Is Symantec Norton Anti-virus The Best?

[Robski]

I need to reinstall anti virus/firewall software on my laptop.

Whats the best? And is that also the best value for money?

I'm using XP home with Intel Duo.

I'll buy original software, I don't see the point in buying a knock off program when it needs verification and updates.

Thanks in advance.

[penguin]

Prepare for almost every reply to suggest any anti-virus other than Norton.

Common problem people have with Norton is that it is considered a resource hog but you are using a Core 2Duo so l don't know if that's really a big problem. I've used Norton before and apart from using to much system resources on an older computer l thought it did a good job. I got sick of paying so l tried a few other AV and ended up using the free version of Avast, no real complaints, seems to work well for me but l'm sure the fanboys for all the other AV solutions will be along shortly.

For a firewall, the free version that comes with Windows is okay but l like Zone Alarm, the free version, not the paid version which many people seem to have problems with.

[chuchok]

Personally, i think that Kaspersky is by far the best.It picked up 3 x adware and a 2 x viruses that norton and AVG could not find.

[britmaveric]

Use Norton, never an issue with it.

[Rice_King]

I have had CyberDefenderFREE 2.0 installed on my laptop for a few weeks and so far, am very impressed by it. FYI: This security suite is completely free and is supported by safe and discreet advertising.

[cdnvic]

I'd rather have certain viruses than norton. It's intrusive, resource hogging, and causes more system errors than some of the stuff its supposed to protect you from. It does have a good detection record but alot of people hate it for good reason.

Here's how some of the competitors rate:

Kaspersky: Excellent, near perfect with known viruses, a bit lacking when detecting unknowns. ($49)

Antivir: Known viruses cought at near perfect (99%+) level, and good with unknowns. (Free & paid version)

nod32: Best at detecting unknown viruses, near perfect (99%+) record with known viruses ($39)

I only know Kaspersky and Antivir through test results and feedback from users, but it's been almost universally good. Nod32 I use on all my windows computers and it uses sometimes less memory than notepad. I'll probably use it to replace Avast on linux machines too.

Kaspersky: http://www.kaspersky.com/

Antivir: http://www.free-av.com/

nod32: http://www.eset.com/

Antivir has a free version you can try out, and nod32 and Kaspersky have a full versions with a 30day trial.

Edited February 20, 2007 by cdnvic

[LaoPo]

What about AVG Free edition ?

I received numerous mails that the 'free' edition was cancelled on Feb 18th, but for one reason or another I failed to install the new 'free' version...

Anyone has experiences with AVG ?

LaoPo

[cdnvic]

What about AVG Free edition ?

I received numerous mails that the 'free' edition was cancelled on Feb 18th, but for one reason or another I failed to install the new 'free' version...

Anyone has experiences with AVG ?

LaoPo

You can still get free AVG, they just discontinued the 7.1 version. http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5

Test after test it gets the worst results of all the major AVs (even when using the paid version). Last weekend there were about four people in this forum asking for help who had gotten viruses while using it. If you want free go with Antivir which does better than alot of paid programs even. http://www.free-av.com/

[nikster]

Norton is crap, followed very closely by ZoneAlarm (ZA).

I despise both for two reasons:

- Hook themselves deep into the system which causes instability - they are almost like a root kit / trojan themselves. This is supposed to protect you - however, it doesn't - it's a wasted effort, see below.

- Use system resources - I don't notice the CPU usage - if any - on my system, but it also seems to slow down HD access which is something I definitely notice.

Another reason: They are both wide-spread so chances that any given trojan will contain code to disable them are very high. A lot of trojans will disable your AV software. You can bet that if a trojan contains such code, Norton will top the list, then McAfee and ZoneAlarm. There are virus-building kits out there that allow the virus writer to add this functionality with no effort at all.

Both Norton and ZA expend a lot of effort to protect you from viruses that _already_ run on the system - and it's always futile because once some piece of malware it's started, it can do anything and the first thing it will do is disable all the fancy security features of ZA and NAV.

I don't have experience with McAfeee but I would think it's similar.

Personally, I am saving the $ for a new AV software to put it towards the ultimate solution, OS X

[Crossy]

Nod32 I use on all my windows computers and it uses sometimes less memory than notepad. I'll probably use it to replace Avast on linux machines too.

nod32: http://www.eset.com/

Is it possible to buy Nod32 online? I keep getting re-directed to a 'local' website, the 'purchase' link leads to a retail outlet

BTW I'm currently in the Philippines not LoS

[cdnvic]

Nod32 I use on all my windows computers and it uses sometimes less memory than notepad. I'll probably use it to replace Avast on linux machines too.

nod32: http://www.eset.com/

Is it possible to buy Nod32 online? I keep getting re-directed to a 'local' website, the 'purchase' link leads to a retail outlet

BTW I'm currently in the Philippines not LoS

According to Eset, you need to be in Canada or the US to buy online (stupid), and they gave me this contact for your location:

VALUELINE SYSTEMS AND SOLUTIONS CORP

2/F J&L Bldg. No 23 Matalino St.

Central District,Quezon City, Philippines

Tel No.(632)9252177,9252223,9257623,9252938

Fax No.(632)9252174

NOD32 Sales Inquiry Email: [email protected]

NOD32 Technical Services Inquiry Email: [email protected]

Maybe they can do a CC over the phone and send you a d/l link.

I believe you can still d/l the trial from Eset.

[Crossy]

Nod32 I use on all my windows computers and it uses sometimes less memory than notepad. I'll probably use it to replace Avast on linux machines too.

nod32: http://www.eset.com/

Is it possible to buy Nod32 online? I keep getting re-directed to a 'local' website, the 'purchase' link leads to a retail outlet

BTW I'm currently in the Philippines not LoS

According to Eset, you need to be in Canada or the US to buy online (stupid), and they gave me this contact for your location:

VALUELINE SYSTEMS AND SOLUTIONS CORP

2/F J&L Bldg. No 23 Matalino St.

Central District,Quezon City, Philippines

Tel No.(632)9252177,9252223,9257623,9252938

Fax No.(632)9252174

NOD32 Sales Inquiry Email: [email protected]

NOD32 Technical Services Inquiry Email: [email protected]

Maybe they can do a CC over the phone and send you a d/l link.

I believe you can still d/l the trial from Eset.

Yeah downloaded the trial ok.

The address you gave is the same place that the link goes, I'll give them a buzz later, thanks

[Robski]

Thanks for all your input.

I think I'll go with Vic's solutions in this and the downloads thread and download Avast for now and purchase Nod32 when I'm back in the UK.

Cheers.

[alexth]

What about Zone Alarm? I never had problems using it.

[cdnvic]

What about Zone Alarm? I never had problems using it.

Zonealarm's antivirus is actually Kaspersky bundled in with Zonealarm firewall. So it has Kaspersky's superb record with known and somewhat spotty record with unknown viruses. The latter is mitigated by the fastest updates in the business.

Edited February 21, 2007 by cdnvic

[SamuiJens]

I bought a iMac desktop, my friend in the states say's he doesn't use or need anti-virus for i Mac, True or false?, if false which is best? I'm not a tecky so be kind to me, thank you.

[cdnvic]

I bought a iMac desktop, my friend in the states say's he doesn't use or need anti-virus for i Mac, True or false?, if false which is best? I'm not a tecky so be kind to me, thank you.

There are some Mac viruses out there but as of yet I know of none attacking OSX. You should however use at least an email AV scanner to avoid passing infections around.

Free scanner based on the Clam open source AV used by many Unix machines:

http://www.clamxav.com/

[SamuiJens]

I bought a iMac desktop, my friend in the states say's he doesn't use or need anti-virus for i Mac, True or false?, if false which is best? I'm not a tecky so be kind to me, thank you.

There are some Mac viruses out there but as of yet I know of none attacking OSX. You should however use at least an email AV scanner to avoid passing infections around.

Free scanner based on the Clam open source AV used by many Unix machines:

http://www.clamxav.com/

Thanx for your great advice. I'll be back if I need some more help.

Thanx again cdnvic

[oooooo]

i use AVG in combination with AVG antispyware. made a clean windows install three months ago and my system is as clean as possible. both programs update themselves automatically. two thumbs up!

previously used norton which allowed my system to become infected with all kinds of things.

[cdnvic]

AVG is either hot or cold. Terrible antivirus, but great antispyware as they purchased Ewido, one of the best in the business.

[OneeyedJohn]

Anti virus, spyware, malware....so many things to protect against.

What is happening to me is everytime I go anywhere near some sort of site talking about virus etc I get a new tab opening up from "winantvir", completely unsolicited on my part. Similar to how Google throws up adverts related to the topic in TV.Com.

I have Nod32 on trial, do I need anything else ?

I'm running XP sp2 and Firefox 2.0 and I like D/loading music / video / films.

With Avast I had problem loading page constantly, until I got rid of it.

Simple advice please...BTW only really want the FREE stuff. I don't buy anything online.

[cdnvic]

Good antispyware programs, one resident, and one for occasional second opinions.

Windows Defender is good and free.

Back it up with Ad-AwareSE, Spybot Search and Destroy, or Superantispyware.

Run a firewall as well.

[OneeyedJohn]

Excellent........Muchyarse Grassyarse

[Jamie]

I used NAV for a number of years until I got my new computer that was loaded with Trend Micro. I like TM a lot more as it does use a lot less resources compared to NAV.

[NanLaew]

i think the old adage 'you get what you pay for' still prevails. i don't think there's many instances of a free product being better than a paid product.

however, as noted by the first responder to the OP, everyone has a different experience based on vastly different situations, hardware and/or software.

norton and mcaffee were the industry benchmarks at pure AV software but they lost the plot once they started these bundled 'suites' that have firewalls and spyware included. same goes for the spyware specialists that got into AV, etc. kind of like jack of all trades, master of none.

my laptop is critical for my job working internationally. to that end, i stick with individual programs as follows:

AV: Norton AntiVirus (paid), Zone Alarm Pro (paid)

Firewall: ZoneAlarm Pro (paid)

Spyware: Zone Alarm Pro (paid), Webroot Spy Sweeper (paid)

If any individual program gives a problem, it can be uninstalled/reinstalled without the major drama that a 'suite' product entails.

Also the AV and spyware functions in Zone Alarm Pro can be easily disabled if trouble or conflicts arise.

If someone asks me to configure a PC with free softs, I use:

AV: Grisoft AVG (free)

Firewall: Zone Alarm Basic (free)

Spyware: Ad-aware (free)

I have gone through 3 laptops and built and/or maintained over 10 PC's in the past 7 years or so. The only one that had a major spyware/trojan issue was after the owner opted NOT to renew a paid subscription. Although Norton AV eventually nailed it, the boot sector was compromised (this was also commented in the Norton notes) and the HD did crash irrecoverably a few weeks later. Needless to say, that owner now keeps all subs current.

[jeffrosner]

Norton sucks. It's F'ing bloatware for Xssss sake. Antivir has found malware that Norton and McAfee could not. There is no reason to buy expensive bloatware when simple yet powerful programs exist and are free to end users.

Antivir - http://www.free-av.com

[alexth]

Looks like the topic's should have it's name changed to Free Antivirus Software. Everybody wants it for free and then we have all those "how to" topics when a computer gets infected. Does the OP need a free antivirus software? If not, let's keep it on topic.

[cdnvic]

Looks like the topic's should have it's name changed to Free Antivirus Software. Everybody wants it for free and then we have all those "how to" topics when a computer gets infected.

Actually, Antivir outperforms most paid AVs and it is on topic as the question was if Norton was best, and respondants are giving their opinions. For the record pretty much all the infections lately have been with the Grisoft product that you say you install.

When it comes to security software I have no loyalties and no predjudices. I use and recommend what works, and warn against anything that doesn't.

Antivir does work and I'll put it up against any of the paid programs.

Edited February 25, 2007 by cdnvic

[BkkPundit]

Like Cdnvic I use Nod32. IMHO, paying for Nod32 is worth it. You can always test it out for 30 days to see if you like it.

I personally think a lot of software on the market is overpriced, but Nod32 is reasonably priced and one of the better (if not the best) anti-virus program on the market. It is also not a resource hog.

[kayo]

my vote now goes to avast (and their home edition is free) installed it a few months ago and it's perfect.

more and more techies I know are using this now too. either the home edition or the professional.