Firstly. A/V. Not Norton or McAfee. Use something like Nod32. It's fast, efficient, very very effective and does not hit performance as much as the rest.

Firewall. On....

Internet explorer or similar. Reduce temp file space to 50MB max, and medium security settings at minimum.

If on 32bit platform. Peerguardian.

That will basically stop you from intrusions....

If you are online a lot with the machine, keep this stuff on. If you are online very rarely, you can choose to enable/disable at will.


Running quadcore, I have everything on always, and Vegas is not even slightly bothered as it never uses more than 2 cores with my renders that I use anyway...

AVG Free has kept me clear of viruses for years now. No performance hit like Norton or McAfee and the price is right ;-)

I use Zone Alarm as my firewall and AVG as my anti virus (both free!)

Wayne

if you're just doing it to get on the forums/get updates, i wouldn't even worry about av/firewall. you'll be on 100% trusted sites for a minimal amount of time.

Connecting a PC (or any computer) directly to the internet is kind of inviting trouble. A simple router with a basic firewall does provide a lot of security, it's not 100% bulletproof unless you spend a lot of money but it's enough to stop most attacks.

We've been using Kapersky for virus protection, I think someone here recommended it and so far only one nasty which was on the PC when I installed Kapersky. It was a blighter to get rid of but an email to Kapersky got me the solution very quickly.

Bob.

I simply can't afford to have separate editing and Internet browsing machines. I use a wireless N router which has a built in firewall and AVG Free. Every so often AVG will flag a file and give me the option to quaranteen it (which I do). I run a full AVG system scan every so often. So far no problems.

I have tried numerous tests seeing if AVG slows the system down. I can't see any slowdown whatsoever. Not bad for a free program!

I had used Zone Alarm for quite a few years, but it just became too bloated and buggy for its own good. I switched to AVG Free for anti-virus and the highly-rated free Comodo firewall and things are much zippier now. Comodo also has a free anti-virus program, but I haven't tried it. I do like their firewall though.

http://www.comodo.com

John

> any suggestions on internet security, and how much is it going to slow my renders. <

I guess I'll be the one dissenting voice. :->)

I have used one computer for everything for years and I have never once had a problem. I don't use any anti-virus software either so I have nothing slowing down my computer. However I do have a wired router / firewall, and I also use the original Zone Alarm Pro without the new anti-virus stuff. Having a hardware firewall is key, as is knowing what you're doing. I use Firefox as my main browser, and I have NO add-ins installed. When I want go to YouTube etc I use IE. And even IE is set to "safe" so I'll be warned if a site tries to run ActiveX or other active controls.

As a failsafe I also have Ghost image backups of my last few known-good C: drive states. Only Windows and programs are on C: so if I need to restore after a disaster I won't overwrite any data.

I'm sure five people will now say this is crazy, but I was stung by a virus only once. This was a few years ago when one of those self-replicating viruses was making the rounds, and it slowed ALL internet activity to a crawl for a day. Not knowing this I called my ISP to report the slowness. The support rep insisted I disconnect my hardware firewall and turn off Zone Alarm before she could help me. Like an idiot I complied, and not 30 seconds later I was stung. I was able to get back in less than 20 minutes using my Ghost backup, and needless to say I have never since let them talk me into disabling my protection again.

--Ethan

you never said you wanted it to be a normal computer too.

The "never use an editing machine for general use" is for business or those with extra cash & space.

throw on some AV, a firewall and you'll be fine. Odds are nothing will even happen unless you allow it to. IMHO, Windows is a bigger issue to you then any virus/hacker will even be. ever. period.

With AVG free, I can see when I run into a virus. It really isn't that often. Maybe once or twice a year. Then again I don't really go anywhere I shouldn't and the only stuff I pirate is where I own the software and want to avoid a dongle or Pace copy protection. I would definately be afraid to go without the virus protection and as I said, AVG doesn't seem to slow my system down at all.

I just took the Norton suite off of my sister's computer while we were visiting at Thanksgiving. I replaced it with AVG Free even though she had most of her year's subscription ahead of her. It was an older slower computer and the difference without Norton was just incredible. It seemed four or five times as fast. I don't know what they do to slow a computer down so much but whatever it is it really is pretty bad.

what is the consensus of the value of a software firewall when you have a hardware router which also is a firewall (most of them), Should I use a software firewall as well or is the router sufficient?

Get Avast...its free and it updates itself. I my machine all the time to edit and whena suspected virus tries to get in, Avast kicks in like a charm.

Ideally, a NAT firewall (network address translation), which is what most little home routers are, completely insulates your computer from the outside world. Nothing can get to your computer unless your computer initially asks for it. Say you browse to a website ... the router keeps track of the packet IDs of your request and the internal IP address of your computer. When the response comes back from the website the router investigates, finds out it was your computer's IP address that made the original request, and sends the response back to your computer.

If, on the other hand, some piece of malware out on the 'net tries to attack your internet connection, the only thing it can see is the firewall. It has no way to get in to your computer through that firewall. So that provides an incredibly powerful level of protection ... in the ideal world.

Sadly, it's not quite that simple. You most likely have many programs on your computer constantly requesting communication with the outside world. Windows is one of them. If you have any plugins or toolbars in your browser those also communicate in ways you may not be aware of. Instant messaging programs also sit there asking for things to come in all the time. Various bad programs out there take advantage of this and pretend to be things that the software on your computer might be asking to talk to, and can slip in that way because the software on your computer has told the firewall that it's looking for that sort of thing.

So, it's still useful to have a software firewall running on your PC as well. Not only is it another layer of insulation, but it also tends to be more configurable. Usually you can tell a software firewall specifically what is allowed and what isn't. The router firewall usually gives you very few options, if any.

what is the consensus of the value of a software firewall when you have a hardware router which also is a firewall (most of them), Should I use a software firewall as well or is the router sufficient?

My firewall software (sunbelt) is setup to not allow IE though unless I say so. It doesn't let any program access the 'net unless I say so. It warns me of a program that has been replaced from the last time it was run. Tells me what software currently using the 'net on my machine.

so it does a lot more then just a router.