Hi,
I've just recovered from a major crash with an infection of the Gaobot worm. Up until the latest problem I was using Norton AV(definitions updated the day before crash) with Zone Alarm Pro as the firewall. In my search to get this horrible worm out of my computer I came across Panda Platinum Internet Security which seems ok. My question is is this software ok and should I use it in place of Norton and Zone Alarm or go back to the old set up? Or is there a better alternative?

Thanks in advance
Ozsan.

Panda is good.

I think Trendmicro Pc-Cillin does rate a little better though.

Thank you. I'm running a trial version of Panda right now but I'll switch to Pc - Cillin soon.

I'm a great believer in using more than one security tool to cover the same area. What one doesn't catch another may. For example, both Panda and Trendmicro have free online scans, which also can remove the malware they detect:

http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/.../start_corp.asp

http://fr.trendmicro-europe.com/consumer/p...call_launch.php

The last is Trendmicro's new version of its scanner which uses Java, and thus can be used with many browsers and operating systems. I think it may also cover additional types of threats.

Of course, these are on=demand scanners, and aren't resident and running and protecting you all the time, which Norton and for=pay products of Panda and Trendmicro do. I suspect, tho I am not entirely sure, that they detect the same malware as the for=pay versions (i.e., use the same detection engine).

To get the security tool redundancy that I like, you might run a resident program and also carry out periodic scans. For example, Norton might be the resident, and Panda and Trendmicro might be the scans.


However, while all this would provide pretty good redundant protection against viruses, it would provide much less protection against Trojans and adware/spyware. I think that these days protecting only against viruses is a mistake. For Trojans there is a=squared and Ewido. For adware/spyware there is AdAware and SpyBot Search and Destroy. Spybot is free; the others are free as scanners, for=pay when resident.

Just to clarify what you are saying:

Doing multiple on-line scans is a good idea. One may catch something the others may not have.

You cannot run two resident AV programs at the same time. That will cause conflicts that may or may not be apparent and could result in the pc becoming infected.

as I said in my first post I have been using notron but for some reason I don't think it catches as much as I would like, I've had several virus infections with both Norton and Zone Alarm Pro running. I know they can't pick up everything and I would be silly to hope that thay would. But I have been extremely carful what I do, where I go and which emails I open, turn my cable off when i'm not on line but still get infected so I was thinking that it was time for a change in protection.
After reading the info on PC-Cillin I think I'll be going with that one for now. Is it safe to use the firewall they have in the internet suite? Or should I get a different one?

Thanks again
Ozsan

PC-Cillin has a very good firewall.

Re getting infected - have you been updating windows? If not, that could be a big part of the problem. You can get certain viruses just by being connected high-speed. I would suggest visiting Windows update and getting the critical updates.

You may also want to consider a router with built-in (hardware) firewall. Plug the modem into the router and the router into the pc. Setup is very simple and takes only a few minutes. Linksys has very good documentation. A lot of the bad stuff will be stopped at the router firewall. Any scan that does get through should be blocked by the software firewall.

(edit) you can get a good wired router with firewall for under $50.

yes I was up to date with all the windows update. The only thing out of the ordinary was my son downloaded a power point viewer from the Microsoft website and the next day we had the virus. I'll think about a router, I'm getting a new computer tomorrow, I'll ask about them when I go pick it up.
Thank you for all of your help. This site is just the best.
Ozsan.

Where does Panda's online scan download files to?