Windows & DOS: Issues & Discussions

Hi there,

I am posting this from my desktop (XP Home Edition) which has Norton I.S 2009 which will soon expire. I also have a laptop I was given which runs on vista home premium (recent clean install) which I have not yet used.
I have a LinkSys wireless-N ADSL2+ Gateway router and I was wondering if some of the free firewalls, anti-virus and anti-spyware software would be a suitable replacement for Norton and which ones to choose.

Sorry for the naive question as I am not a computer techie

If you get freeware from reliable sources it is okay.

Good source for an anti-virus application as an example:
Anti virus for Linux, Windows and more with firewall, antispam, recovery security - Avira AntiVir

These kinds of apps bug you periodically to buy the real licensed product.

In general, if you download from the application builder directly it is probably okay.
SourceForge.net: Find and Develop Open Source Software
Is a good place to browse for what you need. Some projects are NOT complete. So read carefully so you do not waste time and effort.

Click on the security link on the first page to browse for what you seem to want.

I recommend Avast, the free version.

I'd recommend AVG Free Antivirus. It'll bug you once a year to buy it, and every year they pretend harder that the free version doesn't exist, but it continues to do so.

---------- Post updated at 09:14 AM ---------- Previous update was at 09:09 AM ----------

The general question though, "is freeware safe" -- these days, no! When in doubt, don't install it. The internet is rife with payloaded or even fake software these days.