An Excellant Free Antivirus Program

[tekman22003]

I would like to weigh in on this topic. I use AVG on a regular basis. I also have a linkysis router, is the firewall protection built in by just having the router? In other words if I have a router do I have a built in firewall?

[Troy]

I would like to weigh in on this topic. I use AVG on a regular basis. I also have a linkysis router, is the firewall protection built in by just having the router? In other words if I have a router do I have a built in firewall?

An antivirus program is much different than a firewall, and addresses separate issues. Firewalls prevent (or attempt to) unauthorized access to a network. Antivirus programs attempt to prevent (usually) malicious applications from being installed on a computer. By a strict definition, a router is not a firewall. It does, however, provide some of the same security benefits.

Traditionally, a router uses something called NAT (Network Address Translation) to give the computers on the "protected" LAN side of the network a different, unaddressable set of IP addresses. On the WAN side of the router are the unprotected, ISP assigned, routable set of IP addresses (in most homes, only one).

Some routers do have rudimentary firewalls built in, so you may be provided with some extra protection.

Nonetheless, a router such as a dlink or linksys does provide you with an excellent layer of protection between the internet and the "fake" network on the LAN side. It is, in my opinion, much preferrable over any computer based firewall. With software based firewalls that are installed on your computer connected directly to the internet, the potential hacker is accessing your computer directly to try to hack it. With a hardware router between you and the internet, the potential hacker has to breach the router first, then after a complicated series of steps, your computer. This is quite unlikely, when properly configured.

So in my opinion, never connect your computer directly to the internet, always use a router, at a minimum.

This is a bit of a tangent from the original post, so if we are going to discuss routers, please start a new topic.

Let me know if you have any questions...

[hankhill]

AntVir

i downloaded Avira AntVir and it bogged my system down 50%. i have uninstalled program from add/remove program but there is still (avgnt) in the msconfig start up screen. i use windows xp and the program worked well but i'll stick with mcafee and ad-aware for now. i tried the search option and eliminated everything with AntVir . i am not that tech savvy so maybe i'm missing something simple. any help appreciated..........

[ockster14]

they is no software 100% effective

well yes that is alot of trojan but i just had my computer scan and i had 1050 virus and its not that you download everything youhave to remember you can just download music or videos and get some and pictures so it depend on what you are really doing if you are opening things your friend send you, now i never heard of anyone that has never gotten a virus on there computer, NEVER, so if anyone say they never please tell me the secret cause firewall, norton and mcafee is not always the answer, especially norton, so i need help as well, yes i put alot of music on my computer, so yes that might be my problem but to be honest i always feel that all these company work together, if you are a computer wiz a hacker then you know nothing is 100% good, you just have to fine what helps you with your computer cause people do different things all the time that is why, they warn you to watch out for what you open and what you down load