Recommendations for Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, Anti-Spam
 

Hi. I'm pretty new here but would like to ask for recommendations from more experienced security conscious members.

My Setup:

I have a home network (CAT 6) setup in our new house. I am using a Netgear FVS318 router, and have 4 computers on the network along with a shared network printer (RJ-45 interface) and a NAS device. 2 laptops and 2 desktops. Both laptops run Win XP Pro, 1 desktop runs Win Me (don't laugh), 1 desktop runs Win 2K AS. 1 laptop is a company computer, the other 3 are for personal use.

I had been running CA ez-Armor suite on my personal systems but the 1 yr. license complimentary from Road Runner just recently expired. I had been running Norton AV 2004, then 2005 on the company system until it somehow got corrupt and stopped working. I tried uninstalling (nightmare) and then went and deleted all of the files/directories and spent WAY to long in regedit removing anything that said Norton or Symantec. BTW, I had Systemworks 2004 on at one time too. After all that I tried reinstalling Norton AV 2005 and it seemed to install but would not work, I can't remember the error, but I got so frustrated that I removed it and decided I needed something better (from all perspectives) than Norton.

So, that brings me to my current state. I need something for AV, Spyware, and SPAM prevention on my personal systems, and I need a new AV program for the company laptop.

What I have seen thus far:

Anti-Virus for Home Systems - AVG Free, avast!, Trend-Micro, Kapersky
Anti-Spyware for Home Systems - Spybot S-D, Spyblaster?, MS-Antispyware
Anti-SPAM for Home Systems - Spamihilator, ???

Anti-Virus for Company PC - CyberScrub AV (5 yr. subscription), Kapersky, ?
Anti-Spyware for Company PC - MS-Antispyware, ???
Anti-SPAM for Company PC - (I use Outlook 2003 on this), ???

Obviously, I would like to find a free or very affordable option for all three on the home systems (what can I say - maintaining two mortgages is rough!) and I need a commercial/paid solution for the company laptop, at least the AV program anyway. Has anyone used Cyberscrub AV? It's supposed to be based on Kapersky and unlike Kapersky has 5 years of updates with it. It also seems to be fairly unobtrusive and not slow my system down. That's another requirement. I want all of these whether the home or company solutions to be as light and well-behaved as possible (unlike Norton). Any recommendations based on my situation from you security gurus would be most appreciated. Thanks...

David

You'll find this useful. Look under number 2 (for AntiVirus), 3 (for AntiSpyware) and 17 (for advanced spam filters). You'll also find firewalls, browser protection and others on that page. Be sure to check out link 4 under AV utils for good discussion of free vs pay AV solutions. Also, there's no reason why you can't have more than one of each type of security software installed; just be sure only one of each kind is actively protecting, and set a schedule for the passive ones.

Hey, thanks for the great link! I have AVG free working on my personal systems now for AV. I think I'm going to try Spybot S-D as well on my older machine and give Spambayes a try as well.

I'm guessing the majority of these are pretty well behaved and don't clog your systems arteries to the point of a heart attack like Norton?

If anyone has experience with Cyberscrub AV I would love to hear how it has worked for you. I'm thinking I'll end up buying Kapersky or Cyberscrub for the company laptop. I just like the 5 year deal with the latter ;)

David

Well I haven't used Cyberscrub AV, but yeah Norton, and McAffee too, are resource hogs. The Spybot resident protection is well-behaved, as is MS AntiSpyware (don't have both resident at the same time though). I don't use AVG, but I've heard it has a decent-sized footprint (I have Vet, on subscription, it's good too both in terms of its ability and its footprint). I also can't vouch for the spam filters, my mail providers usually do a good job of that for me.

Personally I use ZoneAlarm pro as a firewall and Symantec Corporate Edition as an anti-virus and they actually mesh well together, better than I thought. Also of course ad-aware, Giant Antispyware(Microsoft's basically the same as it gets its technology from them, yes, Microsoft steal!), and Xoftspy...used to have S&D and Spysweeper too but deleted them not long ago.

What is Vet? What would you folks recommend for a lightweight but powerfull alternative to Norton on the Utilities/Systemworks side? I don't think Trend's suite would be a candidate from what little I know about it so I am interested in what others are using these days.

David