I'm no longer a fan of the two most popular antivirus programs out there, McAfee and Norton. From the point of view of a technician, I've seen both of them get messed up too often, requiring clients to pay me to fix them. They can get "stuck" - not letting you install or uninstall them, and in my opinion, try to do too many things and end up doing none well. Not to mention they're steadily increasing prices.

     I am a reseller for a product called AVG antivirus, from a small company named Grisoft. They have passed every virus scanning test, just like the big guys, but are faster, smaller, and take less resources then them. You can download a trial version of their software from their website, grisoft.com, and even a completely functional free version - naturally this version does not get support, and updates are not downloaded as quickly as the paid version. Find the free version here.

     If you purchase the software thru me, I supply you with a CD with everything you need, and register it for you. I sell it like that for $40.00. The price for the download only version is $38.95

     If you require multiple licenses for your home or office, give me a call or email me and we can go over what you need - I can sometimes sell it for less than the retail price in those circumstances.

Free online Virus Scan - from Trend Micro
Panda Antivirus - not free, but $29.95 for personal version.
Avast Antivirus - a free version and paid version - like AVG
F-Prot Antivirus - $29.00 home version available, and a free trial.
Note that I can't make any representations or claims as to the effectiveness or suitability of these products, as I don't use them myself. I use AVG (naturally).

Mac OS X Users:
While at the time of this writing there are NO viruses for OS X (yay!) that doesn't mean there won't be, or that a macro virus in word could be passed on thru you. If this concerns you, don't go out and buy Norton or one of the other commercial programs, try out ClamXav - donation supported, and powered by the same antivirus program protecting my web/email server.

Firewalls

My personal take on Firewalls is this:

     If you have a router between your computer(s) and the internet, you don't really need one - the router essentially acts as a firewall, disallowing any traffic coming from the outside. If you have Windows XP, you can use the built-in firewall.

Note, however, that this is based on:

1) You have a current UPDATED virus scan program running on all your computers.
2) You keep up on your windows updates.

     If your computer is directly connected to the internet, and it's not Windows XP, or you're just extra paranoid (and that can't hurt), there are a few firewall products I'd recommend:

ZoneLabs ZoneAlarm - "ZoneAlarm" is free for personal and non-profit use, the "Pro" version is $49.95 for 1 year. The free version is fine for most folks.

Kerio Personal Firewall - A basic firewall is available for free from them, for personal use. The commercial version is $45.00, $23.00 for the subscription. It's worth noting that Kerio and Grisoft are partners, so they offer bundled versions including both AVG antivirus and Kerio Professional firewall - I can sell this bundle to you as well. Just give me a call!