Preston wrote:
>using an all in one
>approach versus separate components?>>


Antivirus:
For the last 2 years I've been perfectly happy with Avira antivirus (AVG 
was popular until they brought out their version 8 which not only has a 
large memory consumption but can cause problems in certain cases. I've just 
fixed a computer where AVG got itself into an awful tangle trying to deal 
with one infected file, and filled a complete 80Gb hard drive with log 
files until the whole system crashed and couldn't recover. Clearly it had 
got into an infinite loop).

Avira recently ranked No 1 a-v, ahead of Nortons, McAfee etc, in a recent 
review in one of our leading Australian PC magazines. It's only downside is 
a nagscreen whenever it updates, begging you to buy its paid version and 
warning you of all the mnasty things that might happen if you don't. Don't 
be fooled by all that---the free version is perfectly adequate for a single 
stand-alone home computer. Its database seems to cover trojans and much 
spyware as well as viruses. It's very user-friendly.


Firewall:
The built-in XP firewall is perfectly adequate when used in conjunction 
with the proper 3rd party security.  No matter that it doesn't prevent 
outgoing traffic---you'll see this, if it happens, via your internet icon. 
Zone Alarm used to drive me nuts at times with its permissions. XP just 
seems to "know" what to do silently.

Antimalware:
I use the paid version of Superantispyware which seems to have very good 
recommendations--use it in its active form. The freeware version is a 
passive scanner only. It does use a bit more RAM than I would like, though. 
but it's extremely user-friendly.
Malwarebytes (free version) as a passive scanner.

These simple protections have kept my system pretty free from everything 
except the occasional tracking cookie for the past 2 years---and I do 
browse to some pretty dubious sites and download some dubious software 
occasionally. (torrents and the like).

However, no security system is ever going to be perfect. The best security 
is to image your hard drive, and restore that image if things ever get out 
of hand. There are many free imaging programs (Karen's Replicator is 
supposed to be good, as is Macrium Reflect, though I've never used them. I 
use Acronis True Image, which costs.

Don Penlington

      "Hold No Punches.." Rode brings you great shareware/freeware
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