David Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 I have just read the "A vast, hole in security thread" and am thoroughly confused.I am now the proud owner of a brand new Acer windows 7 laptop which has never been connected to the internet, and I would be grateful for any advice as to what I should do before such connection.I had planned to download AVG free to a memory stick on my old computer, and load that to the new one. But should I also activate any firewalls in windows 7 on the new one? My last machine supplied by Dell with windows XP had microsoft firewall installed - does windows 7 have this or should I download it to disc?What would you all recommend for a brand new machine? Anything else I should do?Many thanks,David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 No question, for virus and firewallwww.comodo.comfree, fast and just worksTurn off MS firewall, don't have 2 firewall running at the same time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 Yes, 7 comes with Windows Firewall. To reassure yourself that it is on type "Firewall" into the search box in the start menu and it should confirm that it is on (mine does) when you follow the link. I've downloaded AVG Free Version 9 but, as per that other thread - each to his/her own!Edit: I've also used Pierre's "Comodo" to good effect on another laptop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 The Windows 7 firewall is fine.Install Internet Explorer 8 and MSSE they complement each other.Also CCleaner to clean every couple of days or so.Comodo do a good free Registry Cleaner but unfortunately it now comes bundled with a whole lot of other Comodo Stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 For independent tests and up to date info, look here :http://www.icsalabs.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 [quote user="cooperlola"]For independent tests and up to date info, look here :http://www.icsalabs.com/[/quote]I may be being stupid but with reference to the ICSA Anti-Virus test contained in page at:http://www.icsalabs.com/sites/default/files/November_2009.htmthe nearest thing to a comparison between the effectiveness of each product is to declare them all "pass".I am sure you will be able to help me in navigating within the site to a page with a more complete comparison.Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 David, as a Windows 7 user myself yes it comes with a Firewall and that in conjunction to the one in your router is quite sufficient. I wouldn't load a third party firewall. I am currently running AVG v 9 which works OK. I am running the 64bit version of Windows 7 and its great but there is not so much AV software around for 64 bit versions at the moment although most 32 bit AV software should be OK.There is no reason why you can't go straight on the internet download and install AVG without a problem, no need to muck around with loading it on a memory stick etc.You will find version 7 is much more secure than previous versions, virtually every time you try and run a program you are asked if you really want to run it. This can be rather annoying at times but there are changes to the system you can make to stop that if you wish.Personally I don't run any of the other stuff people have mentioned and I have never had a problem with Windows XP or Windows 7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 but what I like about comodo is that it is so unobtrusive and doesn't slow anything down.Just as an experiment, I timed the boot-up of my notbook from cold to up and running, connected to t'interweb (Chrome) and ready to rock 'n roll.The time? just 30 seconds. Not bad I think for an Intel Atom 1.6GHz running Windows XPI hear that by using Google Chrome OS the boot-up time is around 7 seconds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 The time a computer takes to boot and how fast it runs depends on so many different things. It would be interesting to know how fast yours boots with the Windows firewall enabled. My Windows 7 PC takes about the same time as yours but thats mainly down to the fact its running the Novell client and all the network services have to loaded and running before you can log in and complete the boot. The thing that has a major effect on my PC's is the wireless HP printing and scanning software. It does not stop it from being used but if you are going to say that the boot finish's when every bit of software is running then it takes a long time, about another 20 seconds or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 A bit of informed paranoia is no bad thing but don't go over the top.I use Avira AV Free and Windows own firewall, which is probably unnecessary as most routers have a capable firewall built in but it causes no problems so why not. And that's it, apart from using Firefox that is, I go nowhere near IE.Without going into specifics suffice it to say that my surfing habits are most definitely not constrained to the BBC, the Telegraph, and Ryanair [Www][:$][blink]and whilst I won't say that my AV hasn't intercepted the odd nasty once in a while in all my years, and that's from DOS onwards, I have yet to suffer an actual infection from anything of any significance.Remember, effective security begins with the pre-installed free utility resting between your ears [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tel Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Why have all the posts from the 4th Feb onwards disappeared from this thread? Very odd. [8-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Go look in the Tech support section of the forum to discover the reason why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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