You shouldn't need two firewalls running at the same time, so you should run with just online armor. I too would recommend against using Zonealarm, and would recommend either MSE or Avast! as others have said. I've never heard of Kerio before, but as I said before, running more than one antivirus program will cause SERIOUS problems with your computer(may have been what you were experiencing with comodo).

If you want to be even more secure though I recommend sandboxing, though you really need to know a bit about computers and viruses for it to really work.

I have been running it for about a year now with zero problems(other than a few false positives, but they were quite obvious). Its not the fastest out there, but its not bad by a long shot.

Thanks for the info, might check it out the next time I go to install Port Royale 2.

Well, I have it installed on two lappies, and my dad's three PCs at work. They haven't had a virus / worm / trojan issue since I installed it (they were having worm problems before I installed MSE).

EDIT: I know people have different opinions and preferences... But judging from experience in dealing with / administrating a dozen computers, the only two antiviruses I can recommend are MSE and NOD32 (no firewalls other than the build-in Windows Firewall too).

I run MSE and Win Firewall....other than that I rely on my hardware firewall.

But I also use IOBit Security 360, with real-time protection turned off because that screws up everything, to hunt for simple ad ware and clean out junk files.

have you tried the comodo firewall? I find it to be my favorite, but I've only really tried a few.

Nope. But I really have never had the need to install or actually modify firewalls (except for making exceptions in Windows Firewall and adding and removing apps and ports).

I did of course not install more than one firewall at the same time. I was just listing the possible options. I have now desinstalled zonealarm and installed online armor 4.5 instead.

Coming back to comodo, no, there shouldn't have been any conflict with another security software : I had removed my expired Norton licence and, while waiting for the spare parts to upgrade the PC and do a clean 7 install, I had installed Comodo's free internet security.

Whereas Comodo works very well on the other desktop in the familly ( AMD Phenom, 4 GB, XP SP3 & Linux ) , on the other system it proved quite unstable

No. Uninstall Avast as well. Just install MSE.

Aye!

Because im doing more research and when that concludes i will mark the first post agreeing with my conclusion as the solution and vote up the other posts that are giving advice

Dude, if you specifically don't click on "CLICK HERE TO CLAIM YOUR FREE PROFESSIONAL ESCORT FOR TONIGHT", you'll be safe with MSE. ;)

Scrap your research. :p :trolololololol:

Seriously, reaver, just disregard everything and just install MSE. It is seriously the only anti-virus you need.

There's no need to research this. Put your anti-MS bias aside and just believe, for once, that they can make a decent product or whatever the hell claim it is that you support. Just install MSE. It would be foolish not to.

As far as I'm concerned there are four main areas of interest here:

1. How much does it cost?

MSE = free.

2. How does its malware database compare with others?

MSE compares favourably to premium AVs.

3. Does it act as an advert for premium services by the developer?

MSE doesn't.

4. Is it a system hog and / or take too long to start during Windows start up?

MSE = no.

Calm down people, Part of what I was looking up was to see if MS were doing what they do best and bundling a load of "added extras" into MSE, which it appears they are not for once.

As 75% of the advice seems to be for MSE I shall go with that. And see how it goes.

I have removed AVG and am installing MSE as I type this and will remove Norton once MSE is up and running. (I will not leave my computer undefended even for a few mins)


As for the "trolololololol" from KavazovAngel

Im not sure if it was intended in jest as im a little bit between hung-over from yesterday and a little drunk from today (17.11 i know) so I will just point out im not being a troll, it is/was a genuine question and I appreciate all the responses and as said before will mark as solved and vote up posts in a few mins.