Virus Protection

[planteria]

what do folks here do nowadays for PC virus protection?
something that’s open source that updates automatically that we can download for free?

[macliam]

I use Zonealarm...... not open source, but free and good at what it does - it also has a firewall.

However, I keep an eye on the ratings as the top players jockey for position....

[planteria]

sounds good. so you keep an eye on the basis of potentially replacing Zonealarm with another program?

[macliam]

Yes, I've changed for best of breed several times...... but the combo of AV and a firewall, rather than separates is a bonus

[Chadwick]

I got a Mac.

But I think my old Windows laptop had Zone Alarm.

[planteria]

ok nice one Mac. i've got a new laptop arriving at the weekend. i'll download that.

[macliam]

I think the key to all this is to keep things in balance. If you read some reviews that rate products, they will rank them according to their testing regime, which may show a weakness in certain areas. however, the important thing is to understand the likelihood of this being a problem - especially since most infections come from "new" sources (how do yo test for protection against an issue you don't know about?) - so you need to assess the overall strength and the reaction time for issuing updates to the AV up to date.

Also, my belief is that the best protection against viruses is to prevent them in the first place, so a good firewall is key. I also have separate anti-ransomware and startup protection processes running (the latter prevents new tasks being added to your startup process without your knowledge). Another thing to check is whether the processes you load can be uninstalled cleanly - some well-known AV suites are notorious for the claws they put into your system. Finally, it's pointless running processes (AV or firewall) that slow down your system to an unacceptable level, or prevent justifiable usage - some of these do exist. All this will, of course depend on the OS you run.

[planteria]

just clicked through to Zonealarm and it is asking for payment mac.. i wasn't expecting that.

[macliam]

just clicked through to Zonealarm and it is asking for payment mac.. i wasn't expecting that.

Just Google "Zonealarm Free"