Firewall query.

[rob2]

Can somebody please tell me why I should buy Firewall and anti virus protection, from say Norton, or my ISP BT.

BT are offering me the protection for �3.50 a month. Is this protection not already on new PC's, as Windows Firewall?

[andy-hughes]

Manufacturers will always advise you of the doom and gloom that is the wide world of the web - specifically viruses.

Yes, if you use the net, you are open to attack, but it's rarely as bad as they would have you believe. having no protection is dangerous - I caught a virus so virulent i had to have my hard drive wiped, but the company who did the job installed AVG, which is free, and I have had no problems for two years, and I surf a lot every day.

Make sure your protection is tailored to your usage, and try the free offers first, you'll more than likely be OK.

Companies who want to sell you anything will always infer that you will be worse off without it - they are bound to say that - but it doesn;t mean they are always right.

[Gnu]

There are a number of free firewalls, virus protection etc. available - you could try

avast anti virus from avast.com

zonealarm firewall from zonelabs.com

ad-aware anti-spyware from lavasoft.com

[spaced]

the best FREE anti virus is AVG www.grisoft.com. Just check out comments made on this site on how good it is. Definately the best free anti virus available. I vouch for Ad-Aware for spyware protection, its very good. When it comes tofirwalls, i just use Windows XP's own fire wall.

[fo3nix]

anti-virus: AVG Free
spyware: ad-aware personal
firewall: kerio personal firewall
browser: firefox, with plugins
email client: thunderbird

all free versions available.