Internet Security/anti Spyware

[Mister Doom]

This is probably a well worn road, but I'll ask anyway.

I have subscribed to Norton for the past 3 years and have never had any problems with viruses. Norton continuously updates their product on line, and scans weekly. Sometimes they advise me about virus attacks but I've always been fine. Last September I paid 50 USD for a renewal that included Norton password manager software.

Last week my notebook wouldn't boot, and I had to have it re-formatted. The guy in the shop told me that Norton was the cause of the problem and I shouldn't reinstall it.

I know there's countless freebies out there, and also you can have the pick of the pirates from the PC stores. I'm not particularly wealthy, but I'd rather pay and have piece of mind, than bugger around with dodgy freebies, or pirate stuff that probably won't update. Its just too important to get wrong.

Any experts out there who can advise? And anyone had good/bad experience with Norton?

Thanks

[silvero]

Assuming you are using Windows...

AVG antivirus is very effective, popular and free: http://www.grisoft.com

Microsoft AntiSpyware is also effective, popular and free, and available from Microsoft's site, but you will have to pass the genuine Windows test - also available from various torrents - thepiratebay.org

Another good choice for anti spyware is Spybot search & destroy, however I am not sure if it has real-time monitoring like the MS product.

To top it off, check for rootkits occasionally with RootkitRevealer from www.sysinternals.com

Add a free Kerio firewall from http://www.sunbelt-software.com/ and you will have most of the bases covered.

[ianc66]

I never much liked Norton when I was working in the business, too intrusive.

I'm using free AVG anti virus free edition set up to update nightly and do a full scan after the update. No problems with virus or operation of the machine I don't even have to turn it off to install software. I am however behind a hardware firewall.

[FlyingDutchman]

http://www.avast.com/ the best freeware on-line virus checker.

But never rely on one ! Even when you PAY for it !

[Gary A]

I used Norton for years and never had any problems with the anti-virus portion. About 4 months ago it was due to expire. I intended to renew it. They always had a special price for repeat customers. NOT this time. I refused to pay $29.95 per year. I downloaded free Avast and am impressed so far. It upgrades automatically and I have had no problems. I do pay for Zone Alarm Pro. The anti spy-ware part seems very good. I have taken off Spy Bot, Ad-aware as well as Microsoft. It scans and updates automatically too.

Edited March 30, 2006 by Gary A

[sungod]

I have just had to unistall spybot, it repeatedly forced my computer to turn itself off when I preformed a scan. I looked in the task manager and CPU usage was constantly running at 100% on the scan. Can anybody give me any advice on this? had experience of.I have a feeling it was conflicting with F secure with has both anti-virus and spyware.

[Thaible]

Norton is bloatware - slows your computer to a crawl with its bells and whistles.

The free ones mentioned are good. I like AVG.

[John_Betong]

Hi,

I was offered a 12 month trial from CA Computer Associates a company that I respect and trust for a great many years.

Their trial has been very good, daily updates and has managed to prevent any viruses for over 7 months. When the trial finishes I will most probably purchase the annual 19.95 USD download package.

eTrust EZ Antivirus

Here are some snippets from reviews

"...this virus slayer is sure to please the bargain-hunting home and small-office user."

- CNET.com

"...a sharp and effective antivirus engine... for the money, eTrust EZ Antivirus is an excellent deal."

- Computer Buyer

"eTrust EZ Antivirus is blazingly fast -- in fact, it's one of the speediest antivirus apps we've ever tested. And since it barely draws on your system's resources, it won't slow your work to a crawl during background scans. Its sub-$30 price is bound to appeal to small businesses and home users, too."

- CNET.com

"In CNET Labs tests, EZ Antivirus 2005 caused less system performance drag than McAfee VirusScan, Norton AntiVirus, or Trend Micro PC-cillin."

- CNET.com

"this great solution is significantly less invasive then the others like Norton, McAfee and Panda. You would be amazed how much better your computer can run without being bogged down by resource hogging solutions by Norton or McAfee."

- NotebookReview.com, 1/22/06

I did used to like Norton and in the good old Dos days, Norton was Number One. They have diversified into virus checking but I prefer EZ Antivirus since it is so unobtusive.

Cheers,

John_Betong

[Firefoxx]

I too remember the good old DOS days, when Norton Utilities was an indespensible program to have... either that or PCTools (but PCTools lost out eventually). These days Norton seems to want to do too much, and ends up doing everything not so well. I dislike things that try to do everything, since they tend to fall flat on their face.

As for recommendations, I really have none. I install McAfee by default, since it's straightforward and unintrusive, but I've never tried anything else.

[JSixpack]

Here's the tacktech.com survey on the subject (400+ users):

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?dir=in...fm&preview=true

Personally I hate Norton these days, and I feel free AVG is plenty good 'nuff. It will catch any of the older viruses you're likely to encounter. The chances are that if you get a new virus, you will get it before most of the antivir products have updated for it anyway, so then you'll just have to search for whoever's got the quickest fix.