Is he secure Enough?

[DanGrease]

Hello
As I have mensioned in previous thread of mine I help friends that ask me too (most of the times) and now a friend of mine is asking me something and I wanted to share with you guys and see what are your opinions. He used to use Symantec products regarding security (like Firewalls and Anti Viruses) but lately he got an annoying problems and argued with Symantec about it but he couldnt fix the issue. So he decided to leave Symantec's products and use others. For now he changed his Anti Virus and Firewall. He is using Windows XP Professional. He used Norton Internet Security 2003 (that contained both a Firewall and Anti Virus) and changed it to the free version of AVG Anti Virus and Zonealarm Pro 4.0. What he is asking me is if he is secure enough for today's living in the computer world? He really liked Norton's products he used to use but this error (Regarding update) made him change and he is really insecure about if he is still protected as he used to be (or even more) What are your opinions about this? Thanks for listening

dan

[PresterJohn]

the zonealarm pro and norton firewall are vey similar products. provided that he has the security settings configured properly, your friends is safe on that end.

is he using the freeware version of AVG or the commercial package? if he is using the freeware version, then the norton AV offers more options/protection...

[MrPurple]

I don't know, the free version of AVG may offer less options then the commercial one, but it offers the same level of protection.
I have been using it and had no problems so far.

Also DanGrease tell your frined that unless he downloads alot of files, from p2p networks, or irc, or other similar sources he has nothing to worry about viruses.

[DanGrease]

Well, he uses the freeware version of AVG's Anti virus. From what I saw on their site, the commercial version offers more options such as support for servers, etc. Stuff that most home users don't need. Thats why I told him to try it out and he is liking it so far. He uses Kazaa Lite though, to download music. Only music, which I think is less risky than other download files such as programs. He is more worried about his safety regarding the web, that is what firewalls block. He has used Norton's firewall for a long time and he is kind of insecure about Zone Alarm. I told him its an ever better firewall, since its lighter, takes less space, and provides as much (even more) security. In my point of view I think Zone Alarm is a much better firewall (although stand-alone, different from Norton) it does it job well. It also blocks pop-ups and deletes cookies and things that are great to have. I use Norton without any problems (Norton Internet Security 2003) but I am thinking of doing what he did. Thanks for the responses guys

dan

[jmichna]

Originally posted by MrPurple
...Also DanGrease tell your frined that unless he downloads alot of files, from p2p networks, or irc, or other similar sources he has nothing to worry about viruses.

In sheer numbers of those affected, I'd be willing to bet that more people get infected with virii and trojans and worms that come through email/email attachments, than the relatively smaller number of folks that engage in p2p, irc, etc. who get infected.