Firewalls

General Topics
1

Hello,I’m not only new to computing,but new to Forums,so please do bear with me.

Ive been reccomended to use Avast Antivirus on my PC,but I’m confused around the Firewall.I’m getting conflicting advice on it.Some people are saying Windows built in one is OK,others are saying Avast has a built in one,others are saying you need to run another alongside Avast?

As you may guess,I am puzzled.

I do welcome clear,Laymans terms advice.

Thankyou.

2

Hi and welcome,

Avast 4 doesn’t have any Firewall (any version)
Avast 5 (beta) free version doesn’t have any Firewall
Avast 5 (beta) “pro” doesn’t have any either

but: Avast 5 (beta) Internet Security suite does have a Firewall. It’s being tested at the moment, so not officially released and if you’re new to computers, I’d advise that you stick to Windows Firewall for now, and wait at least until Avast 5 is officially out before you try their new firewall.
Otherwise, you could still give a try to PCTools firewall, it’s got good reviews and is rather user friendly, meaning that you don’t have to be an experienced user to run it (don’t get me wrong, it can be tweaked, but that’s not what you want to do right now).
http://www.pctools.com/firewall/

3

Thankyou for your reply. Is the test version going to be free when its ok?

Thanks again.

4

no, again, it will be part of a suite, ie a commercial product in that case.

5

thanks again…The thing thats puzzling me is there is so much stuff out there thats appears to be free and up to the job,but then theres Norton,Kaspersky,etc etc all names who Ive been told " I MUST USE" to be safe,its a decision making nightmare… ???

6

don’t rely on criteria like free or paid, it’s just marketing strategies. Some free products are better than their commercial competitors and vice versa… just be aware that if you wanna stick to free security software and have a very safe system it’s absolutely possible :wink:

edit: …hmm, forgot to tell, forget Norton ;D

7

No nightmare, it is just marketing and they want your money, so they are hardly going to tell you that some free application is up to the job ;D

The problem is that many believe all they see on TV, etc. like those glossy adverts for AOHell, which I wouldn’t touch with a large stick.

8

thanks a lot,I’m satisfied that there is hype behind a lot of stuff…If the shop had got their way I would now be a Norton 2010 user,I said I had to research the security side of things,so left with the PC and none of the add ons they wanted me to buy. :wink:

9

NIS 10 actually gets pretty good reviews, but it is not free like Avast! and doesn’t have nearly as cordial and helpful a forum as this, with direct access to the experts and developers. :slight_smile: