[SadisticSid]

I've nothing but good things to say about NOD32 - how exactly has it got a confusing UI? Unconventional != bad. It's also the smallest footprint AV I've seen - just a measly 8-20MB for the main kernel, depending on what options you have enabled. Contrast that with Norton, which uses 80MB even when it's in the background. Full scans take very little time compared to Norton and AVG, too, and an article I read a couple of months back showed it also had the highest detection rate.

[Huggybaby]

I would get NOD32 because of it's small, tight code and low impact on the system too. That's why I use µTorrent.

There is one more piece to the puzzle of which I've just become aware, and that's the importance af DEP. Mine is now on. In fact, I think Comodo offers to turn it on for you. Pease see Steve Gibson's fantastic site: http://www.grc.com/SecurityNow.htm#77. Don't forget to run Securable!

[Tyrian]

I've nothing but good things to say about NOD32 - how exactly has it got a confusing UI? Unconventional != bad. It's also the smallest footprint AV I've seen - just a measly 8-20MB for the main kernel, depending on what options you have enabled. Contrast that with Norton, which uses 80MB even when it's in the background. Full scans take very little time compared to Norton and AVG, too, and an article I read a couple of months back showed it also had the highest detection rate.

That's what I read too.  I just wanted to make sure the review I read wasn't biased in any way.

[MatthewPapa]

any of you guys use PC Cillin? I dont totally like it (its a bit of a resource hog actually) but it seems to get the job done without many problems.

[mrfun]

any of you guys use PC Cillin? I dont totally like it (its a bit of a resource hog actually) but it seems to get the job done without many problems.

I got a free subsription and used it for a while.  Never had any problems while using it, aside from a tendency to block out things like Ventrilo or MegaMek even when they're excepted (had to turn the firewall off when using them).

[SadisticSid]

I would get NOD32 because of it's small, tight code and low impact on the system too. That's why I use µTorrent.

There is one more piece to the puzzle of which I've just become aware, and that's the importance af DEP. Mine is now on. In fact, I think Comodo offers to turn it on for you. Pease see Steve Gibson's fantastic site: http://www.grc.com/SecurityNow.htm#77. Don't forget to run Securable!

Considering Glibson thought UPnP would mean the end of the world some years ago, I'm hard pushed to take his latest DEP fetish seriously. It breaks a considerable number of legacy applications and relies on particular programming and tight compiling to work effectively. I believe some bits of XP are exempt from it too - so right now it's not that effective.

If it really was the next best thing in the security world, you'd hear other figures clamouring for it.

[jr2]

What do you guys think of F-Prot by FRISK Software?  $29 for five computers, free 30 day trial... It's what I usually use.

[Huggybaby]

I would get NOD32 because of it's small, tight code and low impact on the system too. That's why I use µTorrent.

There is one more piece to the puzzle of which I've just become aware, and that's the importance af DEP. Mine is now on. In fact, I think Comodo offers to turn it on for you. Pease see Steve Gibson's fantastic site: http://www.grc.com/SecurityNow.htm#77. Don't forget to run Securable!

Considering Glibson thought UPnP would mean the end of the world some years ago, I'm hard pushed to take his latest DEP fetish seriously. It breaks a considerable number of legacy applications and relies on particular programming and tight compiling to work effectively. I believe some bits of XP are exempt from it too - so right now it's not that effective.

If it really was the next best thing in the security world, you'd hear other figures clamouring for it.

Well UPnP (as opposed to PnP) sucks, is dangerous, and most people have it turned off. The real DEP is in hardware and is supported on the CPU. IIRC he said that the XP version isn't even actually true DEP. There are four levels of DEP (one being off) and I don't know how many apps it breaks, though it does break some, Gibson mentions Irfanview. And people NEVER clamor for the next best thing. By the time anything is acknowledged as TNBT, it's actually old hat.

[Tyrian]

UPnP?  PnP?  DEP?

Geez...And I pride myself on my computer security knowledge...

[jr2]

Universal Plug 'n Play,
Plug 'n Play,
I forgot... oh,
Data Excecution Prevention... thx wikipedia 

[SadisticSid]

Well UPnP (as opposed to PnP) sucks, is dangerous, and most people have it turned off. The real DEP is in hardware and is supported on the CPU. IIRC he said that the XP version isn't even actually true DEP. There are four levels of DEP (one being off) and I don't know how many apps it breaks, though it does break some, Gibson mentions Irfanview. And people NEVER clamor for the next best thing. By the time anything is acknowledged as TNBT, it's actually old hat.

Why does it suck? And no, UPnP is NOT dangerous - at least no more so than any other networking technology you have on your PC. The obscure flaw in Windows that made "it" (it was actually the SSDP service that made use of UPnP) vulnerable to exploits was fixed well over 5 years ago now. Gibson has never AFAIK changed his stance on it. In fact UPnP potentially makes things much more secure for everyday users, because you don't have to open incoming ports manually on routers and then forget to close them when you're finished with them.

Take a look at http://www.grcsucks.com/ the next time you're about to follow his advice. It debunks Gibson's great myths far more eloquently than I can.

[Huggybaby]

Thanks for the link, but I didn't see anything current there, or any serious debunking either. Granted Gibson is not an expert on everything, and his site has a lot of out of date info, but his is just one of my resources.

It does appear that MS fixed UPnP some time ago, but I still don't know anyone that uses it (on purpose anyway). It's probably just the nature of things, but I've read only complaints about it, never heard how good it was.

I thought of a couple of other ways to secure a PC: don't log in as admin unless necessary, use a good password, turn off file and printer sharing and remote administration functions.

I know a guy that surfs random ip's and takes over machines, looking through web cams, changing passwords, using printers, etc. All through the remote admin function.