Symantec Norton Anti-Virus -- good? bad?

My Noton anti-virus is about to expire.
(By accident I got it free a year ago.)

Should I renew? I sense dislike for Norton here but don't know why.

Mason C running private PC politely

On Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:37:11 -0700, Mason C
<masoncXXX@XXXfrontal-lobe.info> wrote:

>My Noton anti-virus is about to expire.
> (By accident I got it free a year ago.)
>
>Should I renew? I sense dislike for Norton here but don't know why.

It's crap, I have 6 months left on a subscription and have quit using
it because it finds nothing that's really dangerous.

Bud wrote:

> Mason C <masoncXXX@XXXfrontal-lobe.info> wrote:
>>My Noton anti-virus is about to expire.
>> (By accident I got it free a year ago.)
>>
>> Should I renew? I sense dislike for Norton here but don't know why.
>
> It's crap, I have 6 months left on a subscription and have quit using
> it because it finds nothing that's really dangerous.

That isn't a good reason to quit using it. No anti-virus app ever found
anything on my computers either -- because there was never anything to
find. Practicing Safe Hex allows that.

The real reason to quit using it is because it is a bloated app that
hogs your resources and slows down your computer. So does McAfee.

Try Avast or AntiVir. Both free.

--
-bts
-Friends don't let friends drive Windows

On Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:37:11 -0700 Mason C wrote:

> My Noton anti-virus is about to expire.
> (By accident I got it free a year ago.)
>
> Should I renew? I sense dislike for Norton here but don't know why.
>
> Mason C running private PC politely
>
IMHO if you like it then renew it. I had bad experience with Norton and tried
several other AV programs, finally settling on Avast.
--
Ernie B.

Communication: The art of moving an idea from one mind to another, hopefully
without distortion.

On Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:37:11 -0700, Mason C wrote:

> My Noton anti-virus is about to expire.

Good!

> Should I renew?

No!

> I sense dislike for Norton here but don't know why.

Right, read other posts.

Then download and run the Norton Removal Tool
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...05033108162039

Choose one (1):
Avira AntiVir® Personal - FREE Antivirus
http://www.free-av.com/
You may wish to consider removing the 'AntiVir Nagscreen'
http://www.elitekiller.com/files/dis...ntivir_nag.htm
or
Free antivirus - avast! 4 Home Edition
It includes ANTI-SPYWARE protection, certified by the West Coast Labs
Checkmark process, and ANTI-ROOTKIT DETECTION based on the best-in class
GMER technology.
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html
(Choose Custom Installation and under Resident
Protection, uncheck: Internet Mail and Outlook/Exchange.)
or
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
http://free.grisoft.com/
(Choose custom install and untick the email scanner plugin.)
or
ESET NOD32 Antivirus - Not Free
http://www.eset.com/
or
Kaspersky® Anti-Virus 7.0 - Not Free
http://www.kaspersky.com/homeuser

FYI
Why You Don't Need Your Anti-Virus Program to Scan Your E-Mail
http://thundercloud.net/infoave/tuto...ning/index.htm

The first thing I do for my computer clients is to uninstall the bloated and
expensive Norton AV which tries to take over your computer. I then replace
it with AVG free which is easy to use and costs nothing and is better than
Norton in several ways. I should add, that I have had no trouble with the
latest AVG v8 free version as one or two people seem to have had.

--
Yours Quilly,
http://quilljar.users.btopenworld.com/
"Mason C" <masoncXXX@XXXfrontal-lobe.info> wrote in message
news:gkml6494a78h5ke1vfv8ub3743ijs772sb@4ax.com...
> My Noton anti-virus is about to expire.
> (By accident I got it free a year ago.)
>
> Should I renew? I sense dislike for Norton here but don't know why.
>
> Mason C running private PC politely

Mason C wrote:
> My Noton anti-virus is about to expire.
> (By accident I got it free a year ago.)
>
> Should I renew? I sense dislike for Norton here but don't know why.
>
> Mason C running private PC politely

Norton and McAfee had their heyday years ago. But seems lately the two
of them cause more issues than the solve. Or at least you read about
it. I got a next to free copy one year and just about choked the
computer. You seem to have no issue now, and if you are not getting a
new version of software, just extending the license, it may still
continue to work just as well. If you've had no viruses, then maybe its
doing its job, that or you practice safe surfing.

Some of the complaints may also be the combination of applications. So
its hard to say. I run AVG8.0 and like it, but others have complained.
So you see, there's no accounting for problems. Its a gamble. Yes,
you can take an educated guess, but that's about all it is.

On Tue, 1 Jul 2008 23:24:12 -0400, "Beauregard T. Shagnasty"
<a.nony.mous@example.invalid> wrote:
>Bud wrote:
>
>> Mason C <masoncXXX@XXXfrontal-lobe.info> wrote:
>>>My Noton anti-virus is about to expire.
>>> (By accident I got it free a year ago.)
>>>
>>> Should I renew? I sense dislike for Norton here but don't know why.
>>
>> It's crap, I have 6 months left on a subscription and have quit using
>> it because it finds nothing that's really dangerous.
>
>That isn't a good reason to quit using it. No anti-virus app ever found
>anything on my computers either -- because there was never anything to
>find. Practicing Safe Hex allows that.

I should have been more clear about Norton. I knew there was a
problem, I DLed AntiVir and it found all kinds of crap. Then I DLed
AVG Free 8 and it found more crap, then updated and ran Spybot S&R and
that finally found the last of it. That's why I dumped Norton.
All that stuff found it's way on to my machine while on Norton's
watch. When I installed Norton it clained it couldn't run on a machine
that was using Zomealarm so I install the Sygate FW, I think that was
the beginning of the end. Live and learn, then you die.

>Try Avast or AntiVir. Both free.

I'm running, all at the same time:
AntiVir, AVG free 8, Spybot S&D, Super Antispyware, and they all get
along so far and unlike others, I've had no speed problem from any of
them.

Bud wrote:

> All that stuff found it's way on to my machine while on Norton's
> watch.

Well, there's a great testimonial! <lol>

> I'm running, all at the same time:
> AntiVir, AVG free 8,

Hopefully, you aren't running two *resident* apps at the same time. They
will surely conflict with each other (same as two firewalls). It's ok to
keep several on hand for *on-demand* scanning, but not full-time
running.

> Spybot S&D, Super Antispyware, and they all get along so far and
> unlike others, I've had no speed problem from any of them.

...so long as they aren't running at the same time, there should be no
problems.

An alternative to needing all those tools is to switch to an impervious
operating system. <g>

--
-bts
-Friends don't let friends drive Windows

Beauregard T. Shagnasty wrote:
>It's ok to
>keep several on hand for *on-demand* scanning, but not full-time
>running.

On Demand is the only way I've ever configured any AV scanner.
My most recent is the a-squared freebie, http://tinyurl.com/2gb93
Pros - frequent sig-file updates, the right price, and can be integrated
into the right click context.
Cons - starts a process that is hard to kill when it finishes a full
scan, doesn't happen on a single object scan however.
I haven't bothered to look around for any 'samples' to test it with yet.
Anyone have any opinions on it?

Bud wrote:

> On Tue, 1 Jul 2008 23:24:12 -0400, "Beauregard T. Shagnasty"
> <a.nony.mous@example.invalid> wrote:
> >Bud wrote:
> >
> >> Mason C <masoncXXX@XXXfrontal-lobe.info> wrote:
> >>>My Noton anti-virus is about to expire.
> >>> (By accident I got it free a year ago.)
> >>>
> >>> Should I renew? I sense dislike for Norton here but don't know why.
> >>
> >> It's crap, I have 6 months left on a subscription and have quit using
> >> it because it finds nothing that's really dangerous.
> >
> >That isn't a good reason to quit using it. No anti-virus app ever found
> >anything on my computers either -- because there was never anything to
> >find. Practicing Safe Hex allows that.
>
> I should have been more clear about Norton. I knew there was a
> problem, I DLed AntiVir and it found all kinds of crap. Then I DLed
> AVG Free 8 and it found more crap, then updated and ran Spybot S&R and
> that finally found the last of it. That's why I dumped Norton.
> All that stuff found it's way on to my machine while on Norton's
> watch. When I installed Norton it clained it couldn't run on a machine
> that was using Zomealarm so I install the Sygate FW, I think that was
> the beginning of the end. Live and learn, then you die.
>
> >Try Avast or AntiVir. Both free.
>
> I'm running, all at the same time:
> AntiVir, AVG free 8, Spybot S&D, Super Antispyware, and they all get
> along so far and unlike others, I've had no speed problem from any of
> them.

Really surprising that there are no conflicts between different anti-virus
programs. That has not been my experience. Also, AVG free 8 runs
ok on my Vista quad machine with 2 gig, but bogs down my Athlon
1.3 Gig machine with 500 meg. AVG 7.5 seemed to be less resource
demanding, and certainly more user friendly.

Sherwin D.

On Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:01:22 -0500, sherwindu <sherwindu@comcast.net>
wrote:
> Really surprising that there are no conflicts between different anti-virus
> programs. That has not been my experience. Also, AVG free 8 runs
> ok on my Vista quad machine with 2 gig, but bogs down my Athlon
> 1.3 Gig machine with 500 meg. AVG 7.5 seemed to be less resource
> demanding, and certainly more user friendly.

From what I've been reading here, my machine should be crawling, but
it's not. When I installed all those I figured that I'd run them for a
while and see how it went and then turn off the ones that appeared to
be slowing me down, I haven't had to do that yet.
AMD 2700+, 1GB RAM, 1TB hard drives, XP Pro
I noticed that Norton is offering AV for Linux, is that really
necessary?

From: "Bud" <k7kkg@yahoo.com>

| On Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:01:22 -0500, sherwindu <sherwindu@comcast.net>
| wrote:
>> Really surprising that there are no conflicts between different anti-virus
>> programs. That has not been my experience. Also, AVG free 8 runs
>> ok on my Vista quad machine with 2 gig, but bogs down my Athlon
>> 1.3 Gig machine with 500 meg. AVG 7.5 seemed to be less resource
>> demanding, and certainly more user friendly.

| From what I've been reading here, my machine should be crawling, but
| it's not. When I installed all those I figured that I'd run them for a
| while and see how it went and then turn off the ones that appeared to
| be slowing me down, I haven't had to do that yet.
| AMD 2700+, 1GB RAM, 1TB hard drives, XP Pro
| I noticed that Norton is offering AV for Linux, is that really
| necessary?

Installing an AV solution is prudent. Using Norton's solution is not.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
Multi-AV - http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

On Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:40:39 -0400, Bud <k7kkg@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I noticed that Norton is offering AV for Linux, is that really
> necessary?

Only if the linux system is being used to process email, or other files
destined for an m$ system.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

--
Change nomail.afraid.org to ody.ca to reply by email.
(nomail.afraid.org has been set up specifically for
use in usenet. Feel free to use it yourself.)

Mason C wrote:
> My Noton anti-virus is about to expire.
> (By accident I got it free a year ago.)
>
> Should I renew? I sense dislike for Norton here but don't know why.
>
> Mason C running private PC politely


Norton is a terrible resource hog and little by little, I've
uninstalled everything Norton from my machine.

I've been extremely happy with ESET NOD - I'm just using the
AV (not the new suite). This is my third year with it, my
daughter uses it also, and both of us are very pleased. It
is quite low on resource usage, updated definitions
frequently and without a lot of fanfare - it just works and
works well.

It has also "caught" a couple of things over the years when
I've gone to some "iffy" websites. You do have to pay for
it, but think of the "cost" of getting your system infected
and/or having its resources overused on a daily basis.

Louise