My windows liveonecare subscription ran out today so I'm av-less. Should I just renew or use different software? I want something that protects against viruses, spyware, adware, trojans, rootkits, just ALL the bad stuff out there. A firewall would be great, but sometimes they're not that good. I've heard Kaspersky is a great solution but it's very expensive. Internet security has everything while it's antivirus has everything but a firewall. Is there a good freeware firewall that works well with Kaspersky, has the highest ratings (works just as well or better than paid for firewalls), and doesn't hurt system resources?
Basically, I'm choosing to renew Live OneCare or to buy Kaspersky AV and get a freeware firewall. Should I just renew, or what freeware firewall is as good or better than paid firewalls and easy on resources?
I have Vista Business 32-bit with 2.0GHZ dual core processor, 2GB DDR2 RAM, 335MB vidram, and 50GB free HDD space.
Help?
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1 response so far ↓
1 Phillip Corcoran // May 21, 2008
Windows Live OneCare is near the bottom of independent test tables (as of May 2008) for virus detection. It’s firewall is a big improvement over the standard “one-way” firewall built into XP, but it’s still not as configurable or as controllable as non-microsoft ones.
Kaspersky is generally regarded as “top dog” but is, as you say, expensive. That reason alone is why I decided not to renew it. I now use Panda Internet Security. Easy to understand and light on system resources. No problems with it at all.
You may also want to look at “ZoneAlarm Internet Security” since it uses kaspersky’s antivirus component. But again it’s expensive (£40 in the UK), so I guess you may as well buy the “real” kaspersky suite if you’re going to pay that kind of money.
I have to say I prefer to buy an “all in one” (AV + Firewall combined) rather than use the free separate solutions from AVG, ZoneAlarm or Comodo. That’s because you can be sure that the AV & Firewall won’t conflict with each other, and an all-in-one usually needs less memory than two separate applications from different companies.
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