Simple Safeguards To Keep Your Small Business Network Secure

Today Adam Stone wrote about securing your network with a variety of tools:

http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.co...le.php/2107001

How many of you have made use of these security tools? Did they work? Or did you use different security tools that you were pleased with? Let us know!

--Kevin

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Executive Editor, SmallBusinessComputing.com

[doctordon]

For antivirus, I use Norton antivirus or Panda Software. I usually sell Norton antivirus to clients as part of a SystemWorks Pro package. I no longer support McAfee since I have received such trouble dealing with them over the last 1½ years. New clients are put on Norton and old renewing clients are usually moved over.

I also sell and install ZoneAlarm. I have used it for several years and found that it appears to work reliably. It also appears to protect my clients well. The big problem is traing users to deal with its "talkiness" when it is initially installed.

All my clients are small businesses without maany users online. As they start doing more online, I wiil be setting up additional security.

What problems have you had with McAfee?

--Kevin

[doctordon]

On my machine, the automated McAfee AV update quit about 18 months ago and McAfee had no solution except to do it manually. Since I bought it at least partially for the automatic update ability, I felt that I no longer had what I had paid for.

Tech support said there was no solution. When I then requested a replacement limited to the length of time remianing on my purchase (about 7 months), that request was ignored. I also reminded them that I now had a crippled product and that it waas up to them to fix it. They ignored this. So I have never recommended McAfee again.


Additonally, I had a similar thing happen with a client's computer about two months ago except he couldn't update at all. They had no solution with 5 weeks left on the subscription. Since then, I have taken all McAfee-renewing clients (even those who had not had problems yet) off MAfee and put them onto Norton since that has always worked for me and my clients.

I recommend Norton for clients because I can get OEM copies of SystemWorks Pro inexpensively and sell them to the clients for about the price of the AV portion alone. Additionally I use teh Ghost portion and the Utilities portion, so they just plain get a better deal.

I have personally used Panda and have also recommended it to clients but it is generally more expensive. In a commodity-price world, it is a tougher sell. My server uses Panda and my major client computer that I uses daily uses Norton.

Does that answer your questions?