I always hear the same question from my friends and family, “How do I protect my computer from viruses and spyware…?” or it’s variant “What is the best virus scanner or spyware program…?”
While I can’t tell you exactly which is the best software to suit your needs, I can recommend the software that I use on a daily basis with My Windows Vista /Ubuntu 8.10 (dual booted) laptop.
On the Windows side, I have installed and use 2 programs to protect from viruses and spyware. The first one which protects from all sort of attacks and malicous software is called AVG Free. This program is developed by a company called AVG Technlogies (formerly Grisoft). To download see here or skip directly to the Windows download here.
I have used AVG on all my computers for the last 3 years with no problems since I installed it. Before AVG I had used either McAfee or Norton depending on which computer I was on and after installing it, I found that the previous program failed to detect some spyware and even a couple viruses on 2 occasions.
The second program I use is a firewall to block all malicous connections to and from my computer. This program is called Comodo Internet Security and it is developed by a company called Comodo Security Solutions. While the benefits of using this program are numerous, the down side is that after you install it, most if not all of your normal everyday programs have to be “trained” into Comodo so that it does not block them from accessing the internet or your files. This is fairly easy to do, as it will pop up on your screen, but it may get annoying for the first 2 weeks of using Comodo. During the setup of Comodo you have 3 options to choose from. The first is install the firewall only, the second is install the AntiVirus only, and the third is to install both. I chose firewall only, but feel free to choose any of them but keep in mind that it may give you errors and conflicts with AVG. See the Comodo site here or skip directly to the Windows download here.
When in Ubuntu I also use AVG, they have a version for linux and other operating systems.
To protect my whole network, my DSL modem is directly connected to a pfSense Linux Firewall/Router box. This helps protect the whole network with IDS, ICMP blocking, and many other features, It even allows URL, MAC, IP, and many other blocking options for outgoing connections.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to submit them below, or you can email me: http://www.w8jkc.com/contact.
I would love to hear what programs you use, and why you use them.
