Securing a pc for free?
 

My uncle is getting connected to NTL tomrrow all going well


His pc doesn't have any antivirus or security software on it at the moment (was no need becuase it wasnt connected to the outside world at all)



Now i was going to go for the following to secure it

Aol active shield (Becuase its bascily Kav rebranded)
and either comodo firewall or Zone alarm


At first i was going to go for comodo but im wandering if za would be more user friendly.

Also looked at netguard but as they are only getting the 1mbit (or is it 2mbit now?) it wouldn't include the firewall...

My other worry is bogging the pc down to much the spec is as follows

althon xp 1600+
256mb pc 133 ram
10gb + 4gb hdd
its running winxp sp2

so if anyone has better suggetions please let me know.

Re: Securing a pc for free?
 

I use AVG free edition antivirus and e trust free firewall, i find them very good and easy to use :)

---------- Post added at 20:17 ---------- Previous post was at 20:15 ----------

BTW this pc is an amd 900 duron with 256 ram :D

Re: Securing a pc for free?
 

AVG is good and it doesn't take much to run it

Re: Securing a pc for free?
 

I use avast and am behind a router with firewall.

Re: Securing a pc for free?
 

Comodo has been getting good reports, so give it a go. If it causes problems, you can just uninstall and try another brand (rebooting in between).

Don't forget anti-spyware programs too for weekly scans etc:

A-squared free http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/

AVG Anti-spyware (full version 30 days, then you loose resident shield, and automatic updates. Still effective as you can download manually, and uses same malware signatures)
http://www.ewido.net/en/ (used to be Ewido)
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

Spybot Search & Destroy http://www.safer-networking.org/

Adaware SE Personal http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

could also try Winpatrol:
http://www.winpatrol.com/

once setup( (takes less than 5 mins to create the rules) it is hardly noticeble, and alerts you to new starup items etc. Also has a cookie manager for IE, which is handy.

All the above are, or have free versions.

Re: Securing a pc for free?
 

in that case avast is better than avg cuz it just works and updates and works

Re: Securing a pc for free?
 

I'd recommend Kerio for a free firewall aswell as Comodo. I'd avoid ZA as this often causes alot of problems.

Windows Defender for all your spyware protection needs. (this came out of beta today).

When i used a free Anti Virus AVG did well for me.

I'd also avoid IE whenever possible and use either Opera or Firefox as your main browser.

Re: Securing a pc for free?
 

install linux

sorry had to be done :P

Re: Securing a pc for free?
 

:p:

Re: Securing a pc for free?
 

Yep you will be immune from windows infections, and it is often enjoyable watching them download to your system and being unable to do a thing. However different security implications come with Linux. You need a strong root password, an be aware of rootkits. Also it is prudent to still use an anti-virus, as any files/emails you send to your contacts can still be infected, and if they are a windows user could become compromised themselves

Re: Securing a pc for free?
 

yeah install linux then sit and look at thinking isnt this secure cuz chances are thats all you will be able to do ;) sorry I had to too

---------- Post added at 21:09 ---------- Previous post was at 21:08 ----------

no offense like but the op is on a forum asking about security.Whats the chances of them being able to use linux?? nill less than that???

Re: Securing a pc for free?
 

I used to use AVG but switched to Avast. Both are good though. I'm also behind a hardware firewall on my router and I've got the XP SP2 one on as well. I find that it's enough, along with some common sense (which goes out of the window after several beers ;))

Re: Securing a pc for free?
 

You'd be amazed how many linux system are compromised, a search through the web for server logs will show how many zombies there are out there. Some of these are Linux servers, which have been compromised and are being used to store attack scripts.

The best defence is the user themselves, and their knowledge of a system. Any system can be compromised, and information stolen - from the simple user to a bank or corporation.

AVG and avast are both very good, as is Kaspersky, and anti-vir - go for the one that suits you best - but back it up with online scans from tme to time, and anti-spyware progs

Re: Securing a pc for free?
 

actually the OP is quite capable of installing and confiuring linux (although i do have some trouble when i get into dependancies with stuff thats not in the package management system or a repository)

ive played with linux as a desktop os (dual booting) and then went back to windows as my primary os on my desktop as i tend to use that one for gaming ;) I have considered again setting up up a linux distro on here for when i just want to surf but haven't quite got around to it besides Ive yet to find a linux distro i truely like and could use daily on a home computer.

The question was asking what to install on someone elses computer whos not quite so computer literate, and whos pc has 256mb ram so could easily be bogged down by to many memory hungry applications running at once.

Re: Securing a pc for free?
 

ok the user then but you know what I ment I was generalising wasnt belittling you :)