB, AVG as 16.7MB and ZA as 9.45MB. In the size of the program and resources used, ZA is the most conservative of the three.

[classicsoftware]

I rarely disgree with Budfred on Security matters, but I will here. Avast is the nicest AV program I have ever used. It is very agressive. I have yet to see it miss anything. Updates frequently. Scans quickly. Works like a charm and it's free.

[John0904]

2) If you stay with IE, use IESPYADDS
Just curious, but does adding URL's to the host file accomplish the same thing?

For example:
127.0.0.1 ads.adsites.com

I would suppose IE-SPYAD is easier for people that don't want to mess with the host file.

[anton muzic]

thanks for all replies,
in starting this thread, i was a little upset with what my periodic visit to HOUSECALL found- one virus and 5 spyware ( i have not visited HOUSECALL for 4 months..oops)

i do periodic ADAWARE and SPYBOT runs (twice per week) and yet i still get something sitting in my system. I think i will have to look hard at what CLassic describes as "more aggressive" Avast.

cheers anton

[Budfred]

ZA is bloated compared to Sygate and Kerio... Other firewalls in other words... That was my experience with it, but the incredibly poor tech support was the more unpleasant aspect of dealing with it...

Avast is fine and free.... I didn't say there was a problem with it, simply that it is no better than AVG... I have seen cases of people being infected with it as their AV, but I suspect that would be true of all AV programs if you see enough malware infections... AntiVir is also well liked by a number of people...

IE-Spyads includes hundreds of sites and is updated regularly... If you are willing to continuously manually update your HOSTS file, it is possible that you could maintain a similar level of protection, but why??

SpywareBlaster sets a killbit and then does not actually need to be run except to update it... It doesn't conflict with anything that I know of...

[Steve]

ZA is bloated compared to Sygate and Kerio... Other firewalls in other words...

In what way??

[Budfred]

I have used all 3 firewalls.... ZA glitched more often, seemed to eat up more resources and slow down internet access, it was a major pain to remove because of all the places it sank roots and it had some of the worst tech support I have encountered anywhere... I have not used it for more than a year, so I can't provide more detail... I have seen a number of other people who have tried other firewalls also refer to it as bloated, so mine is not an isolated experience... I think it is fine if people want to use it and I think there are better free alternatives available....

[anton muzic]

budfred,

could i ask what u have as your..

1.firewall
2.real-time virus/trojan defence and...

any other real-time spyware guards?

cheers
anton

[Budfred]

budfred,

could i ask what u have as your..

1.firewall
2.real-time virus/trojan defence and...

any other real-time spyware guards?

cheers
anton
On the install that I use most often:

I have Sygate and NOD32... I run SpywareBlaster and I check for problems with HijackThis, Spybot and Ad-Aware SE... I may use other tools if I suspect a particular problem, but I usually don't have those problems because of my careful surfing habits.... My setup is not the best model, because I don't use as much protection as many people need because of the way I use the Internet and that I know how to find and kill most problems... The only time I have ever actually been infected was when I was starting training and followed bad advice which resulted in being online without a firewall for about 15 minutes... I got Welchia... Also, I now use FireFox with a number of add on programs that provide some additional security... If I were installing a firewall today, I would probably use Kerio, although I have a copy of the Etrust security package and might go with that instead...

[Steve]

I have seen a number of other people who have tried other firewalls also refer to it as bloated
So have I. Sometimes I just accept what I read. This time, when you referred to it as bloated, it struck me. "Is it really bloated?" So last night I downloaded and installed Kerio and Sygate on a couple of computers. Funny thing is that ZA has the smallest footprint and uses the least amount of memory of the three.

[PrntRhd]

ZA Free is less of a bloated program than ZA Pro. It does not try to do as many things as Pro and seems lighter on the resources.
SpywareBlaster (free for personal use if manually checked for updates) does not have any memory footprint at all, it sets the killbits and gets out of the way, which is great. I got maybe one hit on Adaware or Spybot S&D scans over a 6 month period since starting SpywareBlaster, and the hit was due to an improved detection, not a re-infection. HJT scans and Trojan Hunter scans also come up clean.
I also updated Java as older versions are an avenue that can lead to CWS installations via Byte-Verify exploits. I still may get hits on the AV for byte-verify but the files are removed sucessfully.

[Budfred]

I think the thing that most convinced me that ZA was bloated was removing it... Removing Sygate or Kerio is a quick and easy process... Removing ZA was like killing some malware -- long and involved... That has been over a year ago, so maybe they have improved the uninstaller... since Sygate and Kerio work well, I have no desire to personally check it out...

[Steve]

I've been in the shop all day and have spent some time on the firewall issue. Budfred is certainly correct about uninstalling ZA. Using the ZA uninstall utility, I lost internet connectivity on an XP and a W2k install. Annoying to say the least.

Kerio. Same thing. Plus setting up Kerio is confusing for this long time ZA user.

Sygate. A breath of fresh air. Installs effortlessly. Uninstalls the same.

I've put Sygate on the second partition (XP install) on my laptop and I'm going to give it a try for a while. Who knows. Sygate might break my ZA habit... ;)

[Budfred]

Use the easy install on Kerio, it takes almost no setup at all....

[pop pop]

My 2 cents on ZA ...

Three years or so ago, I used ZA free and liked it so much I bought ZA Pro. I had some minor connectivity issues once in a while, no big deal. Then with Pro updates, they started making it a suite--a do many things and none really well package. I hate suites for security apps, as a general rule. Then came the major update/upgrade fiasco, I think it was 5 point something (I started out with 4.0). I did the online upgrade and BAM! No internet at all. The ZA forum was flooded with complaints, ZA was silent. Finally, ZA acknowledged there was a problem but only said they were looking at it. A very long time went by. Many people scrambled to get back to the previous working version, I was among them. Finally, ZA said the only near term solution was to go back a version. EVen though I did that, I continued to have connectivity issues--I was able to get online--sometimes (registry stuff??). So I said the heck with it, full uninstall and switch. It took me a very long time to remove all traces. Heck, I still find some every once in a while--reminded me of Norton.

ZA was a nice firewall. They messed it up, didn't respond, took forever to put out a fix, so I said goodbye and never went back.

[NiemA]

Pop Pop, your problem with ZA reminded me of Norton, in Dec 04 after updated, no internet at all, check configfree on my computer I have connection from my ISP but question mark from my computer to internet, call my ISP to see anything their can do to help, they give me Norton 800 numbers, I call Norton, recorded on said if I want quick reply I have to pay 99 cents a minute, I didn't want to pay for it so I waited about 45 min. to talked to someone, he get me to connected to internet but only some of the times, make long story short, take me three times to get my computer fix, the third times I have the guy walk me through my computer with me, took us over an hour to get my computer to run right, no more problem untill early this month after updated, I can't send e-mail. :(

You guys get my computer fix up and run.

I'm done with Norton, I have avast, sygate and thunderbird now.

[pop pop]

Yep... no more Norton. All my home boxes are configured the same (excluding OS)--AVG, Sygate, Ad-Aware, Spybot, SpywareBlaster, and MS Antispyware (hey, it's pretty good).

[pop pop]

I should have included two other apps all my boxes have--FireFox and ThunderBird.

[anton muzic]

This question may seem quite amateurishhh...
i want to download a

anti virus prog

to my flash pen and take it to my non-internet connected XP pro and start
regular checks, then get updates direct to my installed flash pen. Is
this possible?..and which a/v is most applicable.

cheers
anton

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Absolutely!

AVG7 for example, when I downloaded it awhile back (it is probably bigger now) was just under 10 megabytes. With my 512 meg pen drive, I can put several apps on it with ease. What I am not aware of is how to download the updates as a pack that you can install manually to the definitions folder.

AVG
Spybot
AdAware
Trojan Hunter
firewalls
etc.

With roooom to spare...

[david eaton]

What I am not aware of is how to download the updates as a pack that you can install manually to the definitions folder.

Download the update file manually, from the Grisoft site. Copy it into a convenient folder, and then update AVG, using the option to update from a file, rather that the internet. Point the updater at the file, and let it rip!