The best free security software

This is a guy who swears by IE, so I wouldn't take his post seriously.

Come on people, if you're going to praise or trash something, at least explain why.

 

I've had no problems with TF at all myself. It's highly rated among professional reviewers. I think it's a great product, and I'm somewhat amazed that it's even free of charge.

 

Can you give some reports showing the credibility of Threatfire?

 

What's wrong in swearing by IE?

 

Well so much for Comodo. I don't have an internet connection. You have to register it online. I can't. I tried emailing them, but they don't accept your emails until you have registered. So I am not sure it should be listed as FREE, because it is free only as long as you can register online!

Will I be ok running AntiVir and ThreatFire instead?

 

You don't need to register for Comodo to work, in fact I've never heard of any registration at all. Maybe you signed up for registration during the installation process? Try reinstalling it and make sure if you see anything about registering, just skip it. If that doesn't work, then yes AntiVir and ThreatFire would be good enough.

 

Im surprised that Sygate Firewall and Kerio Personal Firewall arent mentioned. Both are incredibly light on resources are work extremely well. They can still be downloaded form oldversion.com. Only downside is that they are XP only

 

What version were you using? I had the same exact problem with 2.x and it got so annoying that I had to just get rid of it. It was simply not remembering anything (ie Firefox being prompted every other time I opened it). I installed 3.0 to give it another try and the remembering problem seems to be fixed so far.

 

I would like to recommend ClamAV for Windows for this list.

I recommend it of course because it is truly Free and Open Source Software. It may not have as many features as some listed though but I cannot use a closed source AV when an open alternative is available.

 

Hey, so I currently am running avira and comodo. What would you guys recommend for a spyware for 64 bit vista?

 

SUPERantispyware, Malwarebytes'Antimalware or A-squared.
The free versions don't offer real-time protection.

 

I have Avira Antivir, SUPERAntispyware, and Comodo Firewall.

Would any of you recommend getting Threatfire as well?

 

Raunzel, if you use CFP Defense+; No.
If not, go ahead.

 

Baserk, is there an advantage of having the Avira Gaurd module running? I just installed it and i opted out of the installation but if there is a good reason to keep it on i will reinstall it with it enabled.

 

the guard module provides real-time protection

 

Are you sure? I thought this was only in the premium version.

 

for anti-virus

 

So what does the free version offer real-time protection from if it's not viruses?

 

the free version offers real-time protection from viruses
here is a comparison: http://www.free-av.com/en/products/1/avira_antivir_personal__free_antivirus.html

 

I see, thanks for the comparison link.

 

Yeah, works quite well, I may add. Caught a couple macro viruses for me.

 

If I plan to use AntiVir as an on-demand scanner only (no guard or anti-root module), should I install Win32 file Heuristics or is that also real-time?

 

Yes. If you disable the guard there won't be any real time protection. Select the heuristics level to "medium" (default).

 

Thanks for the response coolguy.

So antivir's heuristics is not real time?

edit: Did some research, seems the heuristics is real time.

 

As far as i know, they are not.

 

Two questions, is Avira x64 compatible? and is it light on the resources when not scanning? OK, one more question...has it increased your boot-time?

 

Heuristics are signatures by which Avira /any antivirus program detects malware.

 

Yes Avira free is 64-bit compatible. It is the lightest among the free AV programs. It is the fastest on-demand scanner too. It starts up faster than AVG 7.5, AVG 8, and Avast 4.8. But it doesn't have spyware protection.

 

Excellent, if it doesn't affect my boot-time, then sign me up

I'll be installing it in the morning, when I get to that point.

Tx again

 

Heuristics/heuristic engines are not just signatures.
Every analyzed and therefore known malware gets a signature, hence signature (only) based AV/anti-malware progs.
Simple new malware can be traced with generic signatures but more tough malware needs other features if the malware doesn't 'resemble' any generic signatures.
Heuristic engines also scan unknown files, decode them and analyze their behaviour (within the engine).
Even if malicious code is compressed and wrapped, the engine will decompress the package, remove the innocent looking wrapper and then decode and scan the code and remove the junk.

 

Thanks for the explanation Baserk.

 

Just caught up with this thread and saw this post. I'd appreciate an explanation because I use ThreatFire on my last Windows machine. Since installation (along with Comodo), I've had no malware whatever, aside from an occasional cookie which may not even qualify as malware. And I have read good reviews of the app. Here, here and here are a few examples of the reviews I've seen.

If you've seen info which speaks poorly of the app, I'd like to read it, or at least read your reasons for thinking ThreatFire is junk. If they're valid, I'd like to know because I've recommended the program to more than one person.

 

Did TF catch something your primary AV/AS missed? If no there should be no reason to have TF installed. Moreover for an average user zero day exploits rarely pose a threat. It's just more resource usage when using two AV apps simultaneously. Although people here reported miminal resource utilization by TF it's still using RAM.

 

ThreatFire is meant as an extra program (especially the free version).
It's complementary to an AV&AS setup, it cannot replace an AV program because it's not a specialized AV program. It's a behavioural blocker.

For many people the real-time protection comes in handy for those malware threats that are not covered by their AV and when they run a free AS program that lacks real-time protection.
If one uses (an) on-demand AS application(s) there is no 'simultaneous' usage running ThreatFire.
TF is using only 8 MB, not that much indeed.

 

Is there a good free firewall which allows automatic detection of which program should be blocked and which shouldn't be blocked? I've used Comodo before and it keeps asking me over and over and over again everytime I open a program which connects to the internet if I want to allow a few program. And now I want to install a firewall for my dad's PC and he doesn't understand what to do if I use Comodo because he's not familiar with computer.

 

It shouldn't keep asking you for the same program. Make sure you're checking the remember rule box. You could also try Comodo without Defense+ and use Threatfire with it. Another option would be to try Online Armor if you run XP or Jetico, i.e. the programs listed on the first page.

 

don't forget Ad-aware

 

all running tasks load on the RAM.

 

is ad aware a good anti spyware program? cant seem to use avg's any longer..which one would you recommend?

 

I don't think it is anymore. I think there was a debate earlier about whether to put it up and it got shot down.

Try out Avira or Avast.

 

I use Antivir.There is a promotion which will give you 1 year premium.

 

i'm actually looking for anti spyware alone.

 

Check the first post in this thread (or my sig) for SAS, MBAM, A-squared and ThreatFire.
The first 3 are excellent on demand scanners, TF is a realtime behavioural blocker with 8MB usage.
Cheers.

 

Hi guys,

What do u guys think of zone alarm firewall ? Ive been using it on my old XP PC without any problems. Now I have a new Vista laptop and I'm thinking of installing it there as well (cos I'm a bit lazy to learn to use a different firewall program )

Will it be good enough/no take too much resources ? Thanks.

edit : I'm talking about the free version

 

Well if you don't want to learn anything about firewalls at all then keeping ZoneAlarm would be a good idea, otherwise i recommend Comodo Firewall Pro.

 

Guys, know any other good free antispyware which offers real-time protection besides Spyware Terminator? I love Spyware Terminator and been using it on my dad's computer for months, but lately the program is runtime error all the time so I need to consider other program.

 

KarenA, ThreatFire is worth trying out.
It's a behavioural blocker with a small footprint of 8 MB.
The free version is meant as a complementary AS program besides your AV.
Not one AS program catches everything so you might consider SAS, MBAM, or A-squared as your on-demand scanner for a weekly scan.
See my signature for download links.
Cheers.

 

Thanks~!

I'm using Avira AntiVir (free) for my AV, so it doesn't have anti spyware at all, just anti virus. I'm trying out ThreatFire and MBAM now.

 

Hey guys/gals,

Is ThreatFire x86 only?...I just tried installing it and cannot, curious where I might pick up an x64 version.

tx

 

Yep, it's 32-bit only unfortunately.