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General discussion

What is the least memory resident firewall/virus/popup stopper?

Dec 4, 2003 7:56AM PST

I'm really tired of norton's firewall/virus/popup combo taking up so much memory in my ram. Is there an alternate firewall/virus/popup combo or all three separately that take up the LEAST amount of ram possible AND cpu usage. Thank you.

Discussion is locked

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Provoko, Just My Opinion...
Dec 4, 2003 8:12AM PST

I'd choose three separate items and only your computer's configuration and perception of their use will decide which one you like. Here's my suggestion:

1. Use a free "Hosts" file for the Pop-ups. Almost no resources used at all, because there's no program actually running. It's not perfect, but I find that it works well for me at most sites that I visit:

Gorilla Design Studio Presents: The Hosts File
http://accs-net.com/hosts/

2. Use AVG free from Grisoft for your antivirus. It does a pretty fair job at finding viruses, but doesn't put much of a load on the memory. Although I use McAfee, and like it, most of the major antivirus programs are getting very hoggy about their memory/resource usage.

3. The firewall thing is probably the biggest memory/resource hog of all and becomes your personal decision on whether you really need on or not. (None of these will be without some load on the system.) If you're on a dial-up connection, then maybe you can run without a firewall. If your behind a router with NAT, you can probably run without one also. But if you really need one, then I'd recommend either Kerio or ZoneAlarm free firewalls as the easiest to configure and least resource intensive.

Maybe others have different opinions.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Thanks for the help, question though
Dec 4, 2003 8:34AM PST

Should I use the new zonealarm, isn't that the one with all the bugs and spyware? Which version of zonealarm are you talking about?

How difficult is it to use this hosts thing. Would I have to enter every single site I go to?

Thanks again for the help.

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Re:Thanks for the help, question though
Dec 4, 2003 10:19AM PST

ZA has had some issues but none of them were spyware (there were accusations that were proved false). The latest issue is that they force automatic update for the free version (that is to be revoked soon, if not already). If it doesn't work for you (and your PC is a unique combination of hardware and software), try Kerio. I have ZA free on WinXP and Kerio on WinXP.

The hosts file is a simple download. The location for the file depends on your version of Windows. WinXP has a bit of an issue with a large hosts file (and they're all large) - first use takes a while to load it into memory. It's fine after that for that browser session. You normally don't enter sites into the file that you want to visit, you have a file of sites that you DON'T want to visit. Depending on your browser, you may want to use eDexter to speed up your browser session (I use it). You can add IP addresses to the hosts file but I don't normally recommend it. By including an IP/URL in the hosts file, you have taken away the lookup to DNS servers. That can be a benefit in certain situations but if their IP address changes, you're still pointing to the old one.

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Re:Provoko, Just My Opinion...
Dec 4, 2003 8:51AM PST

i use the google toolbar stops all popups for me

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Google Toolbar? Sounds suspicious.
Dec 4, 2003 9:10AM PST

Does google install any hidden spyware on your computer? If it doesn't than that's great, thanks. =)

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Re:Google Toolbar? Sounds suspicious.
Dec 4, 2003 10:24AM PST

I also installed the latest Googlebar and NO spyware in it. It works really good with the pop-ups - they are now all gone. I had problems with the hosts file and removed it again way back - so I'm really glad the Googlebar does its job.

As to Zonealarm free - which OS do you have?? I have on my winme still the old\old version 2.6.362 is better in resources than the newer ones. On my win98 I have the latest version - it has this annoying update pop-up.

As free anti virus - get AVG 6 free !

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cool. can anyone else confirm the reliability of zone alarm?
Dec 4, 2003 12:34PM PST

I got windows xp.

So, things are sounding good. I'll get the google bar and avg antivirus. Now all I need to know is which zone alarm is the best one on resources and reliability, then I can finally ditch norton.

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Your milage may vary...
Dec 4, 2003 1:25PM PST

There is no "best". What works on my PC (and meets my requirements) may not work for you. I have used ZA free (2.6.362) on WinME and Kerio (2.1.5) on WinXP with good results. Other people have had problems with these or other releases. There is nothing that will guarantee that you (or your PC) will be happy with either firewall.

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I did it! Thanks guys!
Dec 5, 2003 1:37AM PST

I use zonealarm 4.5 free, avg free, and google free.

I got my system down to 118 mb from 135 mb. Not only that but now my computer thinks less and everything is working faster. =)

Thank you everyone.

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(NT) Thanks for the Heads Up ! Happy Computing :)
Dec 5, 2003 1:39AM PST

.