All the security suites have been bashed at one time or another, and the
problem often is caused by updates. A  suite that seems to work OK will
suddenly start having hissy fits and investigation shows that a program
change or even windows update is  the cause. Even worse are the
mysterious firewall messages that convinced me that these products are
more trouble than they're worth.
I used AVG Free for many years, and have recently begun experimenting
with MS Security essentials and rely solely on Windows firewall and my
NAT router for firewall security. Many experts disagree with this, but
I'm not aware of any epidemic of firewall intrusion and I've never had a
serious problem of any kind.
One other problem I see frequently is expired  AV programs and Suites. I
just cleaned a machine where the owner had installed the paid version of
AVG and the renewal hadn't registered properly, so she went several
months with no AV protection at all. The free programs don't have this
problem as they don't expire.
The OS is important, as Vista and Win 7 have better firewalls, but even
in XP I've never seen a firewall intrusion on any PC I maintain. Linux
was recently discussed, and doesn't need any of these protections at the
moment.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [PCSOFT] Security Suites
From: Betti Ann and Preston Smith <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sat, October 24, 2009 9:05 am
To: [log in to unmask]

Good day everyone,

My subscription to the Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite will expire in

about 3 weeks.

What is this list's collected wisdom with respect to using an all in one

approach versus separate components?

I seem to find all kinds of dated info comparing various suites and 
various stand alone programs - is there a site that compares the latest 
offerings?

I want security services that do not bog down my system so what suites 
or individual components should I be looking at? Paying for the 
programs is not an issue

Oh yeah, I prefer if the programs require minimal intervention since my 
wife also uses my computer and she does not want to be bogged down 
hitting 'allow' in order to use the system

Perhaps I am looking for a utopian solution

Thanks for your input

Preston

 PCSOFT's List Owner's:
 Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
 Mark Rode<[log in to unmask]>

                         PCSOFT's List Owner's:
                      Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
                        Mark Rode<[log in to unmask]>