I am trying to keep a valuable computer protected within very humble means. I don't have any money to spend on anti-virus or firewall software. I have downloaded AVG-free because to my understanding it is the best free anti-virus software. Would anyone disagree?

Also, I need a solid but barebones firewall for free. I need it to help keep my connection secure, not do my laundry for me.

Any suggestions?

Sunbelt

I hate to sound like Prometheum on this one, but...

GNU/Linux's IPTables is probably the best free firewall. Of course, this works best if you use the machine as the default route between your machine and the Internet. Set the rules to only allow incoming connections in the ESTABLISHED state, drop ICMP and UDP, and it'll be a really good machine to block outsiders from getting in.

Under Windows, I don't know if AVG is the BEST free antivirus, but it's probably as good as any other. Whatever you do, scrap Windows firewall for something else ASAP. ZoneAlarm used to be considered good; I don't know if it still is or not. Nearly anything will beat the built-in firewall, though.

I heard Comodo has a good free firewall.

I am trying to keep a valuable computer protected within very humble means.
Any suggestions?

I assume what you mean by valuable is valuable data.

Slackware/Zenwalk + iptables + LoopAES. OR
FreeBSD + pf + gbde.

All of the above is free.
Don't use a Linux based OS that uses a *common* package management system. OpenBSD is crap when it comes to out of the box on the disk encryption.

There's a lot of graphical interfaces for iptables.
Fewer for pf, give pfw a try.

+ my basic home hardening guide

I will attempt to describe what basic hardening an home network/computer should go trough. ( DSL, behind a nat ).

[Router configuration]
Disable wireless if you don't need it.
Disable upnp.
Foward the ports used to configure the router to a non-existent node (usually only 80).
Change the router's password to a stronger one. (also the default account name, if you can)
Use OpenDNS.
Disable the dhcp server.

I hate to sound like Prometheum on this one, but...

GNU/Linux's IPTables is probably the best free firewall. Of course, this works best if you use the machine as the default route between your machine and the Internet. Set the rules to only allow incoming connections in the ESTABLISHED state, drop ICMP and UDP, and it'll be a really good machine to block outsiders from getting in.

hahahah, freedom wins again.

Though I would have said that just saying Linux in this instance is okay; since IPTables is a feature of Linux proper. Though the GNU/Linux is a nice touch; thanks very much.

On a more relevant note, firewalls nowadays typically don't matter unless you are connecting to the internet via ONLY a modem. You can test this by seeing if your computer itself has a unique IP address. Most people nowadays connect via a router that connects to a modem, or a modem+router combo. In that instance, the router does NAT, so the internal hosts aren't reachable at all. A firewall would only protect you against internal threats.

blackICE... :D i loved i till i stoped using firewalls period

Yo ohhh.... yo oh.... ayayyy....

For Windows, the first thing I always do is download Zonealarm and disable Window's firewall... It's been over a year on this machine, and it hasn't given me much trouble.

If you don't make the Linux switch I would have recommend Zonealarm.

On a more relevant note, firewalls nowadays typically don't matter unless you are connecting to the internet via ONLY a modem. You can test this by seeing if your computer itself has a unique IP address. Most people nowadays connect via unique IP address. Most people nowadays connect via a router that connects to a modem, or a modem+router combo. In that instance, the router does NAT, so the internal hosts aren't reachable at all. A firewall would only protect you against internal threats.a router that connects to a modem, or a modem+router combo. In that instance, the router does NAT, so the internal hosts aren't reachable at all. A firewall would only protect you against internal threats.

There are many ways to get trough a common NAT gateway, ALG and uPNP are some of them.

NAT shouldn't be trusted alone, home routers/modems shouldn't be trusted either, remember, they can also be vulnerable to attacks, and people often forgets to update the firmware :).

EDIT: Read my *bandwitdh stealing guide*

There are actually a lot of ways too keep this data relatively secure. It just depends on what you are wanting to do. A good firewall may not be the best option for you. What kind of data is it? Do you have any older computers around the house that work? Do you have an external hard drive or some other way of storing this data off of your machine? This information will help us possibly give you a better solution.

zonealarm

I heard Comodo has a good free firewall.

Agreed. It's the best free firewall I've ever used. It's a tad complicated, and poorly laid out - but makes up for it with so many features.

Best firewall A+++++ would trade again.

Agreed. It's the best free firewall I've ever used. It's a tad complicated, and poorly laid out - but makes up for it with so many features.

Best firewall A+++++ would trade again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_firewalls#Firewall_rule-set_basic_filtering_features_comparison

Comodo is not even in the list....
There's a huge difference between a gui that gives you an illusion of security and a real firewall.

monowall

peer guardian is ok

Best thing to use IMO is Untangle. http://untangle.com/