Norton Antivirus?

[Jade Tigress]

It's time for my subscription to be renewed and I wonder if it's worth paying for. I have had Grisoft AVG 7.1 Free version for a while in conjunction with Norton. Can I just use the AVG? Or is having a program like Norton necessary. Thanks.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I wouldn't use Norton if I was paid to. AVG seems to work fine, and it's what I've been recommending for years.

 

[Ping898]

you'd probably be better off with AVG, plus it can be bad to have two antivirus softwares. Sometimes they can conflict with each other causing both of them to miss viruses...virii...

 

[rutherford]

Keep your AVG updated and have no worries.

 

[crushing]

If you feel the need to pay for virus protection, I have heard good things about Kapersky http://www.kaspersky.com/ .

I use the Free AVG product and haven't had any problems so far.

 

[mrhnau]

Sometimes they can conflict with each other causing both of them to miss viruses...virii...

Virus... interesting entymology...

virme - my own virus (alt viri)
virthem - other peoples virus
virile - a very effective virus
virussr - virus that thinks everyone is the same
viraq - currently occupied by virus
viran - currently including nuclear residues in its structure, or a very fast virus occupying yourself

anyways.. just brain farting

 

[Jade Tigress]

YAY! Just gonna keep AVG. Thanks everybody!

 

[fireman00]

It's time for my subscription to be renewed and I wonder if it's worth paying for. I have had Grisoft AVG 7.1 Free version for a while in conjunction with Norton. Can I just use the AVG? Or is having a program like Norton necessary. Thanks.

Norton is to $$ and is a memory hog. I've been using AVG for 2 years on two systems with no issues. The auto-update feature is the best.

 

[bydand]

I used to use Norton, until they started to act like Microsoft and think they are smarter than me and should just change settings to what they like. I use AVG all the time now and will never go back to a Norton product. Memory hog, expensive, and takes an act of God to totally get rid of it, Norton blows.

 

[hemi]

What about PcCillin? Good, Bad, Ugly?

 

[OUMoose]

What about PcCillin? Good, Bad, Ugly?

Trend is better than Norton, but still not the best. Good detection rate, and relatively small memory footprint for a commercial app. Still costs money to update, though, and it's removal rates aren't the best.

AVG (Free)/Avast (Free) or Kapersky($$) are the ways I would go still.

 

[ed-swckf]

I only ever used norton once when it came as a bundled piece of software with a motherboard i bought. Supprisingly enough (or not) that year i had the most trouble i have ever had with a PC at home. Not trying to jump on the anti-norton bandwaggon but it didn't prevent me from some biggies, however holes in windows were more to blame.

 

[Cthulhu]

After my VirusScan expired, I tried AVG on Bob's recomendation. Been using it ever since.

Cthulhu

 

[Kacey]

I had Norton for years; last year I bought a new upgrade, tried to install it, and it told me I had to uninstall the old one first, which it had an automatic routine for... which didn't work. I tried uninstalling the old one at least 3-4 times, but each time (even though I manually cleaned out evey file I could find) it kept telling me that I had to uninstall the old version first. It also wouldn't let me reinstall the old one to try to uninstall it completely. I installed the free version of AVG and haven't had any problems. Last summer, I got McAfee, because it came free with my Comcast subscription, and I've been running them both; they don't seem to interact badly. McAfee is alright, but if it weren't free, I'd be using just AVG and I'd be happy with that - along with Ad-Aware by LavaSoft. I haven't had any problems.

 

[hemi]

What about the paid subscription version of AVG, is it worth spending the money or does the free version work just as good?

 

[Cthulhu]

What about the paid subscription version of AVG, is it worth spending the money or does the free version work just as good?

Per Grisoft's site, here's what you DON'T get with the free version:

Less protection — AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition does not detect potentially unwanted programs.
No 64-bit and server support — AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition cannot be installed on server operating systems (such as Windows Server 2003), nor can it be used for the scanning of network drives. Also Windows XP Pro x64 edition is not supported.
No customization — Scheduling options in the AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition are very limited (only one scheduled update per day, one scheduled scan per day etc.). Also the Resident Shield configuration is limited with no exclusion settings. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition does not offer advanced testing options, password-protected archives reporting, adjustment of scan process priority and many other features.
Slower updates — AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition receives updates via a lower priority service. Priority updating via high-speed servers is only available for commercial versions.
No technical support!


I've never had a problem with update speed, never needed tech support (knock on wood), don't need more customization than what's offered, and I don't have a 64-bit OS. Since I run Ad-aware and another adware/spyware killer, I'm not worried about 'unwanted apps'.

Cthulhu

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Since we are speaking of protecting your computer. What is everyone's opinion of Panda Antivirus.

 

[OUMoose]

What about the paid subscription version of AVG, is it worth spending the money or does the free version work just as good?

Free version is just as good for home use. The paid version adds some scheduling and nice stuff for corporate environments, but really nothing for home use.

Note: Make sure you update to 7.5, as AVG Free 7.1 is getting discontinued. (7.5 also has a free version)

 

[hemi]

Thanks for the info it’s so hard to know who has the best defense

 

[bydand]

AVG 7.5
AdAware
SpyBot S&D
Zone Alarm

All free, all as good or better than ones you have to pay for. No infections, probes, or loss of information using these the past few years.