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What is a good, free Security Suite that's quiet?


CODYQX4

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I have been setting people up with NIS 2009 with NTR, because I find NIS to be a great security suite that doesn't bother very much.

I have had problems with the resetter, realize that while I know how to deal with these problems, these people don't.

I want to use a free solution instead, but it needs to be comparable to NIS and require as little input as possible.

I was thinking of Avira, as I've heard good things about it. What does anyone else think I should setup.

I am definitely NOT going to use AVG or Microsoft Security Essesntials. I will consider anything else if it's reputable (if I haven't heard of it, I don't trust it).

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I have been setting people up with NIS 2009 with NTR, because I find NIS to be a great security suite that doesn't bother very much.

I have had problems with the resetter, realize that while I know how to deal with these problems, these people don't.

I want to use a free solution instead, but it needs to be comparable to NIS and require as little input as possible.

I was thinking of Avira, as I've heard good things about it. What does anyone else think I should setup.

I am definitely NOT going to use AVG or Microsoft Security Essesntials. I will consider anything else if it's reputable (if I haven't heard of it, I don't trust it).

Avast 5/Avira 10 personal and either Pctools firewall or outpost free firewall. Online armor free is good but can be a little loud.

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Sl@pSh0ck™

I am not really a fan of security suites ... what I can suggest is for you to go for a layered protection ... for a firewall some free options would be Comodo, PC tools, OA, Outpost or go for the built in windows firewall. Then get a free AV, go for either avast or avira ... then install the free version of sandboxie.

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I am not really a fan of security suites ... what I can suggest is for you to go for a layered protection ... for a firewall some free options would be Comodo, PC tools, OA, Outpost or go for the built in windows firewall. Then get a free AV, go for either avast or avira ... then install the free version of sandboxie.

I was thinking of the comodo firewall, and either avast or avira. I don't think I'll need to setup sandboxie though. Windows Firewall I don't think is good enough as its one way (but that would probably be enough in this case).

How is Comodo, I hear it's good but I've also heard its difficult to configure? I could configure it but I want it to keep quiet unless necessary. I have NIS setup where it will usually only alert if it finds a virus or does a background task (if you let it sit).

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Comodo is just great. Nothing to configure, but it ain't for n00bs. ;)

A great firewall with a good HIPS. :)

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Comodo is just great. Nothing to configure, but it ain't for n00bs. wink.gif

A great firewall with a good HIPS. smile.gif

Well' it's n00bs I'm setting it up for, that's the problem. If they were not n00bs and/or lazy people, I could show them how to reset NIS, what to do if it screws up (go into safe mode and reset), and where to get the latest reset. I don't mind this kind of thing with security software myself.

Funny story, I used an old PC (P2) with Micro XP to make it run faster. No AV or security whatsoever for months. Never got infected. My little brother used it and it got pwned in 2 minutes. Fake AV got installed as a trojan. I decided just to wipe the thing.

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Sl@pSh0ck™

If you want comodo to be quite ... you can just install the firewall (no hips) ... then the free AV of your choice. HIPS is not for newt ... it will do them more harm than good.

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Try Microsoft Security Essentials, I tried it on my netbook and I must say it's comparable with ESET/Norton, fast and lightweight plus good detection rate, it's even said by reviewers that MSS is even better than many paid security suites today. But if you want something really advanced in configuration like ESET/Kaspersky, this is not the antivirus for you.

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RadioActive
What is a good, free Security Suite that's quiet?

There's no such thing.

If you're considering paying then you'll like Avast 5 Internet Security, I bought it and I love it.

But for free products then you'll have to pick applications, and here's my recommendations:

Anti-Virus: Avast Anti-virus 5 FREE

Firewall: PC Tools Firewall Plus 6

HIPS (if you need it): PC Tools ThreatFire 3

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I was going to test this in a VM, does anyone know a good way to test the security software? Like using fake malware or something.

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So far I'm trying Avira 10 free with comodo firewall. I may use sandboxie on the internet browsers. Will this prevent people from installing crappy toolbars, specifically in IE8? I've never attempted to install any kind of addon in a sandboxed browser.

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About Comodo, it will never nag you if you keep both firewall and HIPS at training mode. But then it wont be powerful enough.

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Comodo seems fine, but neither Avast or Avira suit my exact needs. I need a setup that will never expire. Does the box-mara fix for ESET work permanently without any interaction or configuration from the user?

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box, mara- fix v1.3 is fix and forget it forever. ;)

But I recommend Avast 5 free + Comodo firewall, Avast is quite lite in memory usage if not lite in CPU usage, and has scored good. :)

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box, mara- fix v1.3 is fix and forget it forever. wink.gif

But I recommend Avast 5 free + Comodo firewall, Avast is quite lite in memory usage if not lite in CPU usage, and has scored good. smile.gif

While both avast and avira are good enough, the way I am going about this requires that nothing has to be registered, even if free.

I reinstall OS and applications for people, and it's VERY time consuming. I usually put the same things on each time, with some differences based on who own's the PC. It takes 10-15 minutes or less to clean install Windows 7, but several hours simply to install the software, not counting the updates and configuration.

I can't rely on any of these people to renew their AV, even if free, so they will sit there and see the alerts, panic, but do nothing. I was preventing NIS 2009 16.2 from updating and leaving NTR 2.6 for 2009 installed (this reset every boot to 90 days.) Problems began to show up with this specific configuration, as my dad's laptop would be expired at boot but show 90 days (NIS had license but everything was off and greyed out). Also, NIS got corrupted from being locked the way I had it.

I am making a virtual machine with everything I regularly add, and am going to image it. I need AV that will never expire so it won't stop working on my image (though I could fix it) or on someone else's PC.

ESET is reputable enough for me, and if that fix is permanent, assuming you don't update the program itself (I heard trial version doesn't get updates for the program/modules themselves).

I'm going to try Eset, though every time I've ever attempted to install it, it's caused a BSOD.

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ESET does have it's own set of BSOD problems.

About updates, it never releases any update through that update ESET thingy, that's only for virus database, whether you have a trial or a full version. Installing the new version is hard though. Unfix it, uninstall it, clean registry at times, and then install the new version, fix it.

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ESET does have it's own set of BSOD problems.

About updates, it never releases any update through that update ESET thingy, that's only for virus database, whether you have a trial or a full version. Installing the new version is hard though. Unfix it, uninstall it, clean registry at times, and then install the new version, fix it.

It's alright about updating, I can keep my image updated. It's out of my hands when the PC getting imaged leaves though, so as long as it doesn't nag constantly about a new version then there won't be a problem.

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It never nags about new version. But may nag for virus database, like any AV will do, if the virus database is not updated from last few days. But you'd like to have a look at advanced setup > user interface > alerts and notifications. ;)

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I'd rather them know their stuff is out of date definition wise. After applying this fix, I shouldn't have update problems, should I? I heard the first update has to be manual. I applied the box mara fix, got the update.

ESET appears to be working, even though it says the trial is expired (haven't yet been nagged about it).

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I wont have any update problems, unless noted. And yes first update has to be manual update. Otherwise it would nag that virus database is old or similar.

How can it say trial expire? The fix keeps it to 30 days forever. :s

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I don't know, the text says expired but it works. Was I supposed to enter a username/password at setup or add a key? I installed (no username), disabled self defense, restarted, applied fix+no watermark - auto enable self defense (rebooted), entered eset for username and password, got the update, and did a scan of the PC, in the about thing, it says "trial expired already", and on the protection status it says this trial expired, however there are no nags or disabled functions. I may mess with it, so nobody sees that, but I don't have an issue yet.

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entered eset for username and password, got the update, and did a scan of the PC,

You don't need to enter any password, anywhere, remove that username and pass and try again. ;)

eset is only when it's constantly asking you for a username and pass when you try to updat it after installation.

Odd though.

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Removed it and restarted and it went away. I set ESET to not look for component updates. ESET should meet my needs as long as the fix works as it should.

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  • Administrator

:thumbsup:

All the best. :)

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