Hi,
I know there are variations of this question that has been asked before, but now that vista has been out for a while and people have had time to time test products. What are a good set of *Free* Anti-virus, spyware, firewall, etc. products you have found to do a good job.

I'm personally inclined to say AVG, adaware, spybot S&D and the builtin firewall. Since I'm not much of an expert, I'd appreciate what people thought of my choices (are they enough to keep my comp safe)?
Thanks,
-JAN

At this moment in time I cannot say I'm a fan of any free product being the solution for your protection.

At this current time most payed for security software will out-perform (in terms of how updatedthe definitions are and how good the zero-day protection is) and provide better real-time protection for a computer. My recommendation on that would probably be a combination of NAV '08 and SS. I've also been hearing extremely good things about the new Kaspersky and would recommened giving that a shot.

There is the Roll_your_own_Free_Security_Suite article ... but some checking as to Vista readiness would be required.

There are several recommendations, however, there are more than a few free products that are beginning to shine in terms of Vista performance.

I first suggest you take a look at the MVPs.org site for any information you can glean on Vista, because there are more than a few dos and dont's there re: running particular programs with Vista.

Second, I would get WinPatrol - free is fine if you don't want to pay for the pro version. It is of inestimable worth to you in the long run.

I keep Spybot S&D around for occasional scans but never actually use it on a daily basis, other than updating definitions and immunizations.

The MVPs site has turned me off of using Spywareblaster, for a very good reason - read there about it - however, it will be personal choice.

Microsoft does not currently (at last check) recommend Ad-Aware 2007 as a certified for Vista product - however a lot of people are using it on Vista without any real glitches. YMMV.

For free AV software, it is really your own choice - Do some reading as to what seems to be working the best with Vista, I personally have a commercial product that I am required to install for access to the company's VPN....

For free firewalls, online armour has been getting the best reviews, although Comodo Pro v3 is also getting a lot of good reviews as well....

Same holds true for anti-rootkits, HIPS/IDS, etc.

On my Vista machine I am running the native Windows Defender, Symantec Endpoint Protection 11, WinPatrol, and have the SpyBot immunizations in place. I have previously tested Comodo Pro Firewall v3, Spywareblaster, Windows Live One Care (v1 and v1.5 and the last beta, v2?), rootkit revealer (which I actually have installed - on my UFD instead of my hd), and a few others....

One word of advice - I test software on a daily basis, and I encounter UAC prompts out the wazoo - and yet I don't disable UAC. I *strongly* urge you to *NOT* to disable UAC - with UAC disabled, Vista becomes a glorified, bloated, power hungry and very, very ineffective XP on steroids, offering almost no further protection than XP does.

Greetings just_another_noob,

My suggestion is to try to save the $$$ to get good protection for Windows Vista.

I use Windows LiveOneCare, which cost me $199.95 [CAN$]
But worth every penny, IMHO. I find Windows LiveOneCare awesome! + I use SpyBot S&D as well, but disable "Tea Timer". Also, SpyBot is "freeware/shareware". A donation, even if it's $5.00 - $10.00, is much appreciated.

SpyBot has worked so well for me that I'm sending them a small donation. This April I'll be able to afford a couple of donations to a couple of sites.

I also don't like to bog down my PC with too many apps. Vista is already overbloated w/o adding AV, seperate spyware/malware/trojan scanners, etc. LiveOneCare scans for all the stuff I mentioned above anyhow, and as I stated, SpyBot works just fab for me.

Take Care & Peace

_________________
Warm Regards,
David (esacnitsuj)
EULAGree With Security

Thanks for your replies all. Was meaning to respond back earlier but life gets crazy sometimes.

I agree that free products are not the best but being a grad student leaves little money to toss around, but perhaps I should save up a bit to get something that could save a lot of grief later.

Hi just_another_noob,

You're quite welcome! No problem about the suggestions. That's what we're here for!

If you do DL an alternative firewall such as Comodo then after installation, be sure that the Windows Firewall is shut off.

You don't want to have conflicts between the firewalls, that's for sure!

If you require further assistance don't hesitate to ask someone here at CastleCops.

Take Good Care + Peace

_________________
Warm Regards,
David (esacnitsuj)
EULAGree With Security

Quote:

"A Weak Mind Can Be Easily Controlled!" "Ni Bastori Carborundum" ©1963 SQIV

I'm running Vista Ultimate x64 myself. I use a layered approach to security and I've tested many programs for compatibility and effectiveness. I recommend Comodo Boclean(Free), Vista Firewall Control(Free) and turns Vista Firewall outbound protection on and makes it act like ZA, TeaTimer(with Spybot immunization), Spywareblaster, IESPYAD Blocklist, Windows Defender, and I use Kaspersky, but for free AV I would go with Avira PE Classic as it seems to have the best heuristics, definition updates and zero day protection out of all the freebie AV's. I also highly recommend SuperAntispyware Pro (lifetime license $20), I know it's not free but $20 for life is well worth it. As far as removing nasties like zlob and vundo I would go with RogueRemover Free and Malwarebytes Antimalware, both are free and let you scan and remove what they find. Vundofix is excellent in this capacity as well. For removing junk I go with Ccleaner and ATF cleaner, both work just fine on vista as long as you run them as admin. It's a good idea to go to the program folder of all of your security software and right click on the exe and select properties, go to the compatibility tab and check the box that says run this program as an administrator. I find that this reduces incompatibility and allows your security software full effectiveness when removing infections because user privelages and system access are automatically escalated.

BTW, glad there was a reply to this topic - the new Spywareblaster 4.0 was released, claiming to be fully supporting Vista - I suspect that there may be a turn around on the MVP stance on the use of Spywareblaster now that this new version has come out. Time will tell.