Need some help selecting a new internet security software.

[dudedafool]

You got the free version? I had AVG 2011 Internet Security thing. 2 years 5 user. I don't know what to tell you. It was that update that caused the problem though. The firewall in it said that the firewall was stopped. I tried everything to reenable the thing but every time I disabled it from the options menu it would come up and say I think it was NIDS not available or something like that and then in the options it was enabled again. But as soon as I started to uninstall it and it reached about the 35-40% mark the wireless internet came back on the computer and that was about the time the little box popped up and said that no firewall was on and then the box said the windows firewall was turned on. I tried just turning on the windows firewall before I uninstalled AVG but it didn't work the AVG one wouldn't ever turn off.

Nope, not the free version. I have the same plan as you. My AVG and internet have been running smoothly ever since I purchased it.

[Cartman]

I use Avira Antivir (not the security suite) and it works fine.
Only the usual false positives on the typical programs (game trainers and no CD exes that are more than 5 years old and were never used suddenly have 1 month old trojans inside ).
Since I had a virus on my notebook that came through a security hole in the Centrino WLAN driver I don't use AVG anymore as the trojan was able to sneak past it but Kaspersky and Antivir were able to find it.

[raynman]

Windows firewall is shit, plain and simple. I don't even use it. The internal firewall of my router is more than sufficient. Reason I say the windows firewall is shit is due to an experiment my tech class done a few semesters ago. We made a brute force program that could bust through gigabit encryption which is what the firewall is supposed to be. It took the program all of 10 seconds to get through it.

A firewall is a merely a filter, allowing or restricting data to enter or exit. Windows Firewall itself does not have any encryption, data encryption on the pc is handled through Bitlocker, EFS, or third party software. I am not going to vouch for the quality of Microsoft's firewall software or any other firewall software since I don't use them myself. I have a hardware firewall built using an old PC and m0n0wall. That being said, most home firewall programs or home use routers are more than adequate for normal home usage as long as they are properly configured.

Against a determined hacker, it is only a matter of time before defenses will be breached. But unless you are someone of some importance, notoriety, or wealth it is not practical to make a determined and focused effort to hack a home pc or network.

As far as cracking gigabit encryption, the U.S. Government current only uses 192-bit and 256-bit encryption for Top Secret material, so if one take a great leap of faith and assume the existence of gigabit encryption it would not be floating around for college or vocational school students to play around with.

[dulak]

Riiiight. Not sure where you get your info from, but gigabit encryption does indeed exist. And as to what the gov uses, unless you're employed by the government and involved in something that requires a top secret security clearance, you don't know what they use. And IF you do meet those requirements, then you just broke federal law by posting what kind of encryption they use on the internet. I'm not going to spend my time arguing with someone who apparently doesn't know what he/she is talking about. I know what I've done. You don't.