[njlarsen]

Hi all,
what is currently the best (preferably free) solution for decent security on a Win7 laptop? We currently have a 3 month trial period of McAfee on the machine, but that will expire soon ...

Niels

[KCFoggin]

If you can deal with the nightly pop up window, Avira is a good one Niels.

[GrahameNZ]

Hi Niels,
Avast free for a AV
http://www.avast.com/en-au/index
Comodo firewall also free
http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/

[Mono]

Microsoft Security Essentials is free, is well reviewed and lacks the excess complication of some products.

[Andrew Rowlands]

Avast!, Avira or MSE as previously stated for antivirus. For a 3rd party firewall, Private Firewall or Comodo.

With Avast! and Comodo combo, only allow one of them to use their sandboxing feature.

My preference is for Avast! and Private Firewall - but if the laptop is mostly behind a NAT router at home, the inbuilt Windows firewall is a good option (as would be MSE with it).

It's just as important to ensure all your other software and plugins, etc. are kept updated, it only takes 1 chink in the armour to set a nasty ball rolling.

[njlarsen]

Thank you all. I am using the combination of Avast and Comodo on my XP desktop machine but wanted to know if there is any others that are preferred on the Win7.

thanks!
Niels

[Mono]

The Windows 7 firewall is much better than XP, as said above if you have a router a home with its firewall on then the Windows 7 one is fine.

[njlarsen]

Thank you, yes I have a router with firewall.

Niels

[njlarsen]

So for now, I have downloaded Avast Free on that PC, and is using the windows Firewall.

Thanks for all the answers!

Niels

[TheThing]

Don't forget Ad Adware and Spybot either. Again, both are free.

[Andrew Rowlands]

Originally Posted by TheThing

Don't forget Ad Adware and Spybot either. Again, both are free.

I'm not convinced the current owners of AdAware are truly 'good guys', some of their earlier 'products' were on the block lists of the original AdAware owners. Malwarebytes is still the best freeware malware cleaner in that area, the quick scan is usually enough. SuperAntiSpyware is ok but does tend to overrate the impact of tracking cookies and needs a full scan.

Spybot, especially the passive Immunize feature, is still useful but the active part can cause problems and slow a machine down. Winpatrol would cover that door well.

SpywareBlaster is another good passive blocking tool.

[mooreorless]

Another vote for Malwarebytes.

[TheThing]

Originally Posted by Andrew Rowlands

I'm not convinced the current owners of AdAware are truly 'good guys', some of their earlier 'products' were on the block lists of the original AdAware owners. Malwarebytes is still the best freeware malware cleaner in that area, the quick scan is usually enough. SuperAntiSpyware is ok but does tend to overrate the impact of tracking cookies and needs a full scan.

Spybot, especially the passive Immunize feature, is still useful but the active part can cause problems and slow a machine down. Winpatrol would cover that door well.

SpywareBlaster is another good passive blocking tool.

Slight problem with this is that, with the exception of SpywareBlaster, you have to pay for them. I'm always wary of a company that says 'scan with our product and if you find a threat, you need to buy our product.' Nothing to say that the 'threat' wasn't in the free download?

[TheThing]

Belay that post! Should look harder!

[Andrew Rowlands]

I very rarely suggest anyone use pay software except under very specific circumstances, ~ 99.5% of my suggestions are free to use and do what they say on the tin

[TheThing]

My apologies Andrew.

In fact I have downloaded your suggestions in place of Spybot and Ad Aware and my machine runs loads faster.

Follow his advice, not mine!

[cuckooroller]

Niels,
Just one note, and that is to go through the HD after disinstalling the McAfee. Vestigial files belonging to that program have given me problems with interference with subsequent AV applications. Avast is pretty good among the freebies. If you want a light-memory but very hermetic pay application, I recommend the ESET NOD32 AV programs.