Re: Why a firewall for a PC?

From: Kevin Goodsell (usenet1.spamfree.fusion_at_neverbox.com)
Date: 11/20/03 

Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 00:51:59 GMT

Leythos wrote:

>
> I've used Norton AV since the start and found that it has ALWAYS picked
> up things that others don't. I can say that with more than 1000 installs
> around the country and over seas that not one computer using it has been
> infected (more like 3000+ systems, but who's counting).
>

2 points:

1. Picking up something that others don't is only a good thing if it's
actually a threat - in other words, not a false positive, and not
something that you would consider OK. I don't know of any examples off
the top of my head, but there must be some gray area where some people
would consider a program malware and others would consider it basically
harmless.

2. I trust Norton, for the most part. I've also heard some expert say
that it's the only one he trusts (I don't remember who he was, or what
credentials he had, so take it with a grain of salt). I believe Norton
was rated #2 in some tests I read about a while ago (with Panda being
#1, IIRC).

I *don't* trust McAfee. With McAfee I had false positives (I think,
anyway), possibly some false negatives (highly suspicious emails that
weren't flagged), and all kinds of trouble trying to create a rescue
disk. Norton, on the other hand, has always (apparently) worked well. No
serious complaints, and no suspicious incidents.

Of course, saying "I've never been infected" is a bit presumptuous,
since not many viruses/worms/trojans are considerate enough to announce
their presence.

-Kevin 

-- 
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