drifterlee opened this issue on Jan 19, 2008 · 43 posts
XENOPHONZ posted Mon, 21 January 2008 at 2:25 PM
There's a Smith Micro product that people might be interested in -- and no, this one isn't Poser Pro. It's called Anonymizer. It's not an anti-virus, but it sure helps out with the internet security end of things - in more ways than one:
It works for me. One quick way to judge Anonymizer's effectiveness is via the agency of those web ads which regularly tell you things like "great oppotunities for low mortgage rates in [your hometown]!!!!!!!!". Instead, with Anonymizer activated, the ad reads in one of two ways: either it'll say "Anonymizer does not recommend visiting this site", or else it'll say "Anonymous Proxy" instead of "your hometown".
The downside is that it tends to slow up your web browsing. But it's a snap to turn off when you are dealing with websites that you trust. One button proxy browsing activation/deactivation.
Anonymizer has a lot of other functionality built into it, too. Encryption, etc.. It's certainly worth a look.
For anti-virus/firewall purposes -- I've recommended this one in other threads. It works for me, and it works with a small system resource footprint, as anti-virus packages go. Plus for anti-spyware: it's one of the best (perhaps even THE best) single packages around. They also offer a free online virus/spyware system scan:
And yes, when it comes to browsers, I fully agree with what appears to be the majority opinion in this thread: Firefox is the way to go.
BTW - Zone Alarm probably has the best firewall on the market. Too bad their anti-virus stinks.
BTW 2 -- with Panda running and Anonymizer activated (plus I have a hardware firewall), my machine completely fools the Shields Up website. Anonymizer alone foils many of the Shields Up tests. If you've never visited Shields Up, then you most definitely should. The Shields Up website will probe your system's security for you in depth:
If nothing else, I'd definitely advise visiting Shields Up. It can be a sobering experience for anyone who is convinced that their PC is 100% bulletproof.