Which is the best?

Borg 386 said:

You want one that is strictly independent not one simply promoting some software.

Yeah, that would be nice to see Night Hawk, good luck with that though.

Yeah right! Who do you think funds the sites?! You know who!

For providing email addresses on the other hand that's generally to send out the code when trying out a trial where they need a valid email address they can reach you at.

codyw said:

I am more of a Norton and Kaspersky fan. McAfee isn't in that list since it let me down several times.

And once again McAfee makes the top of the bottom list!

freaky88 said:

even tho nis is high on resources it hAS WAY more advanced settings and a firewall, alot more is included

The one thing I found with the VIPRE Premium is that it is almost unnoticable until it prompts to scan a flash drive or external drive when plugged in or blocks a phising site on the spot or any other site when the builtin firewall detects anything suspect.

Having had the full version on for months now it does seem to live upto it's rep for being light on resources and so far effective. Just as seen with most other firewall programs you have to select your own exceptions when the firewall blocks something you want to run or get to some site being blocked(usually for good reason however).

Upon checking the mail as well as all of us being aware of the idea of having multiple layers of protection part of the email from the software company used here went as follows:

Why Layered Defense Is Important

Editor's Note: One of our readers wrote to me about using Malwarebytes in addition to running VIPRE. If you recall, I suggested this as a means of having additional defense without additional expense. The procedure Peter relates is exactly how this should work. The free version of Malwarebytes is run manually and thus does not conflict with VIPRE. No one is going to catch everything, with 70,000 malicious applications released daily, it is impossible. This is why security best practices must always be used, including: up to date definitions, not opening attachments if you don't expect them, and staying clear of malicious sites and rogue security software. It is dangerous out there, I am truly sorry that this is the case but we must stay vigilant in this war against the bad guys.
http://vipre.malwarebytes.org/

For the last 8 months I have been basking in the belief that VIPRE Premium is the best antivirus/firewall and doing a grand job. However in the last few weeks my confidence has taken a knocking. VIPRE was not able to clear out or even quarantine a Trojan (LooksLike.Win32.PatchedDriver!A (v): Virus.W32) that it was unable to pick up. I then used Malwarebytes to deep scan my computer and it picked up 24 traces on the first pass and another 74 on the second pass! VIPRE itself was affected as the auto update of new definitions wouldn't work. Moral of the story - even the best is not good enough when it comes to stopping/ picking up/cleaning out infections, you need at least 2 of the best installed. I use VIPRE as the main live antivirus/firewall and Malwarebytes as the backup to prevent conflicts.

This is what I do now. 1. Deep scan daily with VIPRE as many times as required until you get 2 clean sheets. 3. Follow up with deep scanning with Malwarebytes until you get 2 clean sheets. This may be time consuming, but it beats dealing with the frustrations of an infected system and having to re-install the OS and all the other applications. - PC

Editor's Note: Several single malware infections leave many hundreds of traces. Especially Trojans can leave that many, or even up to two thousand traces where they make changes in your computer.

That was from just one company heard from there in their monthy newsletter noting a reader comment showing no matter how good any program seems nothing is ever 100% foolproof!

The best option by far is to not use the internet. It will keep 99% of infections from reaching your computer and remove the need for a firewall entirely.