I need an opinion on antivirus for the puter.
I return to hometown after 6 months out to discover pop’s computer, running ME, had gotten a virus or something and was running crazy. So nephew had removed ME and put in XP without any attention being made to the Norton antivirus and lost it with the removal.
No record of any sort outside of a credit card # for pop’s august purchase of a norton update for the year. Removal of ME was in October.
Spent much time trying to find the needed category on the Norton support site and came up empty.
Sent them an Email explaining the whole thing and got what sounded like a form letter saying ‘too bad charlie’ in nice words.
I’m ready to let Norton have their system and let them stick it up their nose.
So now the puter has no antivirus and is running unprotected.
Was hoping to get some recommendations to help this puter greenhorn keep the boat afloat. Thanks
Edited 12/11/2003 2:56:29 PM ET by rez
Replies
You're better off without Norton, IMHO. On the couple of occasions I've used it, it's either not performed as expected, slowed the machine up greatly, and now, on my main computer, won't let any traffic through at all (I'm using a different machine, obviously). I cant' remove it, and I can't reinstall it. I now have to reformat my hard drive and start over, sans Norton (forever).
I have no recommendations for a replacement, though. I'd also be interested to hear what's worth using.
Edit: I should mention I was using NIS, which includes antivirus as well as firewall. It's the firewall that's blocking all traffic.
Be seeing you...
Edited 12/11/2003 3:33:52 PM ET by Tom Kanzler
"I can't remove it (Norton), and I can't reinstall it. "
When my McAfee subscription expired, I decided to dump McAfee because of the annoying pop-ups "do you want to buy an. . . . update. . . . firewall. . . etc" Like the Microsoft "System Critical Update Warning!" junk. So I figured I'd go with Norton instead.
Well, I couldn't uninstall McAfee. So I've got an out-of-date McAfee AND a current Norton running together. Pretty lame of a program if it can't even find itself to uninstall! And I am just not feeling up to the whole wipe and reload thing, so I tolerate the slow speed. I'll wait for my next hardware upgrade and be more selective about ANYTHING that goes on the new computer.
So you can't uninstall Norton. I can't uninstall McAfee. Equally bad there.
So far, I get less advertising from the Norton program than from McAfee.
David Thomas Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska
So now the puter has no antivirus and is running unprotected.
Was hoping to get some recommendations to help this puter greenhorn keep the boat afloat. Thanks
Not a very good deal, but survivable. First off, you can get an online virus check (from Norton, no less) that will also check for worms & trojans. (Dirty little secret: Most AV stuff cannont detect worm/trojan attacks until after the cues are written up.) Here's the Link (go to Check for Viruses):
http://security2.norton.com/ssc/home.asp?j=1&langid=us&venid=sym&plfid=20&pkj=XGDFYHGBYNCJEIMXQKC
There are others that provide online help, too (Trend Micro, for one).
Symantec (aka Norton) has been its own worst enemy on too many of these issues. There is a bit of a workaround, though. Since you have a new OS, if you install NAV, all of thesettings will also be new. So? Well, that means you can go ahead and register the product, and you get the 1 year of support from the new registration. Ethically vague? Perhaps. Writing 57 new tags for 56 variants of the same virus with different name variants, and expecting me to pay for it could also be considered ethically vague, too.
I've been through the wringer on AV. None seem to really be on the ball--but hey, there it is. I'll admit that I like being able to just get System Works on sale, and get Utilities & AV in one box.
Lest I be considered overy cynical, check this site out:
http://kumite.com/myths/
Install a p2p program (my favorite is Winmx). Download a copy of Norton Utilities. Install it. Problem solved.
After having my MacAfee spot viruses that the corporate Norton AV didn't, and after my Mom had the worst customer service experience possible with them trying to install a newly purchased AV, I decided that Norton will need to improve a lot before I try them again. MacAfee is OK, but I like what I have now, SystemSuite by V-Com (originally by Ontrack). It seems to work well on the AV front, as well as providing a firewall for my highspeed connection, as well as several other utilities. My Win98 system has been much more stable since installing it.
there's an antividus called AVG thast is free for personal use.
since I recently upgraded my Norton I'm not using AVG .
it was recommended by Joe Stoddard over at JLC. I have lots of respect for his computer knowledge.
BTW forget the site but when I upgraded my Norton works payed $15 at an internet site, just a cd but included year update bobl Volo, non valeo
I'm with you. Free seems the way to go. latest, Jan 04, PCWorld, a well respected computer publication, has an article about this subject, pg 168. It rated four free versions as passing tests given by national testing organizations like Virus Bulletin. To pass they had to stop all known viruses known in the wild on demand.
Alwil Avast 4 Home edition.Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus SystemH+BEDV Datentechnik AntiVir Personal EditionSoftwin BitDefender Free Edition Version 7
All passed. The writer seemed to like the Grisoft offering the most but felt comfortable recommending any of them.
All are downloadable though pcworld.com or directly from the companies by way of a Google or Yahoo search.
One poster complained about his AV software slowing his machine. I understand that AV software is of little use for most computing and can be turned off until needed. I find my PC runs much more swiftly without AV running. When I open my e-mail account, downloads or for periodic checks I activate it. On the other hand my firewall, for some reason it doesn't seem to noticeably slow my computer, remains on at all times. Hope this helps.
I wrote off Norton AV years ago. Here is the address for the freeware AVG Anti-Virus that bobl mentioned:
http://www.grisoft.com
Also, for anyone with these types of concerns, and more specifically spy-ware check out SpyBot Search and Destroy http://www.safer-networking.org It's another freeware that really got me out of some deep $h!t where some vendor called I-lookup had hi-jacked my browser, and made it so I couldn't do anything to get rid of their home page short of reinstalling the whole 9 yards. I couldn't believe the number of other innocuous (and maybe otherwise) trojans it found on my computer.
Matt
I run both as aware and spybot once a week.bobl Volo, non valeo
Scrap the XP and go for a Mac. 17 years and counting, virus free.
Steve
Here are a few of the lesser know brands that will probably be less invasive. But I don't know if they will be a easy to operate.
F-Secure http://www.datafellows.com/
Command http://www.authentium.com/solutions/products/commandantivirus.cfm
Norman http://www.norman.com/index.shtml
Sophos http://www.sophos.com/
our good buddy luka hasn't been here yet, he recommended kaspersky to me and it seems to work well, not very expensive and updates for a year with purchase I believe.
http://www.kaspersky.com/
oh and the cool thing is it screams at you when you have a problem..
As Cag says, I recommend Kaspersky.
And it is the only thing on my entire computer that I allow to auto-update.
Live, Love, Forgive and Forget
quittintime
http://www.tekdeal.com/utilities-utilitysuites.html
FYI
I bought norton system works from these folks, $14.89, no S&H.
all u get is the disk, no manuals, included 1 year subscription.
don't remember if u can install without the anti virusbobl Volo, non valeo
I just downloaded Spybot, installed and ran it.
Truly amazing piece of freeware. I WILL be donating.
It found 96 (!!!!) pieces of spyware and "usage trackers" on my computer. It cleaned them out and after a reboot, the difference is amazing. I guess it just slowly got worse without me noticing.
I tell you, it feels like DSL now. New pages come up in a flash.
Alan
Be sure you stay current on the updates. If I remember correctly, the current update searches for ~11,500 spy (ro)bots.Matt
Like so many posters here, I gave up on Symantic and Norton years ago.
I use computer associates etrust anti virus. Love it. Works great.
Quality repairs for your home.
Aaron the Handyman
Vancouver, Canada
AVG
...works...
...free..
ROAR!
Peace
Newf
May Peace be your gift at Christmas and your blessing all year through! ~Author Unknown
View Image
But yer one of them apple people!!!!!
viruses don't like apples!!!!!
just watch out for the worms hehehehehe!Ham and Eggs are a days work for the chicken but a life long commitment for the pig
No, I'm a Mac wanna-be...
I have had it with Microcrap. IE. And now they screwed Hotmail.
Next, the world...LOL
...<g>...
Think Different!Peace
Newf
May Peace be your gift at Christmas and your blessing all year through! ~Author UnknownView Image
Mac = Sony Betamax
Everybody new it was better...
BTW - what's your prob with hotmail? I kow it's different, but havn't found the down side...
Matt
>>Mac = Sony Betamax
Everybody new it was better...<<
Correction:
Everybody knows Mac is still better, financially healthy, and--this is where it really counts--open-standards based.
With Apple you get an OS based on open-source, rock-solid BSD Unix. You get to use whatever browser you want, not the one that MS decides to make inextractible from the OS. You aren't locked in to WMA DRM schemes. You get to work seamlessly with wintel networks. You get zero-configuration networking. In short you get to just turn on your machine and use it and not waste time every day figuring why whatever it is you are trying to do with the machine that day is not behaving as it is supposed to. The last two construction companies I worked for must have wasted at least an hour a day figuring out why some simple basic function of their PC's was acting up.
Anyone still struggling with proprietary Microshaft bloatware is responsible for their own misery.
Steve
I used Norton for a long time and had no problems with it. I appreciated the nominall cost for yearly updates, but I always had to struggle to find my way around their web site. I got fed up with it when I spent a LOT of time determining that I had to update my program in order to continue getting the virus updates and that I was eligible for a free update to my program.
Then after clicking on the link for the free update it wouldn't work. I finally called them and they said I wasn't eligible for the free program update and that I had to buy an update. I had just bought an upgrade two or three years before and I felt that it shouldn't be required that I buy another one so soon (not to mention my frustration over being led to believe I could get a free update...)
So now I use the free AVG. It seems to work fine.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
Not sure why you guys are having trouble unintalling Norton & Mcafee. I did both this morning. Go to start button..... all programs.........find subdirectory for symantech (or others)..........find the uninstall program.
You get out of life what you put into it......minus taxes.
Marv
>
Not sure why you guys are having trouble unintalling Norton & Mcafee. I did both this morning. Go to start button..... all programs.........find subdirectory for symantech (or others)..........find the uninstall program.<
After uninstall, you might also use 'Registry First Aid' to clean up the registry. Uninstall does NOT remove all....I just learned this and its true. A coworker just installed it on my laptop, so I dont have the specifics for purchase, but if needed let me know...
I'd guess your problem doesn't relate to Norton just disappearing. As with a lot of other software, an updated version of Norton is required to work with XP and that is not a free upgrade. Thanks Microsoft.
When I reformat, I simply reinstall the Norton and it proceeds to download the virus definitions without any problems or new registration required. Switch the OS back to 2K or prior and your Norton problem will likely be easily resolved.