Firewall or Anti-Virus?

"Arif Mehal" wrote in message

Which is better, a Firewall or an Anti-Virus program? .

They are two different animals providing two different sets of functions
for you. You need both. You also need an arsenal of say 3 different
anti-spyware applications to take care of malware that AV doesn't look
for.
I'd suggest looking them up on Wikipedia.com if the differences
aren't obvious to you. Lots of people are in your boat, so don't feel
bad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewall
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti_virus
are good starting points with good links and references.

HTH,

Twayne`

"Hodges" wrote in message

On Sep 6, 3:51 pm, Jim wrote:
On Sun, 6 Sep 2009 03:26:11 -0700 (PDT), "

wrote:
On Sep 6, 4:16 pm, Jim wrote:
On Sun, 6 Sep 2009 15:58:51 +0600, "Arif Mehal"

wrote:
Which is better, a Firewall or an Anti-Virus program? .

Ummmm ...... you need both .

Ok, thanks. Can they be from different companies? Like Norton and
AVG?

Your computer - you choose ; whichever you like .

Except don't use Norton, they suck. I'd recommend AVG or Avast for
antivirus and Zonealarm for Firewall. Also make sure not to install
more than 1 antivirus program at a time or your computer is going to
hate you.

Zonealarm is good. Reliable, stable, relatively easy to use/set.

Norton AV 2009 is great and is vastly improved in 2009, and superior to
most.

You can indeed "install" as many firwalls as you like, but do not have
more than one firewall monitoring your connections in real time.
Whenever anything works in real time, you want it to be only one app at
a time.

Just for completeness, there should also be about 3 anti-spyware tools
on your system too, to use for scanning for things that AV doesn't find.
AVware finds little else than viruses and each malware/spyware detector
has its own strengths but so far no one has created one that covers all
the bases. If you want opinions on which ones are the better ones, just
ask; you'll get lots of responses. There are quite a few good ones out
there and most are free.

HTH,

Twayne`

"Hodges" wrote in message

On Sep 6, 3:51 pm, Jim wrote:
On Sun, 6 Sep 2009 03:26:11 -0700 (PDT), "

wrote:
On Sep 6, 4:16 pm, Jim wrote:
On Sun, 6 Sep 2009 15:58:51 +0600, "Arif Mehal"

wrote:
Which is better, a Firewall or an Anti-Virus program? .

Ummmm ...... you need both .

Ok, thanks. Can they be from different companies? Like Norton and
AVG?

Your computer - you choose ; whichever you like .

Except don't use Norton, they suck. I'd recommend AVG or Avast for
antivirus and Zonealarm for Firewall. Also make sure not to install
more than 1 antivirus program at a time or your computer is going to
hate you.

Zonealarm is good. Reliable, stable, relatively easy to use/set.

Norton AV 2009 is great and is vastly improved in 2009, and superior to
most.

You can indeed "install" as many firwalls as you like, but do not have
more than one firewall monitoring your connections in real time.
Whenever anything works in real time, you want it to be only one app at
a time.

Just for completeness, there should also be about 3 anti-spyware tools
on your system too, to use for scanning for things that AV doesn't find.
AVware finds little else than viruses and each malware/spyware detector
has its own strengths but so far no one has created one that covers all
the bases. If you want opinions on which ones are the better ones, just
ask; you'll get lots of responses. There are quite a few good ones out
there and most are free.

HTH,

Twayne`

"1PW" wrote in message

Arif Mehal wrote:
Which is better, a Firewall or an AntiVirus program? .

These are only a mere few individual and valuable constituent pieces
of your system's overall protection plan.

Is a good NAT router better than antispyware protection?

No, but it's a good adjunct.

HTH,

Twayne`

"1PW" wrote in message

Arif Mehal wrote:
Which is better, a Firewall or an AntiVirus program? .

These are only a mere few individual and valuable constituent pieces
of your system's overall protection plan.

Is a good NAT router better than antispyware protection?

No, but it's a good adjunct.

HTH,

Twayne`

Twayne wrote:
"1PW" wrote in message

Arif Mehal wrote:
Which is better, a Firewall or an AntiVirus program? .
These are only a mere few individual and valuable constituent pieces
of your system's overall protection plan.

Is a good NAT router better than antispyware protection?

No, but it's a good adjunct.

HTH,

Twayne

I apologize Twayne. This was asked & posted facetiously.

The foundation for safe computer use is based on all the theories and
practices we've outlined here. Neglect any one of them, and failure
will certainly find its way to your system.

We may not agree on the specific choice of brands/products but we're
probably in definite lock step on all the basics.

Respectfully,

--
1PW

Twayne wrote:
"1PW" wrote in message

Arif Mehal wrote:
Which is better, a Firewall or an AntiVirus program? .
These are only a mere few individual and valuable constituent pieces
of your system's overall protection plan.

Is a good NAT router better than antispyware protection?

No, but it's a good adjunct.

HTH,

Twayne

I apologize Twayne. This was asked & posted facetiously.

The foundation for safe computer use is based on all the theories and
practices we've outlined here. Neglect any one of them, and failure
will certainly find its way to your system.

We may not agree on the specific choice of brands/products but we're
probably in definite lock step on all the basics.

Respectfully,

--
1PW

In article ,
says...

"1PW" wrote in message

Arif Mehal wrote:
Which is better, a Firewall or an AntiVirus program? .

These are only a mere few individual and valuable constituent pieces
of your system's overall protection plan.

Is a good NAT router better than antispyware protection?

No, but it's a good adjunct.

But a quality NAT router is better than a SOFT firewall that you don't
understand how to use properly or where you run as a local Admin
account.



--
You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little
voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that.
Trust yourself.
(remove 999 for proper email address)

In article ,
says...

"1PW" wrote in message

Arif Mehal wrote:
Which is better, a Firewall or an AntiVirus program? .

These are only a mere few individual and valuable constituent pieces
of your system's overall protection plan.

Is a good NAT router better than antispyware protection?

No, but it's a good adjunct.

But a quality NAT router is better than a SOFT firewall that you don't
understand how to use properly or where you run as a local Admin
account.



--
You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little
voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that.
Trust yourself.
(remove 999 for proper email address)

"Leythos" wrote in message
om
In article ,
says...

"1PW" wrote in message

Arif Mehal wrote:
Which is better, a Firewall or an AntiVirus program? .

These are only a mere few individual and valuable constituent pieces
of your system's overall protection plan.

Is a good NAT router better than antispyware protection?

No, but it's a good adjunct.

But a quality NAT router is better than a SOFT firewall that you don't
understand how to use properly or where you run as a local Admin
account.

True. But in general it's easier to train and program a software
firewall than port-forward and so on in the router.
But: That said, the OP was asking about comparing a NAT to
antispyware, not a soft firewall. Once a router opens a port, it's open
and it doesn't care whether it's a virus or spyware passing through it
until something tells it to close like you abandon the connection or
whatever. Lately it seems like there are much greater chances of
picking up spyware than there are viruses; here at least.

Cheers,

Twayne`

"Leythos" wrote in message
om
In article ,
says...

"1PW" wrote in message

Arif Mehal wrote:
Which is better, a Firewall or an AntiVirus program? .

These are only a mere few individual and valuable constituent pieces
of your system's overall protection plan.

Is a good NAT router better than antispyware protection?

No, but it's a good adjunct.

But a quality NAT router is better than a SOFT firewall that you don't
understand how to use properly or where you run as a local Admin
account.

True. But in general it's easier to train and program a software
firewall than port-forward and so on in the router.
But: That said, the OP was asking about comparing a NAT to
antispyware, not a soft firewall. Once a router opens a port, it's open
and it doesn't care whether it's a virus or spyware passing through it
until something tells it to close like you abandon the connection or
whatever. Lately it seems like there are much greater chances of
picking up spyware than there are viruses; here at least.

Cheers,

Twayne`

"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 6 Sep 2009 15:58:51 +0600, "Arif Mehal"
wrote:

Which is better, a Firewall or an Anti-Virus program? .


That's like asking which is better, a steak dinner or a Cadillac car.
A firewall and an anti-virus program each do two different things and
should not be compared this way. You should have both.

I recommend using the Windows firewall and either NOD32 (if you are
willing to pay for it) or Avast (if you want freeware).


I agree with using Windows firewall, and I recommend Eset's NOD32(paid),
Kaspersky(paid), or Avast(free Home edition, or paid Pro.)


Also note that you have mentioned only two of the three kinds of
necessary security applications. The third type is anti-spyware, and
because none of these is near perfect, everybody should run at least
two of these (but not at the same time). I recommend MalwareBytes
Anti-Malware, and Super Anti-Spyware (both free).

I don't know for sure about Kaspersky, but both NOD32 and Avast are not only
antivirus, but antispyware. Here's the NOD32 list: "Viruses, Worms, Trojan
horses, Rootkits, Adware, Spyware, Potentially unsafe applications,
Potentially unwanted applications."

Still, better safe than sorry, I also recommend MalwareBytes and SAS. (What
we really need is better anti-UserStupidity brainware.

FWIW. --Richard

"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 6 Sep 2009 15:58:51 +0600, "Arif Mehal"
wrote:

Which is better, a Firewall or an Anti-Virus program? .


That's like asking which is better, a steak dinner or a Cadillac car.
A firewall and an anti-virus program each do two different things and
should not be compared this way. You should have both.

I recommend using the Windows firewall and either NOD32 (if you are
willing to pay for it) or Avast (if you want freeware).


I agree with using Windows firewall, and I recommend Eset's NOD32(paid),
Kaspersky(paid), or Avast(free Home edition, or paid Pro.)


Also note that you have mentioned only two of the three kinds of
necessary security applications. The third type is anti-spyware, and
because none of these is near perfect, everybody should run at least
two of these (but not at the same time). I recommend MalwareBytes
Anti-Malware, and Super Anti-Spyware (both free).

I don't know for sure about Kaspersky, but both NOD32 and Avast are not only
antivirus, but antispyware. Here's the NOD32 list: "Viruses, Worms, Trojan
horses, Rootkits, Adware, Spyware, Potentially unsafe applications,
Potentially unwanted applications."

Still, better safe than sorry, I also recommend MalwareBytes and SAS. (What
we really need is better anti-UserStupidity brainware.

FWIW. --Richard