AVG vs Mcafee vs Norton

bingo9999

Hi guys,
I recently got my computer fixed because it was getting slow and the like and they said it was virus damage. I had the latest norton with all the bells and whistles and the engineer said it was no good the virus would just turn it off. This seemed pretty odd to me that norton was no good. He said he'd put on more adequate virus protection, after getting the computer back i saw that this was AVG free edition. Is this really hugely better? And for free? How does norton exist at all?
And if it is free and so much better could he not have left norton AND added avg so they could "watch" each other? I also have a laptop with mcafee on it and was wondering should I download avg free to run beside mcafee? Will they work together?
Thanks for any help you could offer,
Cheers

Ruu_Old

I have always found Norton the biggest waste of time and I'm sure a great deal of boards users will agree with me. Every computer I bought, I found the likes of Norton installed and got rid of it right away. It hogs resources and it doesn't do what its meant to do, its also a pain in the backside to remove. Why pay for something when you can get better protection for free?

irlrobins

It is true that some viruses attempt to switch off the anti-virus software, but if you keep your definitions uptodate, the software will detect the virus before it infects the PC.

Norton is very good at detecting viruses, and is easy for a novice user to use. It's weakness is that it is quite bloated and can slow your pc down. And it is notoriously difficult to uninstall it at times.

AVG is quite a good program, espec since it is free. It's not as user friendly imo, but it doesn't resource hog like Norton does.

What is the best anti virus program for you depends on your needs. What works for one person might not suit another.

And you should never have more than one anti virus software program running. It just slows your PC right down and is completely pointless having more than one.

PogMoThoin

He's right. I got rid of McAfee even tho i had 3 mths left in subscription. Never liked it. Dont rate Northon either. Both are hogs on system resources and are not as good as they should be. Avg free is 1 of the best and also it updates as soon as you boot, not while your in the middle of something. My security is as follows:
Anti-virus: AVG free
Firewall: Kerio (30 days free, then you loose some of the Advanced features)
Spyware: Windows defender beta, Spybot search and destroy & AD-aware (i use all three, what 1 doesn't find, the other will)
All are free which is great.

Edit: Ruu & IRLRobins got here 1st. Its ok to have several spyware progs tho.

LunaC

Stick with AVG it's the business.

Enright

nortons is THE biggest virus u could install on any pc

Its not advisable to run more than 1 anti virus software on the same machine because they will interact with each other, and your machine will loose out

as a fan of avg free for the last seven years, its the business. the free version can be a little hard to install, and it comes with no support, but still, it works and its FREE for home use

p2kone

go to the microsoft website, do a search for etrust, fill out the form and you get etrust 7.1 free for a year!!

TempestSabre

Every year Norton manage to make their products worse and worse. They are truely terrible. Nearly every PC/Laptop I see with problems, has/or had Norton installed on it at some point. It truely is a virus in its own right. If you want you PC to perform like a sick 386, install Norton. Its that bad.

I don't have problems with Mcafee, but I don't like using it. it doesn't catch as much as AVG for me. I've been using AVG for years. Not the best AV package maybe, but good enough for most people and a lot better than Norton or Mcafee.

Mind you need also need a good firewall like Zone Alarm, and anti malware apps, like Spybot, SpywareBlaster, X-Cleaner, Ad-Aware SE etc.

Anti

Ruu wrote:

I have always found Norton the biggest waste of time and I'm sure a great deal of boards users will agree with me. Every computer I bought, I found the likes of Norton installed and got rid of it right away. It hogs resources and it doesn't do what its meant to do, its also a pain in the backside to remove. Why pay for something when you can get better protection for free?

agreed !

homerjay2005

i work for a company that provoids norton with its pcs and laptops and personally i think its an awful piece of SW. i deleted on mine as soon as the trial was over, installed zone alarm and immediately it picked up 25 viruses that norton didnt. zone alarm is only a short trial(i maybe wrong on that though as i didnt look too much around the site, but its the best that is out there), if your paying, them id advise upgrade to the full version of this for somethin like €40 a year for this. it has everything, firewall, spyware etc. at the moment, i have avast, fully free for home use for 12 months and all you have to do is re register and also spybot search and destroy. i think the 2 are fine and they are totally free. zone alarm then if your willing to spend a few bob, though im sure some1 on ere has a crack or code for a full free version.

Cuddlesworth

To sum things up;

-Resource hog, it slows down the pc. The longer its on the slower it gets.
-Incapable of removing/finding virus's or trojans.
-Takes a good hour to remove properly.
-There are better alternatives that dont charge.