Light/good antivirus/firewall

[SuperMiguel]

I have been away from the windows world for about 3-4 years... Whats a good light and good antivirus? same for firewall?

 

[SuperMiguel]

dont care about price if not free

 

[LZ_Xray]

I'm not sure how sensitive your data is or what OS you're running, but Microsoft Security Essentials and the built in firewall in Win7 is surprisingly good these days for an average desktop user. Free and very unobtrusive.

 

[DavidJa]

i use avira free antivirus https://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus and comodo firewall
https://personalfirewall.comodo.com/ havent experienced any problems with either so far.

 

[Convicted1]

Another vote for Microsoft Security Essentials...

It's all I use or install on clients computers.

 

[ihrsetrdr]

Miguel,

When I do have a windows install up I use the open-source AV:

http://www.clamwin.com/

for firewall- just the windows firewall is what I use; all my machines behind router anyway.

 

[GoD_tattoo]

I previously recommended Microsoft Security Essentials as well, and still will here, however I did have my first issue with it at work. Installed on a network client, it became horribly slow running our software. Finally after troubleshooting it to death, it was MSE causing the problem. It would take 65 seconds for the program to open with MSE on V.S. 5 sec with it off. Sent it to Microsoft and hopefully they can fix it. Just a heads up to check compatibility with your own software once installed. But other than that been using it for years.

After that snafu, tried Avira free. Worked great, but the popups drove me insane. Add popups on antivirus are not fun.

Right now testing out AVG free, and so far so good.

 

[c627627]

FREEWARE Avira AntiVir Personal 12.0.0.1167 but set it up correctly:

Avira AntiVir Personal 12.0.0.1167


Disconnect Internet connection. Double click on Setup.exe to install the program.
Ignore Avira's warnings to uninstall Comodo Firewall or similar programs which intercept phone-home attempts.
UNCHECK everything when asked to install Avira Toolbars.

Allow the configuration wizard to keep the default extended threat categories. [Do not Select All.]
(UNCHECK: Application (APPL), Fraudulent Software, Games, Jokes, Programs that violate the private domain, and Unusual runtime compression.)

*ABORT any update process when it automatically pops up!* (If you haven't disconnected Internet connection as instructed above.) 

Setup the program before connecting to the internet:


Subscription to new virus definitions for this program is renewed automatically through product updates. It is not renewed through virus definition updates. If product updates are disabled in order to prevent installation of a newer version of the program, download the latest key file from 

[url]http://dl2.avgate.net/down/windows/hbedv.key[/url]

and either copy it to 
C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir Desktop 
and restart or go to Help > License management > click on the blue hbedv.key link > browse to the new downloaded hbedv.key > Open.


Options: 
C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\avcenter.exe

System Scanner (on left) > Configuration (Right middle part of the window) > Yes > UNCHECK: Follow symbolic links (middle right) > System Scanner > Scan > Action for concerning files > 
Set for Automatic, Primary action: Ignore if wanting to just scan folders and get a scan report without deleting files or being prompted what to do if virii/malware is found.


> Update > Product Update > Do not download product updates. [This option is only for Avira Antivir product updates (Antivirus definitions will still be downloaded automatically.) Product updates should be downloaded manually by going to Update > Start product update... because they may affect the Windows operating system. They should preferably be downloaded only *after* imaging the operating system partition so that if they cause problems you can reimage back to the state before product updates were installed.]


> General > Security > 
Disable being notified every time USB drive has an AUTORUN.INF file: 
UNCHECK: Block autostart function 
> General > Alerts > UNCHECK everything except Dial-up connection is used

Set Avira Free Antivirus to Always Ahow in Windows Taskbar.


To disable Notifier nag screen: Windows 2000/XP Control Panel > Administrative Tools [in Windows 7, click on System and Security first] > Local Security Policy > Right click on Software Restriction Policies > Create New Policies > Right click on Additional Rules > New Path Rule... > Browse... to the path of avnotify.exe default is 
C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\avnotify.exe
> Set the security level to Disallowed > OK

Also block these two files from accessing the internet, using Comodo Firewall or similar software:
C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\apnstub.exe
C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\ipmgui.exe



For Windows XP Home you would need to boot into safe mode and log in as Administrator, then 
go to 
C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\avnotify.exe
and right click on it >
Properties > Security > Advanced > Edit > Select options not to let it execute for all users.


To submit a suspected virus, go to 
[url]http://analysis.avira.com/samples/[/url]
to upload it.


You can scan multiple drives inside program options: Local Protection > Scanner > CHECK drives you wish to scan. The premium version also offers the option to scan multiple folders here. The free version does not.


In case of error message:

The procedure entry point ?_Xbad@tr1@std@@YAX4error_type@regex_constants@12@@Z could not be located in the dynamic link library MSVCP90.dll

download and install Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package
[url]http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=a5c84275-3b97-4ab7-a40d-3802b2af5fc2[/url]


Manual updates can be downloaded from:
[url]http://dl.antivir.de/down/vdf/ivdf_fusebundle_nt_en.zip[/url]
Unzip the downloaded file and copy all the contents to 
C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir Desktop


Using two Antivirus programs at the same time:
If there are two Antivirus programs installed, you should not have two Antivirus *Guard* programs active at the same time because this would slow the system down, Windows may even have problems booting with two Antivirus guard components being active. So if installing AntiVir on a system where there already is an Antivirus program installed, do not install AntiVir guard.

Also disable the guard component of one program if using another program to scan an entire disk drive.


Default log file location is 
C:\ProgramData\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\LOGFILES
or
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\LOGFILES


For older versions:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\LOGFILES
C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic
or
C:\Program Files\Avira AntiVir Personal\
C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Avira AntiVir Personal\LOGFILES

FREEWARE
Comodo Firewall 2012 v5.10:
[Firewall only, not antivirus]
http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/free-download.html

Version 6 coming in October when Windows 8 is released, but they do have v5.12 which supports Windows 8 now but I'm not sure if there is a Firewall Only version 5.12 like there is a Firewall only version 5.10 for Windows 7.
http://forums.comodo.com/news-announcements-feedback-cis/cis-512-for-windows-8-t86289.0.html

Comodo Firewall 2012 product version 5, 12, 256249, 2599


Version 5.12 is compatible with Windows 8. That is the only difference between v5.10 and v5.12. There are no other different features. On Windows 7/XP machines, installing v5.12 is identical to installing v5.10.


Double click on Setup.exe to install the program > OK > UNCHECK everything. 
Do not change DNS servers. Do not enable Cloud Based Behavior Analysis.

BEFORE CLICKING ON Agree and install ** CLICK ON CUSTOMIZE INSTALLATION here. **

UNCHECK: Install COMODO GeekBUddy and COMODO Dragon > Back > Agree and Install


First import any saved configurations if you have them:
Right click on the Comodo icon in the task bar > Configuration > Manage My Configurations > Import... 

Wait for it to be imported, then click on the imported configuration > Activate


Otherwise, set your custom configuration:

Start the program > More... TAB > Preferences > General TAB > UNCHECK Everything > OK

Firewall TAB > Firewall Behavior Settings [last on right] > General Settings TAB > Custom Policy
then
Alert Settings TAB > Alert Settings > Very Low (Shows only one alert per application) > OK


Defense+ TAB > Defense+ Settings > [last on right] > Disabled > OK


Firewall > Common Tasks > Define any New Trusted/Blocked Applications
To view a list of blocked/trusted applications: Firewall > Network Security Policy


Note that even if you exit this program, it will still block access to other computers on the network if the following are blocked under Firewall > Network Security Policy:

System
Allow And Log IP In/Out From IP Any Where Protocol Is Any
C:\Windows\explorer.exe
Allow And Log IP In/Out From IP Any Where Protocol Is Any

 

[dfonda]

I'm not sure how sensitive your data is or what OS you're running, but Microsoft Security Essentials and the built in firewall in Win7 is surprisingly good these days for an average desktop user. Free and very unobtrusive.

Another vote for MSE. I use this on every Win 7 PC I work on or build...It just works, I can set it to update itself, and its green when its working.

 

[jmdixon85]

I will vote for Avast.

I was having problems with MSE picking up false positives so tried Avira but quickly got sick of the pop-ups it would nagg me with

Been running Avast for a few days now and I love it. It also has the best U.I of them all in my opinion too.

 

[HAL-9000]

I would vote for MSE but I've had things slip through a number of times while it's running. I've run scans with MalwareBytes & found I had viruses that MSE never caught. The funny thing is that as soon as MB finds it MSE throws up a notification. It's as if it's being shown the virus is there lol. There were also a couple of times that MSE let some really nasty ones in that prevented Windows from loading & I had to run a root killer to fix it.

 

[danielbourdon]

I also vote for Microsoft Security Essentials! I have been using it in my monster rig since I first got an internet connection in 2011. I have never had any malware, spyware, adware, or any other virus with MSE. I once tried Avast, and it killed my windows 7 boot. It took 5 minutes to boot with Avast. MSE is definetley the anti-annoying, anti-expensive, overall best real-time antivirus. I highly recommend MSE!

 

[c627627]

• MSE - easiest to use, but inferior definitions to Avira, it may be adequate, depending on who uses it.

• Avira - beats most pay-for definitions but difficult to setup. Can be setup to be nag free but it's a hassle to do it. It is free and there is a pay-for version of it w/o the hassles to setup nag free usage.

• Avast - their definitions are not as good as most other alternatives out there.

 

[JLK03F150]

Provided you are a low risk web surfer, I vote for MSSE. However, if you are consistently up to no good, look for Avast! IMO it is better if you have bad surfing habits.

 

[c627627]

In the past seven years since first tests were done here, I only know of one alternative with worse virus definitions than Avast and it is AVG.

 

[HAL-9000]

In the past seven years since first tests were done here, I only know of one alternative with worse virus definitions than Avast and it is AVG.

I second that.. AVG is also a performance hog.

 

[Goshawk]

I didn't see anyone mention it.... Nod32

 

[c627627]

Nod32 is a notch above AVG.


But considering how bad AVG is...

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

NOD32 has gone down in quality over the last 1-2 years, MSE is great, Avast, and those these days

nothing wrong with windows firewall once you get into the advance configuration!

 

[FEAST]

I would recommend ZoneAlarm. It uses kapersky Anti-Virus paired with ZA's custom inbound/outbound firewall and program control. There is a free version.

The Program Control and Firewall are really the sweet spot here. Being able to lock down programs and decide which programs get access to the internet and other system resources is incredibly valuable.

I run SSH servers, HTTP, SQL, and Exchange servers from behind ZoneAlarm in a DMZ. Yeah, the free edition, in a DMZ. Can't touch this nah nah nah nah.