I swear by Kerio Firewall,
Its simple even for someone not techy minded like me!

I have tried a few anti virus programs ,
and the best (for me) is kapersky.

Its the only one ive tried that doesn't put a lot of "also run"programs running in the background.

I have run into a bit of the 'ole virus problems myself over the years. I used to have NAV, and didn't have too much of a problem, until the updates ran out. Then I switched to a cable modem, and hooked up with freebie Zone Alarm as a firewall. Eventually I bought the ZA security suite, it's the firewall, AV, IM security, email protection, etc...

I did have one minor problem about a year ago, but I got Pest Patrol to go with ZA and it has filled in the gaps. Overall, I have spent about $120 or so, but I feel protected now, and have no major issues, so I can't complain, being not much of a techie.

I so know what you mean

I just got fed up with NAV screwing up Word, freezing my system every time it does an auto update, and paying the big bucks.
I was gonna go with the PC Cillin Suite, then I got to reading about how sometimes it's better to go separately, the ideaa being a company does one thing very good, not quite so good the other things. Personal preference, and I may change my mind.

So, I'll be using ZA Pro (cuz I like the idea of having a CD to install) and Avast!, or BitDefender.

I run WinPatrol and update weekly.
I also scan AdAware, SpyBot and SpywareBlaster once a week, after updating if necessary.

Another thing, many of the the firewalls and AV systems out there often have user forums, which are life savers.
Norton support ls like MS support: just too big and impersonal. Although, they did help me when their product failed.

Well, it's been a few days. I am happy to report all went well installing ZoneAlarm and Avast!. I also found some neat utilities, esp Spware Guard, which runs in the bacdground.

Thanks to all for your input

[edit on 18-7-2005 by makeitso]