virrus protection

monty_python · 16-12-2008 8:23pm #1

hi got a brand spanking laptop today!!!! happy as a pig in dirt!!!

i only got 30days trail of mcafee. so my question is, what is the best anti virus availible availible???

and would having the best anti virus software i can get absolutly garantee i wont get a virus or spyware???

Celtic Mech · 16-12-2008 8:28pm

I personally use AVG. Its free, can be downloaded from Download.com I used to use Mcafee but installed AVG and scanned the laptop with it...it found trojan horses that Mcafee never even noticed!! It auto updates itself each day with the latest definitions. Im happy with it.

Overheal · 16-12-2008 8:56pm

I hate McAfee more than I hate AVG. If you can get AVG to work its great, but I always got nothing but hiccups from it. Avast is another good free alternative which is every bit as powerful as AVG. If you want to throw money down, you'll get the best protection out of an Internet Security Suite (includes Antivirus, Firewall, and more) from either Norton, Kapersky or Nod32.

MunsterCycling · 16-12-2008 9:32pm

If you want your laptop to remain functioning anywhere near the level it should then stay away from Norton.

MC

Do-more · 16-12-2008 9:35pm

You can pick up the OEM version of Norton Antivirus for around £10 shop around for the best deal on p&p

Example 1!

Norton are said to have got their act together with the latest version which is supposedly very light on system resources, thinking of giving it a go myself.

MunsterCycling · 16-12-2008 9:42pm

Do-more wrote: »

You can pick up the OEM version of Norton Antivirus for around £10 shop around for the best deal on p&p

Example 1!

Norton are said to have got their act together with the latest version which is supposedly very light on system resources, thinking of giving it a go myself.

Wouldn't bet on it!!!

Do-more · 16-12-2008 9:48pm

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Wouldn't bet on it!!!

Have you tried the latest version?

Obviously not from your statement, I'd be the first to say that Norton has a very bad reputation from their past record, but if you havn't used the latest version then you are in no position to knock it.

MunsterCycling · 16-12-2008 9:49pm

Had to deal with the crud last week in fact as I work in the business, pitiful waste of money.

MC

DenMan · 16-12-2008 9:54pm

I use Nod32 and find it to be a brilliant program. It's pretty good on resources as it doesn't hog your laptop's RAM. No problems with it at all.

Do-more · 16-12-2008 9:58pm

You of course have the right to your opionion but it's completely at odds with all the reviews of the latest version.

For example:

Norton Antivirus 2009 is a dramatic improvement over previous versions. Norton's old versions were known to be computer resource hogs in the Tech community. However, Norton has addressed these concerns with their 2009 version - it's now the fastest scanning, and uses the least system memory of any of its major competitors (including Kaspersky, NOD32, McAfee, Trend, BitDefender and others).

http://www.antivirusware.com/norton-antivirus/

Alanstrainor · 16-12-2008 10:01pm

Moved from Laptops.
cheers,
Al.

MunsterCycling · 16-12-2008 10:01pm

Its still Norton, try removing it from a machine and then you will understand.

MC :rolleyes:

TechieEddy · 16-12-2008 10:50pm

If a software company has to make a removal tool for their own products its generally not a good sign. I wouldn't agree with that s/w report mainly because the website you quoted is highly suspect! Installation in 57 seconds? and it doesn't mention any other av s/w.
Totally reliable :rolleyes:

The only reason Norton is still around is because its bundled with new pc's / laptops.
I'd recommend Avira.

Do-more · 16-12-2008 11:26pm

TechieEddy wrote: »

If a software company has to make a removal tool for their own products its generally not a good sign. I wouldn't agree with that s/w report mainly because the website you quoted is highly suspect! Installation in 57 seconds? and it doesn't mention any other av s/w.
Totally reliable :rolleyes:

The only reason Norton is still around is because its bundled with new pc's / laptops.
I'd recommend Avira.

Is CNET's review better for you then?

http://reviews.cnet.com/internet-security-and-firewall/norton-antivirus-2009/4505-3667_7-33246574.html

Installation

On our test system, we downloaded Norton AntiVirus 2009 and installed the product within a minute. Instead of relying upon Microsoft's installer, which Symantec has blamed for much of its past product bloat, the company started over, designing its own installer. There is the added advantage that as criminals target MSI files (say to prevent you from installing a security defense product on your already compromised machine) Symantec won't be affected--for now. The new installer process works fast, borrowing streaming technology from its Norton Ghost product. On both Windows Vista and Windows XP test machines, we were up and running in one minute and without a reboot.

Should you want to uninstall, Norton includes an uninstall option. In the past, Norton left a mess. Now, after rebooting our machine, what is left behind is licensing information.

Overheal · 17-12-2008 10:23am

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Its still Norton, try removing it from a machine and then you will understand.

MC :rolleyes:

Im calling shenannigans on you.

The Norton Removal tool makes it extremely painless to remove Norton, as a matter of fact.

http://service1.symantec.com/Support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039

Now if you have nothing further to add besides your clearly unfounded allegations I'll be keeping an eye on your posts regarding the matter. As a subscriber to Norton, I assure you with no conflict of interest, that your argument is loaded, or at best, years out of date. Please sit down.

As well as being a snap to remove and install, Norton Internet Security (Antivirus, firewall, spyware, browser and phising protection) operates idle on as little as 4MB of RAM. Installation is fast but if you count reboots (i was upgrading from 08 to 09) then under a minute is a bit of an overstatement. And a few years ago I had seen viruses capable of deleting/disabling Antivirus programs - its a security measure that it requires a signed tool to uninstall it with.

Dont forget the http://pcmag.com reviews either. While your at it, compare the user reviews between AVG and Avast.

Any other obsolete allegations under that helmet? :pac:

TechieEddy · 17-12-2008 10:24am

On our test system, we downloaded Norton AntiVirus 2009 and installed the product within a minute.

Ya sure they did

TechieEddy · 17-12-2008 10:33am

Overheal wrote: »

Im calling shenannigans on you.

The Norton Removal tool makes it extremely painless to remove Norton, as a matter of fact.
.

I remove virus's / malware from computers on a daily basis and Norton can be a real nightmare to remove. The removal tool is good but doesnt get rid of it all the time. No way would I describe it as extremely painless.

Alun · 17-12-2008 4:20pm

FWIW, c't, a German computer magazine of some standing, and whose opinion I respect also came out on the side of the latest Norton offering in their latest antivirus test. Seems as if Symantec indeed seem to have finally got their act together, and if they have, then fair play to them.

Alun · 17-12-2008 4:41pm

TechieEddy wrote: »

Ya sure they did

Just found a 90-day trial on the net and installed it in a VMWare VM. And yes, it did indeed only take a minute, if that, and not even a reboot required.

Quite a small memory footprint too .. my NOD32 on the host machine takes up 42MB including the GUI.

Overheal · 17-12-2008 10:36pm

am i just sleep deprived or does that not match up to 42mb? looks like 8 or 9.

edit: Ohhhhh I see what you did there.

Overheal · 17-12-2008 10:44pm

Alun wrote: »

FWIW, c't, a German computer magazine of some standing, and whose opinion I respect also came out on the side of the latest Norton offering in their latest antivirus test. Seems as if Symantec indeed seem to have finally got their act together, and if they have, then fair play to them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_AntiVirus#Independent_assessments

* Norton Internet Security won PC Magazine editor's choice awards for 2007, 2008 and 2009.[8][9][10]

* PC World rated Norton Internet Security 2008 as the top performer among tested 2008 security suites.[11]

* PC World has also rated Norton Internet Security 2006 as a "Best Buy". [3]

* PC PRO has recommended Norton Internet Security 2009: PCPRO

* CNET rated Norton Internet Security 2009 as 4/5. CNET

* PC World IDG gave Norton Internet Security 2009 a 4.5/5 rating." PC World IDG

* Secunia tested 12 popular AntiVirus suites, including Kaspersky, BitDefender, Trend Micro, McAfee, OneCare, AVG, F-Secure, Panda, ZoneAlarm, CA, and Norman against 144 malicious files and 156 malicious web pages, which carry exploits that allows a hacker to drop a malicious payload. Norton Internet Security 2009 leaded by detected 30.95% of all the exploits, including the files and malicious web pages.

* According to AV-test.org, Norton 2008 excels in rootkit detection and removal; only product of the 34 tested to receive "++" in both rootkit detection and removal. AV-test

* According to AV-test.org, Norton Internet Security 2009 beta detected 98.7% of malware.

* According to AV-comparatives.org, Norton AntiVirus had "few" false positives.

* According to AV-comparatives, an unreleased preview of Norton AntiVirus's improved heuristics would score ~41% in the May 2008 test compared to its current stable release's 18%.

* Independent 3rd party test lab, PassMark Software [2] was commissioned to benchmark Norton Antivirus 2009 and top security software competitors' performance impact on key metrics, including Kaspersky. Highlights from this report include: Fastest install: installs in only 52 seconds, least working memory usage: uses less than 7MB, fastest quick scan: scans take 33 seconds.

* According to AV-comparatives, Norton AntiVirus 2009 was the second fastest security suite overall. AV-comparatives Anti-Virus Comparative

* Norton AntiVirus 2008 is Certified by ICSA Labs.

* Norton AntiVirus 2009 received the highest possible rating from Checkvir labs, "Standard".

* Norton AntiVirus 2009 received the highest possible rating from Checkvir labs, "Standard", for detecting malware transmitted by electronic mail.

* Norton has consecutively passed all VB100% tests since 1999.

* Norton AntiVirus successfully detected 44% of malware with 4 week old signatures with "few" false positives. AV-comparatives gave Norton AntiVirus the "Advanced" rating. AV-comparatives

* Cascadia Labs found that Norton 2009 was the only product tested that blocked all drive-by-downloads, fake online antivirus scanners, and fake video codec sites. [4]

* Norton Internet Security 2009 received ProtectStar, Inc. 1st place "ProtectStar Award 2009" ProtectStar big comparative test report

Note: Most test results for NIS apply for NAV and vice versa, except for firewall tests.

Alun · 18-12-2008 11:19am

Overheal wrote: »

am i just sleep deprived or does that not match up to 42mb? looks like 8 or 9.

edit: Ohhhhh I see what you did there.

It does rise when it's doing a scan, or when you crank up the GUI, but soon settles down back to 8 or 9 in total when at rest. It certainly looks to me as if this is a brand new product, developed from the ground up, with little if nothing remaining of the old framework. Only those two services for a start, there were many more with the old Norton IIRC.

by8auj6csd3ioq · 18-12-2008 3:28pm

Do-more wrote: »

You can pick up the OEM version of Norton Antivirus for around £10 shop around for the best deal on p&p

Example 1!

Norton are said to have got their act together with the latest version which is supposedly very light on system resources, thinking of giving it a go myself.

will nav 2009 work with comodo? has it a firewall and if so can it be turned off? Thanks

Overheal · 18-12-2008 6:06pm

nIS runs its own 2-way firewall. its fairly intelligent and very unpbtrusive. great at blocking portscans and intrusion attempts. nAV im not sure if it has a firewall. edit: no.

Do-more wrote: »

You can pick up the OEM version of Norton Antivirus for around £10 shop around for the best deal on p&p

Example 1!

Norton are said to have got their act together with the latest version which is supposedly very light on system resources, thinking of giving it a go myself.

Even if you find a 2008 version for sale, Norton will honor the serial key as a new 366 day subscription to their service. Once you register the key on their website, it will let you access the 2009 software on direct download.

http://www.google.com/products?q=norton+internet+security+oem&btnG=Search+Products&show=dd

_CreeD_ · 19-12-2008 3:19am

Guys you can trot out all the reviews you like but just about everyone in the Infosec business hates Norton with good reason. I've used every version for over a decade, including the latest, and it is still a relatively weak product when compared to other top performers in terms of security, bloat and just plain flakiness. A journalist running it on a clean system does not represent how it will act on a production system. The fact that previous versions also often won awards simply goes to show how limited or biased those reviewers can be. once again the vast majority of folks who have to deal with their products professionally would not recommend them.
Their corporate support is also terrible.

Deliverance XXV · 19-12-2008 9:05am

Okay maybe I'm missing the point here.

How much is a Norton subscription?

Will AVG/AVIRA coupled with MBAM, Spyware Blaster, the Vista firewall and safe surfing not give me the same level of protection?
That's being pretty much my set up since the release day of Vista and guess what? I've never gotten more than an invasive cookie. The computer still runs like day 1.
Why pay more than €50 for something that can be done for free?

I'm not trying to stir anything up just sharing my experiences.

Alun · 19-12-2008 10:02am

_CreeD_ wrote: »

Guys you can trot out all the reviews you like but just about everyone in the Infosec business hates Norton with good reason. I've used every version for over a decade, including the latest, and it is still a relatively weak product when compared to other top performers in terms of security, bloat and just plain flakiness. A journalist running it on a clean system does not represent how it will act on a production system. The fact that previous versions also often won awards simply goes to show how limited or biased those reviewers can be. once again the vast majority of folks who have to deal with their products professionally would not recommend them.
Their corporate support is also terrible.

All I'm going is what I've read in a magazine that I personally trust. You've probably never heard of it, but c't is an independent German magazine that isn't owned by any of the big international media companies and isn't afraid of calling a spade a spade. They've probably been sued by more IT companies than any other comparable publication in Germany or abroad in their history due to their criticism or debunking of products, including 'fake' products like (IIRC) MemoryBooster, and if they say that the new Norton package has improved then I believe them.

OK, it's not perfect, but then none of the other packages reviewed are either, and in some cases, packages that previously got top marks, such as NOD32 are now beginning to get marked down, for precisely some of the reasons (mainly bloat) that Norton did in the past. In previous tests they've basically said exactly what you've said and told people to stay well away.

If you speak German I can scan in the article if you like.

Overheal · 21-12-2008 11:26am

google translate is your friend. post it.

Donald-Duck · 21-12-2008 8:55pm

Overheal wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_AntiVirus#Independent_assessments

Since you want to use av-comparatives as an example, you should let people know that it had one of the lowest detection rates of all the ones they tested.

It is also one of the most expensive to buy too.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/

Comparatives->November 2008 test

Personally I'd recommend NOD32 or Kaspersky to people

Dartz · 21-12-2008 9:07pm

Kaspersky seconded, as a user.

Bought it off the shelf for the same price as Norton. Found it nicer to use than McAfee, and less truculent than Norton 2007. It's also got a much higher detection rate. Norton never uttered a peep on a system that I knew was riddled with spyware/god knows what. After that, and the bother I had cleaning it, I'll never use a Symantec product again.

Sure it's an older version... but it's still a bitter taste.

I do get a false positive on a computer I know to be clean, because a driver triggers 'behaviour similar to keylogger' warnings, but otherwise it's pretty good.

Donald-Duck · 21-12-2008 9:33pm

Dartz wrote: »

Kaspersky seconded, as a user.

Bought it off the shelf for the same price as Norton. Found it nicer to use than McAfee, and less truculent than Norton 2007. It's also got a much higher detection rate. Norton never uttered a peep on a system that I knew was riddled with spyware/god knows what. After that, and the bother I had cleaning it, I'll never use a Symantec product again.

Sure it's an older version... but it's still a bitter taste.

I do get a false positive on a computer I know to be clean, because a driver triggers 'behaviour similar to keylogger' warnings, but otherwise it's pretty good.

Thats the only single issue I've ever heard with Kaspersky, it likes its false positives. But on the other hand it does have the best detection rate of any of them

Dartz · 21-12-2008 9:39pm

You do have to know a bit about what things do alright, and it does tend to seal downloaded programs off a bit tighter than you might want. I know it gave me a lot of trouble with the management software for my network drive... decided that it was accessing to deep and shouldnt be allowed.

You do sometimes have to tell it what you want to do, and that it's okay to do it. The danger is, getting into to much of a habit of doing this. I have found though that, on the whole it is pretty good at categorising programs and using firewall rules to control them.

The firewall is pretty bloody good.

_CreeD_ · 21-12-2008 11:12pm

Yup I love Kaspersky. I really like the fact that you have a simple choice during the install, let it handle things itself silently or always prompt you. For my Wife's system I set it to silent, never a bother and she doesn't get any popups. For mine I set it to prompt and the level of granularity of control you have, even down to the Antispam fearures, is superb. Those warnings aren't so much false positives though as simply behaviour notices, the HIPS module is there to warn you of anything that isn't in your Trusted list attempting to access core resources not just those it truly believes are malevolent.
The only thing I wish they'd add to it is a granular pause selection, rather than disabling the whole thing while I game (I have a hardware firewall) I'd prefer to be able to quickly just pause HIPS - you can do it if you go into the console itself but it was a convenient shortcut feature I liked in ESET32.

Alun · 27-12-2008 10:17pm

Overheal wrote: »

google translate is your friend. post it.

Google Translate (or any attempt at artificial translation) is a pile of pants actually, but if you insist ... It's way too long to scan and OCR the lot, so I've only done the section for Norton Antivirus 2009, and the conclusions (Fazit). Viel Glück !!

K-9 · 31-12-2008 1:03am

Like Avast, prefer it over AVG and AntiVir. Tried Comodo as a firewall and it never seemed to remember my trusted programs. Using Online Armor now and I like it, scores highly too.

Have MalwareAntiBytes and SUPERAntispyware. Might try Spyware Blaster for real time detection and the other 2 as back up for scanning.

by8auj6csd3ioq · 05-01-2009 8:31pm

Seanies32 wrote: »

Might try Spyware Blaster

recommended be sure it is the javacool one at http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html I think there is a rogue using that name or a similar

mukki · 29-01-2009 10:35am

norton was very good about 4 years ago, i had norton corp 10, on all my pcs and never had a problem with it

since then i have made a career out of removing it of pcs, its like a free upgrade to your pc

but now this norton 2009 is out and its dirt cheap, and must be the fastest antivirus out there,

its €27 and you can put it on 3 computers
the daily scan only scans new or changed files
the updates are tiny i seen some that were 2kb, it checks every 15mins and take about 1 sec to download and apply them

so i think the whole remove norton and install avg to fix all problems day is coming to an end

....but why would you use it over a free antivirus

i think norton should at least give the first years subscription free to try and get customers back that the peeved off for 4 years

mumhaabu · 09-02-2009 5:48am

AVG is going backwards, they have their own Norton esque removal tool and all now. Now would be a good time to buy shares in Kaspersky is they are available. The future trend will be removing AVG for Kaspersky, and free Anti Virus programs are coming to an end.

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