Firewall and Anti Virus

[northwesten]

Ok now i have a new computer with no program to stop crap etc. Now i have Norton atm but alot of people say its crap and i find i had no problem but What is the Best Program to get that doesnt cost the Earth.

[deject]

Firewall: I use ZoneAlarm, but there are plenty of free firewalls to be had if you search google. I've trained myself how to "properly" configure ZoneAlarm how to do what I want.

Anti-Virus: You can choose from AVG anti-virus or Avast!. I prefer AVG because I find Avast!'s interface to be one of the most fucking retarded UI's I've ever seen.

[Stoat]

I find Avast!'s interface to be one of the most fucking retarded UI's I've ever seen.

It is a bit wrong. You can turn the skins off though, and it becomes much more usable.

Firewall wise, I use SVG. I think they've stopped doing it now though, as it's made by the same folk as Norton. I've heard good things about TinyFirewall but I've never tried it.

Edit: Looks like Tiny Software have been taken over. No idea about it now.

[Fear]

What Deject said about AV, only I would recommend using the Windows XP firewall. It is one of the most robust out there and windows wont let third party apps play with it, whereas there is nothing inherent stopping the same with zonealarm or any others.

Windows XP firewall will not monitor outgoing connections however, which narf isn't needed unless you are very paranoid.

[Lateralus]

I go for AVG for anti-virus and Windows' firewall, and they do me just fine.

[spoodie]

Personally I use Windows Firewall, it doesn't give you as much control as others but it's good enough if you just want something to get on with it and not bother you too much.

For anti-virus I use NOD32: http://www.eset.com/
Quite a serious app for £23/year.