I would like to settle this once and for all. I have heard so many things about which Spyware program is the best, which one sucks, as well as for other types of programs. What I am trying to get to, is: Please reply to this message with the following: Best Antivirus: Pros: Cons: Best Anti Spyware: Pros: Cons: Best Anti Adware Pros: Cons: Best Standalone Firewall: Pros: Cons: ----------- AsYLuM -----------

The short answer is, every answer you get is simply an opinion (including mine)! Best Antivirus: Norton AV 2002 Pros: Light on resources, auto scans all email and all downloads, even those through 3rd party p2p sharing programs. Updates itself automatically. Trusted and dependable! Cons: It’s not free. Best Anti SpyWare: SpyBot Search & Destroy and AdAware SE. Pros: FREE (Some like SpywareBlaster too, although I am not familiar with it. Cons: None that I know of. Best Anti AdWare: (Refer to “SpyWare”) Pros: Cons: Best Standalone Firewall: a Router with DHCP Pros: Set it and forget it! Cons: Not quite as simple to find the log files as some software versions. The real answer to AntiVirus is the one you feel most secure with. A former customer of mine refused to spend money to get Norton, he got the popular free AV from the internet. At least once each month he called to inform me “I think I got a virus, I think I got a virus!” I am unable to determine if he is paranoid or a moron. I am certain he is a FORMER customer! People that ask for my advice, then ignore what I give them, will find no sympathy when they find their solution failed. ...and YES, I have been referred to as the "Worlds only living heart donor"! _________________________ The internet is no longer a toy, it's a COMBAT ZONE!

Martin - good post. I have used the corporate enterprise version of Norton for years and find Norton products to be pretty reliabe but, for some reason they get trashed pretty hard here. My opinion is that the people trashing it haven't really had an issue with it or know of any problems, they just tend to have the 'pile on' mentality and know catch phrases like resource hog and bloated prgram but dont know what it really means or if it happens. The other AV that people should consider is Trend Micro (they also make PC Cillin). I sitched to it about a year ago at work due to a TCP stack conflict with Norton and my disaster recovery software, NSI Doubletake and have found it to be at lest as reliabe as NAV if not better.. Anyway, I agree with you on the Spybot S&D accessment as it works very well also but I use it in conjunction with Adaware as each finds things the other misses.

my opinion doesnt matter, but here comes your antivirus program norton sucks, its better than nothing but its far from the best. i will only post this link down once as i dont see anyone on this forum posting it so that lets me know they never done their research and testing. www.nod32.com prove me wrong if its not the best i do support and offer my customers the antispyware package for over 8yrs now. but i never will use norton and none of my customers dont once they see the power of the best antivirus software. its not free but all big corps protect their servers with it. http://www.nod32.com/about/press.htm a measure of a tech is know what is the best for the solution, as i been doing for over 8yrs now , no amount of degrees and certs can make u a professional those are easy to get, its how many people u have help and the software u use to protect them with.

Hello Asylum, I have tried Norton System Works 2002 and 2003 and have switched to McAfee in 2004 and now 2005 because it better suites MY needs. Norton was a good product, it served it's purpose well and never let me down as a beginner to computers back in 2002. It was a "resource hog" because it really slowed down my P3 and I did notice a difference when I switched to McAfee. Best AV: McAfee Security Suite Pros: Good spyware scanner that is a good addition to Ad-Aware and Spybot. Has a good online help centre in real time that can fix any McAfee issue your having. Cons: A little more expensive than Symantec products E-mail AV scanner a little over sensitive......it will not let me e-mail documents as attachments that I have personally scanned myself. (Tells me it may contain a worm.) By the time you think you've learned it all..... it's all changed and you have to learn it all over again.

"I have used the corporate enterprise version of Norton for years and find Norton products to be pretty reliabe but, for some reason they get trashed pretty hard here. My opinion is that the people trashing it haven't really had an issue with it or know of any problems, they just tend to have the 'pile on' mentality and know catch phrases like resource hog and bloated prgram but dont know what it really means or if it happens." I beg to differ, I started using Peter Norton's tools eons ago, well maybe not that long but it certainly was before it got swallowed by Symantec much like Central Point, Fifth Generation System and others way back in the 90's and I eventually had to let go. I am sure there are others out there who are not new to computing that had to do the same too. I unloaded my retail version of NSW 2004, and had to switch to KAV and it wasn't because of catch phrases like resource hog and bloated program, am not a programmer but one thing I love about programming is there is no room for a lot of bullsh**ting, if it is buggy it will come crashing down and windows is more than glad to always lend a hand in that regard.

So far, looks like a good topic. For McAfee Security Suite, is there an option to customize different things, like protection precentages? If so, could you please explain the customization?