OT - Re-Request Info on Free firewall - anti-virus apps?

ZoneAlarm comes to mind for a firewall.
What-A-Tool wrote:

I looking at SyGate and Avast free versions - Anyone ever use?
Norton is great on my home computers - have 2 kids in the house that I like to protect my computers from :-) and it works great for this, but for my notebook, I want something that consumes fewer system resourses
Didn't see a free version of ZoneAlarm

I've used ZoneAlarm and currently use Sygate Personal Firewall. I think Sygate has more control. For antivirus I use AVG from Grisoft. Norton makes my home machine too slow.
Mike

For Anti virus --- NOD32 from ESET, not free but small footprint very configurable. I ended up with this after putting Norton 2005 on my girlfriends old laptop and watching it grind to a halt. After seeing it slow that machine down so much I figured may as well remove Norton from my work PC and use something that's more efficient. NOD 32 also has the advantage of not being the target for every virus writer on the planet. On other less important machines, I have installed AVG the free version it seems very effective but has a larger footprint than NOD32 hence I don't use it on my Work PC.
Spyware --- Spybot search and Destroy and Ad-Aware personal. I consider spyware and browser hijackers more of a problem now than viruses.
Other --- dropped Microsoft outlook and don't use MS Internet explorer (much) now using Firefox and Thunderbird. "enable performance email" does not work with Thunderbird, which is pity because SolidWorks doesn't get to hear about my crashes!!
For a firewall --- I have a firewall built in to my DSL Router + Windows own firewall. I used to run Zonealarm pro for several years but it never once had to stop an intrusion, probably because of my hardware firewall. Zonealarm is also a preferred target of virus writers, hence Zonealarm is constantly issuing updates and patches.
John Layne

I think you're talking about my response: I'll state again: I have seen quite a few firewalls now (mostly paid), and sygate is absolutely the best and easiest! My GF understands everything aswell :o)
Avast has kept out all viruses so far, but it's always hard to tell how good a virusscanner does it's job until you release a few viruses on purpose. Haven't done that :o). It's user interface is quite easy, and it updates almost daily!
anyway, the combo works nice. If you have specific questions, just ask!
good luck! Ewout

With ZoneAlarm, you download the trial version of ZoneAlarm Pro and then at the end of the 15 days, convert it to the free version. I've been using it for some time - I think the blocked count is somewhere around 82,000 by now.
WT

In comparison to Sygate Personal Firewall, I find ZoneAlarm to be much more confusing when you really want to make specific rules. Also, the interface in general is very clear (which I can't say of ZA).
Ewout

I've never used it - I'm downloading it now. I'll take a look at it.
WT