Hi,
At the moment I am still running Avast Internet security in trial mode with superantispyware pro and free antimalware but am intrigued by the number of forum members who appear to be running Avast Free anti Virus plus a free firewall.
Not wishing to waste money I would like to know what forum members recommend as being the best combination so I can decide at the end of my trial period whether to subscribe or go with the free av version.
Looking forward to some interesting posts… - thanks
I think it is a matter of personal preference. Some are more comfortable with letting a suite type program look after things, whereas others are complete control freaks 
(me included) and use different programs for different things…for example, this machine has only avast! Free and Winpatrol on it.
It’s purely personal choice, some people like the simplicity of an all in one suite while other’s like to layer there security, you might have been using a firewall for years and dont want to part with it so you would only get the free version of avast, like i already said it’s all personal choice.
WinPatrol is a good addition for avast! Internet Security:
WinPatrol Free vs PLUS
http://www.winpatrol.com/compare.html
avast pro with comodo firewall and malware bytes and it works great
Comodo firewall is not necessary with Malwarebytes and avast! Internet Security.
Thanks for all your posts, food for thought.
From what’s been written am I right in assuming that there is basically no difference in the level of protection with say my setup as is and mysetup with (Avast free+a good free firewall) instead of AIS
Yeah YoKenny that puzzled me especially having read in several posts of the need to uninstall comodo when having difficulies with AIS.
The only difference i think would be that you would lose the antispam by going to the free version and the full sandbox, will only be a partial auto sandbox in the free 6 version when released.
You would also lose the safezone in avast 6.0 as that isn’t in the free version.
Thanks for all your comments, think I will give Avast!Free + Comodo firewall a try.
That’s a step in the wrong direction as avast! V6 is due out real soon now.
Read what DavidR says:
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=71306.msg596380#msg596380
Thanks but you have just referenced back to this topic, did you mean to do that? If you meant to do, all DavidR seems to say is the lack of a safe zone in the forthcoming free version 6. Is that such a big thing?
When you add this to the other things that you would also be missing, yes it could.
The safe zone is ideal for things like on-line banking as you are effectively working in an isolated desktop where you are immune to keyloggers, etc. So any other such sensitive browsing, etc. would benefit from being run from the safe zone.
Avast + a hardware firewall is the best combination.
Now that does sound attractive.
When is version 6 due?
Sorry Eddy, I have never agreed with that, as any malware that gets past your defences has free reign to connect to the internet, outbound connections sail back through your hardware firewall unmolested because the request originated from the system. Mind you you don’t say what version of avast as the AIS has a firewall ;D
Considering 1 in 8 infections supposedly come from infected USB sticks (according to avast iNews a little while ago). They don’t have to pass through your hardware firewall and considering most hardware firewalls don’t have outbound protection, you need a 3rd party firewall to cover that avenue.
Whilst we all know you can keep your system clean and a hardware firewall is fine for you, the same can’t be said for the average user.
Well there is no fixed date though the end of this month has been bandied around, but that entirely depends on how the beta trial goes and I don’t know if the safe zone has yet to be incorporated into the beta trial yet.
Thanks for the information
You’re welcome.