Free Anti-Virus and Firewall software

I thought I would add my views to this onto the internet, and add some personal recommendations.

Why do I use the free software? Well paying for something isn’t always the best thing, and £40 a year for some AV definition subscriptions, I think not. I got annoyed at renewal requests popping up, asking for money, and then the software stops working. So I looked for free alternatives, AVG sprung to mind, however I’ve always felt it lacked something, then I found Avast, liked what I saw, liked what reviews I read, and so I’ve stuck to it. As for personal firewalls, yeah that built in windows one might do for you, and although it’s poor, it does an ok job (if you have no firewall and you have xp or vista turn the firewall on, it will help you out). I prefered something which does a very good job, tells me when I’m being hacked. A brief search turned up Zone Alarm free edition, which had excellent ratings, however it is just a basic firewall, and to get the good features you need to pay for the security suite. Well I stuck with Zone Alarm for a little while, even trying out the Internet Security Suite version. However, I soon noticed that the Security Suite was eating at my resources, and causing me no end of grief, and so I stared looking for another free firewall. I also didn’t want anything cumbersome, so I tried sticking with the Windows Vista Firewall (very good, some customisability, difficult to use and sometimes doesn’t work properly) and realised that I would need something a little more informative and easier to use. A search on some forums turned up Comodo Firewall Pro, which wasn’t out for Vista, there was a BETA version though so I decided to download and use it. Glad to say it was stable and easy to use, and now the final version is out, I would say it is a good free firewall, helpful and allows you to run with “defense+” or not (depends on how you feel about using your pc and understanding the stuff it pops up with).

Jon recommends:
Anti-virus:- Avast Home edition
Can’t fault it so far, haven’t had any virus’ to defend against, but very easy to use, rated very high in rankings.
Personal Firewall:- Comodo Firewall Pro

One of the best free firewall programs out there, features standard firewall features with malware protection (such and such wants access, allow or deny), very easy to use.

Chris recommends:
Anti-virus:- (Coming soon) [Currently Using NOD32 - It's not free but it's certainly one of the best anti-virus programs around]

Personal Firewall:- Zone Alarm Free Firewall [Site here]

If you want a safe, simple to use and effective firewall, then you need go no further than Zone Alarm. I’ve used it for close to seven years now, and I’ve never ran into any trouble using it.