Firewalls And Antivirus

[talkingplant]

In the last two weeks I have discovered that my computer has a BKDR_COREFLOOD.A virus that has caused me no end of pain in trying to remove. I have been using the Trend Micro AV that came on my computer (always updated a few times a week) and the generic firewall provided by windows (silly me).

I have installed the free Zone Alarm firewall (it seems ok, but now I can't get my network to work right) and will probably be purchasing a beefed up firewall tomorrow when my paycheck comes.

So, what exactly is the best bang for the buck when it comes to Firewalls and AV's? What are the pro's and con's for the different programs you have used?

And, if anyone has any suggestions for getting this off my computer completely and for good I'd love to hear from you. I already turned off system restore, deleted the files the AV caught, and fixed the registry bugs, but somehow I keep getting infected. In fact, I suspect that the virus has somehow attached itself to the AV software and affected it (of course I'm not sure, just suspect).

Thanks guys and gals,

Jeremy