Im a HAPPY CHAP now :)

Hi People,

Well, Im tickled pink, major thanks and grattitude to you guys here at majorgeeks

I just finished install 2 new programs, and I feel like kicking myself and asking myself, why was I ever a norton fanatic?

As some of you may know, today was the last day I ever use Norton Internet Security or Anti-virus!

I was ripping and playing MP3's today, and on 3 seperate occasions, within a 40 minute or so window between each other, my system managed to do a hard reset (By itself) and windows would come back online and say I just had a critical system crash, I let it do the online error reporting, the first 2 times I just skipped it and was wandering what it was, but couldnt work it out so I just continued using my PC, but the 3rd time I had it, and I read the result of the error report that said a device driver was the cause, then it mentioned about anti-virus, I myself know that norton products are very 'performance' munchers, so I un-installed both Norton Internet Security 2004 Pro and Norton Anti-Virus 2004, and all relating add/remove components, I then reset... left it for about 2 hours and continued ripping and playing MP3's, and it did not do a hard reset (As if I hit the reset switch while using the PC) *Touches wood*

I made a few enquires, and thanks also to adryn, (He showed me search results, which I should have done myself, little egg on my face there, but hey, we all get lazy and clumsy every now and then) I decided to go with Avast! anti-virus, I downloaded it and then I realised I had Avast Anti-Virus Pro on a CD somewhere a friend gave to me a month or so back, I checked and found it, gave him a call, and greatfully, he got me a key for the software (I wanted pro, over free home) and I am not looking back, avast! would have to be the most resource hungry-less virus protection software I have used, being a norton loyalist until it ticked me off today, I noticed the diffrence instantly, I am kicking myself a bit, not checking out other alternatives before hand, in my opinion, Avast! Pro also scans quicker (On normal protection mode), when I had norton, whatever I touched, my machine would to me, pause, while it did it's stuff, with avast, that doesnt happen anymore, no pause at all!

Well, thats my virus protection side of things done, so I did a search on 'firewalls' and after checking alot of similiar sort of rated topics, I decided to checkout Sygate Personal Firewall Pro (30 day trial), and so far I think it's absolutely the best firewall, I've mainly stuck with NIS, NPF or when I keep 2 personal machines, I installed NIS on one, zone alarm on the other), and again, I think sygate personal firewall pro has the upper edge, its ease of use (For a firewall mind you), it's user friendly explanation on what I should and shouldn't allow on my ports, or connection attempts, its extremely detailed reports, that are generated before anything happens, and the ease of access I have to quickly and effeciently change permissions on items I have priorly blocked/allowed.

I dunno, 2 awesome programs, within 1 day, and a day of ripping a slew of music off family and friends cd's, of music from the 70s, 80s and 90's, have just made my day!

Well, I am going to kick back, relaxe, settle down a bit and prepare myself a nice hot coffee and just veg out, my PC woes seem fixed now, so I can settle knowing that future suprises are at a much lower risk, than what they were just yesterday!

Cheers MG Members

 

ah congrats you have made some inner peice for right now. wish i had some of that. but i'm going fishing tomorrow with my cousins so hopefully i'll find peace on the lake.

eric

 

Just curious,

Whats the latest versions of Avast Anti-Virus Pro and Sygate Personal Firewall Pro (Including build numbers)?