# Please recommend an excellent Firewall/Antivirus program **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 18, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-excellent-firewall-antivirus-program/295148 "2005-03-18T16:26:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-excellent-firewall-antivirus-program/295148/1 "2005-03-18T16:26:46Z")
I won’t bore you with the troubles I’ve seen, but I would appreciate finding a company with fine service (ideally stateside) and a first rate product. Any and all recommendations will be appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-excellent-firewall-antivirus-program/295148/2 "2005-03-18T16:45:54Z")
I use a combination of Norton AntiVirus and AVG firewall. Works for me just fine. Add in AdAware, Spybot and SpySweeper for another layer of protection. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-excellent-firewall-antivirus-program/295148/3 "2005-03-18T17:11:43Z")
Switching to Firefox from Internet Explorer removed a lot of **my** problems. Then add McAfee AV, Spybot, Adaware, and Spywareblaster from Javacool. ---
**Author:** ![Aagramn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Aagramn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aagramn)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-excellent-firewall-antivirus-program/295148/4 "2005-03-18T17:13:44Z")
Spybot is essential. It found a key logging trojan on my PC, and I’m pretty careful about security. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-excellent-firewall-antivirus-program/295148/5 "2005-03-18T17:47:09Z")
I recommend the ZoneAlarm firewall. It’s free and quite good. They also sell a combination firewall/antivirus package, but I don’t know whether the antivirus software is any good, and of course this is not free. ---
**Author:** ![Cynical\_Optimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Cynical\_Optimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cynical_Optimist)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-excellent-firewall-antivirus-program/295148/6 "2005-03-18T17:58:46Z")
Currently I’m running (non-free) [BitDefender](http://www.bitdefender.com/index.php) which is a comprehensive (but non-free) antivirus/firewall/popup blocker/privacy guard suite. In the past I’ve used Avast! (antivirus) and Sygate Personal Firewall (firewall). Both are available in free and more-complex pay versions. Panda makes a good online scanner but I’ve never used their retail products. Norton _was_ an excellet set of utilities but the last few years have been more bloat than anything else. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-excellent-firewall-antivirus-program/295148/7 "2005-03-18T18:37:21Z")
In trying to follow up on some of your recommendations, I’ds go to a website - say PC Magazine, Sygate, etc., and I get switched to another website - the same damned one each time: [http://www.realtytrac.com/pub/landing/opti\_81.asp?a=b](http://www.realtytrac.com/pub/landing/opti_81.asp?a=b) This has been happening lately, whether I am using Firefox or Netscape 7.x Any suggestions on what might be causing this? I checked for spyware just now with Spy Sweeper and yesterday ran a virus scan. Both were negative. ---
**Author:** ![Thylacinewas\_taken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@Thylacinewas\_taken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacinewas_taken)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-excellent-firewall-antivirus-program/295148/8 "2005-03-18T22:59:25Z")
Norton’s Firewall seems to be doing the job well, but the settngs are really confusing! If you want to unblock something, you have to go through a maze of menus. I used to have Zonealarm which was more-user-friendly. I don’t know which one is better at blocking intruders, though. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-excellent-firewall-antivirus-program/295148/9 "2005-03-18T23:32:01Z")
Definately [AVG Free](http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/) from Grisoft, [Zone Alarm Free Download](http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp), but skip the scan, they will ask for money. [Spybot Search and Destroy](http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html) [Adaware](http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/) [McAfee Avert Stinger](http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/) [CWShredder Free Download](http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/cwshredder_download.html) (choose the ‘standalone’ version!) All do their own part in keeping the nasties away. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-excellent-firewall-antivirus-program/295148/10 "2005-03-18T23:47:17Z")
**Antiochus** , read through the sticky in this forum about computer questions. There is some helpful information about dealing with spyware and viruses. I don’t remember if I read it in the sticky or in a different thread, but many people recommend running more than one type of spyware in order to find everything that might be hiding on your computer. [This post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5696080&postcount=63) in the sticky gives several suggestions with dealing with spyware problems and includes a reference to a spyware forum. The re-direct to a single website sounds like it could be due to some type of spyware (based on descriptions I’ve read elsewhere; I’m not an expert and haven’t experienced this personally). You might be able to find it using an additional product. I use AVG as an anti-virus and Sygate personal firewall. I’ve been very happy with both. I have Ad-Aware and Spybot Search and Destroy. My browser is Firefox. All of these products are free. I hardly ever see pop-ups or ads (I use the Adblock extension on Firefox) and have had no problems since I started using this combination. GT ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-excellent-firewall-antivirus-program/295148/11 "2005-03-19T01:50:26Z")
> [@Antiochus](#): > > In trying to follow up on some of your recommendations, I’ds go to a website - say PC Magazine, Sygate, etc., and I get switched to another website - the same damned one each time: > > [http://www.realtytrac.com/pub/landing/opti\_81.asp?a=b](http://www.realtytrac.com/pub/landing/opti_81.asp?a=b) > > This has been happening lately, whether I am using Firefox or Netscape 7.x > > Any suggestions on what might be causing this? I checked for spyware just now with Spy Sweeper and yesterday ran a virus scan. Both were negative. Yeah, you got malware–a virus scan won’t necessarily catch it because it’s not a virus. And the various spyware-removal programs tend to catch different things. Download and run Spybot and Adaware, too. Also Javacool’s spywareblaster. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-excellent-firewall-antivirus-program/295148/12 "2005-03-19T02:22:12Z")
> [@Duck Duck Goose](#): > > Yeah, you got malware–a virus scan won’t necessarily catch it because it’s not a virus. And the various spyware-removal programs tend to catch different things. > > Download and run Spybot and Adaware, too. Also Javacool’s spywareblaster. Will do. Thanks, **Duck**. And thanks to all who’ve contibuted so far.