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I just noticed that I have no AV-Software installed since my trial of Zonealarm expired.

So, what do you guys recommend ?

Take with a grain of salt, since I not really a Win user, just via Parallels & Boot Camp on a Mac , but I would say…

* …no software firewall needed, firewall via router or separate box for the overly paranoid…

* …AVG Free has served me fine, and actually seems superior to "pay for" Symantec/McAfee offerings that only seem to gunk up your box…

* …and AVG Anti-Spyware…

I've used AVG successfully for years.

I'll third AVG - great system, more than adequate.

I agree with naum.  I used ZoneAlarm for about 18 months and in the end it didn't help much at all.  I use a hardware router now, had a separate box but it died and I got tired of maintaining it.  AVG is good stuff, but I use NAV Corporate edition because I got it cheap legally and it's so much nicer than any of the other packages the average end-user can buy.

I use ZoneAlarm's Security Suite for both my firewall and AV/ASW. I don't have any problems with it, and it works great.

Till I upgrade to WLAN (only a matter of time) no router for me. So I will stick to Zone-Alarm for the time being.

I will give AVG a try, thanks everybody.

Spybot Search & Destroy. Best free anti spyware/adware program there is.
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html)

Other then that AVG as has been said. And Zonealarm if your paranoid.

I don't use anti-virus, and haven't had a problem in years. If you want to pay for it, Panda and NOD32 are awesome.

To avoid worms and the like, nothing beats a decent router.

Can someone recommend a end user 'home' router that doesn't require a Cisco certification to configure as a firewall?

You don't usually need to configure the NAT/Firewall virtually all router/switch/WAP combos use. Just plug everything in and you're good. You can forward ports and play with some options for the firewall if you want but you don't really need to if you don't want to (most P2P apps use uPnP which means they'll work just fine without any ports forwarded).

This is the model WAP/Router/Switch combo I use: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124190

To show you just how uncomplicated it is this is a screenshot of my router's firewall configuration pane.

(http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/3843/firewallps3.png)

That's default settings, and that works just fine. Even blizzard's piece of shit downloader can function with that.

I find that the newer cheapo Linksys gear is pretty crap. The new king of cheapo wireless routers is the Buffalo Airstation:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833162134

Its the same internal hardware as the older Linksys versions, so its easier to update with DD-WRT software, and even if you choose to use its built-in software its WDS (wireless bridging) isn't broken and proprietary.

DD-WRT, Linksys and Buffalo software will all do dead easy NAT firewalling - its just the broken bridging and even cheaper hardware in the newer Linksys gear that make me avoid them.

I use the older version of the Linksys router running DD-WRT software, and a pair of the Buffalo routers as WDS slaves to extend the wireless footprint in our palatial manse.