The inclusion of a firewall with the antivirus (AV) is one of the best parts about Kapersky. And the best reason ever for allowing a firewall and AV to be the same program. It’s also one of the few cases where it actually works.. I normally prefer to have the firewall and AV seperate so that 1, you have less resources used and 2, a flaw in one doesn’t mean your whole security setup has been comprimised. Most “security suites” also don’t implement them both properly, they may have an excellent AV but a dodgy firewall or vice versa.

I still don’t like kernel level though.. I ran Lavasoft Ad-Aware and had an instant BSoD. Turns out that a default scan includes system files which are in use by the computer. Ad-Aware tries to scan, instant denial of service to the computer, computer dies. Kernel level programs are like that.. Too deep and they can make for a really bad day.

other softwares have no business to have rights to teh kernel in my beleif, but with the intense security issues in teh spyware and most definately Malware, something needs full access to the kernel and work real close with MS. That way they can get you fixed up right.

I’d actually agree with the others. I dislike McAfee as much as Norton. And security is not only a hobby, it’s my uni degree. Hobbies include dissassembling virii/virsuses, trying out detection algorithms, beating them, etc. And yea, McAfee just doesn’t do it for me.. I don’t like Avast either though, my grandparents use it and I personally think it uses too much memory and is too annoying. It doesn’t need to take over the computer. Like AVG.

I would also disagree with your statement ” BEsides why use something that isn’t allowed full access to the System kernel”. You do not want ANYTHING with full access to the kernel. Think of it this way, everything that has full access is another door into full system control. And one bug in the antivirus can bring your computer down (BSoD, random errors, etc) if it’s hooked in too tight.

Avira, Kapersky, Nod32 are all one’s that I’ve tried and I would reccommend all of them. I personally use Malwarebytes as a once-a-week-scan and Commodo as my firewall. Malwarebytes has 2 modes, free and paid for. Free means you can do a scan, get updates, etc. Paid for means it can run in the background, which is actually not needed.

All you really need is a decent firewall and safe browsing habits. Then keep Malwarebytes or an antivirus of your choice installed just to cycle (start, update, run a full scan, then close) once a week. An antivirus can only detect what it has definitions for, so it can only find old viruses, so a properly configured firewall will do just fine.

Think of it like a house.. Firewall is lock on door, antivirus is rottwieller that has been trained to attack certain people. It won’t get everyone, but that’s why you have a lock.

So articles like these are good, but miss the whole point of security.

Businesses of course would be running a more secure system, but even they don’t need an antivirus taking up cpu cycles 24/7. Firewall with IDS, locked down network, preferrably with DMZ (while the effectiveness of them is up for debate, they’ll keep out script kiddies which is good enough) then running IE8 in lockdown mode with a whitelist of allowed sites.

Inexpensive, easy to set up and extremely effective.

1. bitdefender
2. kaspersky
3. webroot
4. avast
5. eset nod32

I will never suggest that anyone buy it again, and KasperSky in a realistic Cost to Performance rating, is the best thing out there to take the noobie suggested install settings. Advanced users will love the ability to secure the system during installation if they know what they are doing. However if they don’t as many probably will, Kaspersky will be there worst enemy. So anyway, Kasper Own’s even while using the default installation settings. NOthing else out there matches it. BEsides why use something that isn’t allowed full access to the System kernel. To me that is just stupid, and to spend more then 100 bux for a security suite on a home user machine, is just ignorance. Shoot most professional Network administrators will have time with a full blown Commercial software!!