Norton Internet Security 2009 - €37.49

Pegasus15

I was up in PC World in Airside Retail Park recently purchasing Norton Internet Security 2009. On the shelf, it was marked as €74.99, but when I took it to the till the cashier told me that it was half price at the moment and as such €37.49. She didn't specify how long it'd be half price, but she did say she was going to get the price on the shelf changed so the offer might only be starting.

Hope this is of interest.

SQDD

Or you could try AVG, free and miles better than Norton, no annoying popups reminding you to re-enter your credit card for their scam anti virus!

boopolo

No offence, but I wouldn't even put it on my computer for free.
AVG is good but some problems with VISTA for some users.

cute_cow

boopolo wrote: »

No offence, but I wouldn't even put it on my computer for free.
AVG is good but some problems with VISTA for some users.

+1

I had it on my laptop and wouldn't pick up the virus that was on it, took it off and installed AVG and all was well.

Stay away from it, you're far better off!!

bk

Norton Internet Security suite has been completely re-written this year and has won numerous best security suite awards.

Check out the detailed review here:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2330018,00.asp

AVG is absolute rubbish in comparison.

This can be installed on up to 3 PC's so this deal is great value for money. I picked up two copies today for my family and I, thanks very much Pegasus15.

yoyo

Avira imo is a good freeware antivirus, came out top in av-comparitives poll, and is lite on resources,

Nick

BostonB

Norton has been getting great reviews in the computing mags for years. Yet in my experience its complete crud with lots of problems. So you have to wonder about the Mag reviews. Maybe this 2009 version is better, but I'm very skeptical. The free alternatives have a much better track record, and are well free!

daftdave

anything that makes you download a "removal tool" to be able to remove it from a pc is a no on for me - sensible browsing and downloading coupled with a few free apps from the net has kept my machine's clean for the last 8 yrs s!!

bk

BostonB wrote: »

Norton has been getting great reviews in the computing mags for years. Yet in my experience its complete crud with lots of problems. So you have to wonder about the Mag reviews. Maybe this 2009 version is better, but I'm very skeptical. The free alternatives have a much better track record, and are well free!

Honest to god, hand on heart, it is excellent.

I use to absolutely hate Symantec products and I thought the exact same way about their products as you guys, they have been the bane of my life for many years. Norton Systemworks use to do the complete opposite of what it was supposed to do (speed up your PC) and uninstalling it and Norton AV use to be the first step in significantly speed up PC's.

The only good product I've ever used from them is Ghost and that was bought from another company.

However recently I had to install it for a friend on an effected PC and I was blown away by how much it had improved and how good it was now. It installed very quickly and didn't need a reboot. It used very little system resources, far less then my combination of separate apps (Nod32, Zonealarm, etc.) and is extremely clean and easy to use interface (great for non technical family and friends).

I suppose there is only so long your product can be absolutely despised by people like us in the IT industry before you are forced to re-write your app from the ground up. Honestly you guys should give it another try, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

SQDD

Seriously man, do you work for synamtec?! I work with laptops all the time, generally for people who are unfamiliar with computers and the first port of call is always removing the crapware virus that comes preinstalled - generally norton or mcafee. Honestly they must be paying manufacturers a bomb to put their rubbish onto a computer that misleads customers out of cash. Honestly, let's say you're paying E100 for the windows license, why in gods name would you pay nearly half that again (or E75 snigger) just to "protect" it, make no mistake, all those antivirus companies are in the scam business. You're way off calling avg crap. There are plenty of free alternatives, I was just giving an example. NOD32 is very good too. No wonder their UI is good, they're marketing themselves to exploit suckers who don't know much about computers.
Why is it a bargain, it's still over E35. It isn't worth E75 and it's not worth E35, like previously mentioned by another poster, i wouldn't install it if it was available free.

AVOID!

rubadub

bk wrote: »

Check out the detailed review here:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2330018,00.asp

AVG is absolute rubbish in comparison.

They give norton 4.5stars, and AVG 4 stars, not exact rubbishing it.

I got rid of macafees on my fathers and it speed up hugely with AVG, he was all set to get a new PC it was so slow, it was like a new machine again. Another mate did the same with norton, might have been an older version. I hate all the popups on macafee & norton telling you how great they are "oh we got another virus, you would be screwed without us, hope you keep up the subscription, now that we have scared you sh-itless not to", I do not see nearly as many pop ups etc with AVG or AVAST, if they do come up they go quickly. I have yet to try avira but hear good things.

So you have to wonder about the Mag reviews.

Adverts keep these mags alive, of course they praise their advertisers, I am surprised they give free software decent reviews at all, it is in their interest to put people off them.

bk

rubadub wrote: »

I got rid of macafees on my fathers and it speed up hugely with AVG, he was all set to get a new PC it was so slow, it was like a new machine again. Another mate did the same with norton, might have been an older version. I hate all the popups on macafee & norton telling you how great they are "oh we got another virus, you would be screwed without us, hope you keep up the subscription, now that we have scared you sh-itless not to", I do not see nearly as many pop ups etc with AVG or AVAST, if they do come up they go quickly. I have yet to try avira but hear good things.

If your looking for a free AV, then I highly recommend Avast or Avira over AVG. Avast and Avira are far better, the latest versions of AVG use a lot more resources then in the past and they have done a few things recently that has pissed off a lot of folks in the IT industry:

AVG Virus Scanner Removes Critical Windows File
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/10/2319209

AVG Fakes User Agent, Floods the Internet
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/03/1411254

SQDD wrote:

Seriously man, do you work for synamtec?!

No I don't, I do work as a Software Engineer and many people here on boards know who I work for and it has no connection with the computer security industry.

SQDD wrote:

Why is it a bargain, it's still over E35. It isn't worth E75 and it's not worth E35, like previously mentioned by another poster, i wouldn't install it if it was available free.

Because, it can be installed on 3 PC's and it isn't just an AV prog, it also includes trojan/spyware detection and removal, an excellent firewall and anti-phising system.

Sure, you can get much the same effect for free with:
- Avast/Avira
- Zonealarm
- MS Defeneder, similar progs
- Firefox (built in anti-phising)

But I have found that this suite uses significantly less resources then these separate apps put together and importantly for non technical users, is far easier to use and maintain then these separate apps.

I use to always install the above apps on family and friends machines, but I use to get constant calls from them about Zonealarm asking about a program needing to access the web or needing to remind them to do a full scan or update (often the free version of these apps don't do scheduled scans or automatic updates, you need to buy the pro version for this).

Since switching them to Norton I don't get these calls any more and I've had no complaints about slow machines or virus/trojan infections. It has made life much easier for me.

I'm certainly not saying it is right for everyone, if you can't afford €37 then certainly, go for the free ones, it is better then nothing. But what I am saying is that Norton has improved massively from the past, it is probably the most improvement I've ever seen in an app in one year.

If you don't believe me, why don't you go and try out the 30 day trial for yourself, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

boopolo

bk wrote: »

Norton Internet Security suite has been completely re-written this year and has won numerous best security suite awards.

Check out the detailed review here:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2330018,00.asp

AVG is absolute rubbish in comparison.

This can be installed on up to 3 PC's so this deal is great value for money. I picked up two copies today for my family and I, thanks very much Pegasus15.

You are entitled to your opinion. So you bought 2. That will do six computers. My Avg will do 1,000s of computers for free. But I have experience of both over many years and wouldn't waste my money.

The only PAID such software i have any time for is PC TOOLS Spyware Doctor anti spyware/adware. This together with AVG imo is the best.

boo

bk

boopolo wrote: »

You are entitled to your opinion. So you bought 2. That will do six computers. My Avg will do 1,000s of computers for free. But I have experience of both over many years and wouldn't waste my money.

Again I highly recommend Avast or Avira over AVG.

Note Avast includes anti-spyware for free, but I'd recommend using it in conjunction with other spy-ware apps like MS defender.

I suppose there is an important lesson for all programmers/software companies to learn here, even if you completely re-write your app and it is excellent now, it will be very hard for people to overcome and forgive the bad experiences they had in the past with your software.

Get it right the first time and listen and respond to your customers complaints. Had Symantec done the re-write years ago, they might have a much better reputation today or any positive reputation at all.

CiaranC

boopolo wrote: »

You are entitled to your opinion. So you bought 2. That will do six computers. My Avg will do 1,000s of computers for free. But I have experience of both over many years and wouldn't waste my money.

The only PAID such software i have any time for is PC TOOLS Spyware Doctor anti spyware/adware. This together with AVG imo is the best.

boo

If you are running AVG on 1000s of computers you are required to pay for it.

Also, PC Tools Spyware Doctor is a Symantec product.

Fighting Irish

Kaspersky > *

and fook paying for software

Fighting Irish

bk wrote: »

Again I highly recommend Avast or Avira over AVG.

Note Avast includes anti-spyware for free, but I'd recommend using it in conjunction with other spy-ware apps like MS defender.

I suppose there is an important lesson for all programmers/software companies to learn here, even if you completely re-write your app and it is excellent now, it will be very hard for people to overcome and forgive the bad experiences they had in the past with your software.

Get it right the first time and listen and respond to your customers complaints. Had Symantec done the re-write years ago, they might have a much better reputation today or any positive reputation at all.

Are avast and NOD32 the same thing?

bk

Fighting Irish wrote: »

Kaspersky > *

and fook paying for software

Kaspersky is not free, you have to pay for it.

And if no one pays for software, who will write it?

Fighting Irish wrote: »

Are avast and NOD32 the same thing?

Yes basically, they are both well regarded anti virus and anti spyware applications.

However Avast is free for personal home use, while NOD32 is not (however it is reasonably priced).

Anan

bk wrote: »

I suppose there is an important lesson for all programmers/software companies to learn here, even if you completely re-write your app and it is excellent now, it will be very hard for people to overcome and forgive the bad experiences they had in the past with your software.

Get it right the first time and listen and respond to your customers complaints. Had Symantec done the re-write years ago, they might have a much better reputation today or any positive reputation at all.

Well said. We used to have NAV at work and the scheduled scan starts at 12:00. It was scheduled so that people will be away for lunch. But there has been several occassions when you are trying to finish off something important at 12:00 when the scan starts and literlly brings the system to a ginding halt. Unfortunately we had no admin rights to change the scan times and we used to kill the process all the time.

I will need several re-assurances before I ever use Norton again.

boopolo

CiaranC wrote: »

If you are running AVG on 1000s of computers you are required to pay for it.

Also, PC Tools Spyware Doctor is a Symantec product.

It is free for home users.

Spyware Doctor is a PC Tools product. It was developed and is still being updated by PC Tools.

The fact that Symantec has recently bought out PC Tools is not relevent as they had nothing got to do with its development.

Having said that I will apply a wait and see aproach before trying Norton again.
I have managed to get AVG and Avast running together (not recomended) on my VISTA Ultimate machine. My only complaint with Avast is I hate the user interface.

Boo

bk

boopolo wrote: »

It is free for home users.

FYI the free version of Spyware Doctor will only detect spyware, not remove it, you need to buy it to get it to remove the spyware.

Now that Symantec has bought them, I assume there spyware detection engine, etc. will end up being integrated into Norton Internet Security, if it hasn't been already (would explain the very good results NIS gets for finding spyware).

Varkov

AVG for XP

Avast for Vista

bk

Anan wrote: »

Well said. We used to have NAV at work and the scheduled scan starts at 12:00. It was scheduled so that people will be away for lunch. But there has been several occassions when you are trying to finish off something important at 12:00 when the scan starts and literlly brings the system to a ginding halt. Unfortunately we had no admin rights to change the scan times and we used to kill the process all the time.

I know exactly what you mean, we get given Symantec Corporate Edition in work to put on our home machines which we sometimes use for working from home.

The whole scheduled scan thing drove me mad and this is why I actually went and bought the consumer version, which is completely different.

I can't understand why two different versions of functionally the same app from the same company can be so radically different. Corporate edition being a pain in the back side with a very unfriendly user interface while NIS is the complete opposite.

boopolo

bk wrote: »

FYI the free version of Spyware Doctor will only detect spyware, not remove it, you need to buy it to get it to remove the spyware.

Now that Symantec has bought them, I assume there spyware detection engine, etc. will end up being integrated into Norton Internet Security, if it hasn't been already (would explain the very good results NIS gets for finding spyware).

The OP and I were talking about AVG free.
I never said my Spyware doctor was free. The free edition does not remove spyware after a scan (as you state) but it does provide realtime protection without updates.

Symantic have not intergrated Spyware Doctor into their NIS and they say they do not intend to do so (for now).
" PC Tools will maintain separate operations within Symantec’s consumer business unit, with Simon Clausen, PC Tools, Chief Executive Officer, leading the team and reporting to Janice Chaffin, Symantec Group President of Consumer Products. PC Tools will continue to offer their products under the PC Tools brand and serve its customers through its existing partners and channels. PC Tools is a privately held company headquartered in Australia, with offices in USA, UK, Ireland and the Ukraine. Their customers are located across the globe and their products are available in more than 196 countries. "

Boo

bk

boopolo wrote: »

Symantic have not intergrated Spyware Doctor into their NIS and they say they do not intend to do so (for now).
" PC Tools will maintain separate operations within Symantec’s consumer business unit, with Simon Clausen, PC Tools, Chief Executive Officer, leading the team and reporting to Janice Chaffin, Symantec Group President of Consumer Products. PC Tools will continue to offer their products under the PC Tools brand and serve its customers through its existing partners and channels. PC Tools is a privately held company headquartered in Australia, with offices in USA, UK, Ireland and the Ukraine. Their customers are located across the globe and their products are available in more than 196 countries. "
Boo

Wow, I've never heard that before.

Work in IT as long as I have and seen as many buy out and mergers as I have and you will know that the pointy hair bosses always say that right up until they integrate the code and integrate the development teams and lay off duplicate staff.

Hopefully they will hold onto most of the development staff from PC Tools, they seem to do a very good job.

BTW I can point you to similar statements that Symantec themselves made about similar purchases like Ghost and Partition Magic, technology from which are now integrated into other Nortn products like NIS.

art

Pegasus15 wrote: »

I was up in PC World in Airside Retail Park recently purchasing Norton Internet Security 2009. On the shelf, it was marked as €74.99, but when I took it to the till the cashier told me that it was half price at the moment and as such €37.49. She didn't specify how long it'd be half price, but she did say she was going to get the price on the shelf changed so the offer might only be starting.

Hope this is of interest.

That's very good value indeed. The main criticism these days of Norton is the price but at 38euros I'd have no complaints at all. If my local PC World has it at that price, I'd certainly pick it up too - cheers for the 'heads up'

Davy

[Link]

Downloads:
Norton 2009 £29.99 €35

360 £35.99 €42

Fighting Irish

bk wrote: »

Kaspersky is not free, you have to pay for it.

And if no one pays for software, who will write it?



Yes basically, they are both well regarded anti virus and anti spyware applications.

However Avast is free for personal home use, while NOD32 is not (however it is reasonably priced).

I don't care who writes it, as long as some people are paying then someone will write it


I was wondering about that avast/nod32, i had nod32 for a while and it was great resources wise, then a friend got avast and i thought it was a facking piss take

bk

Fighting Irish wrote: »

I was wondering about that avast/nod32, i had nod32 for a while and it was great resources wise, then a friend got avast and i thought it was a facking piss take

Avast is actually a very good AV engine, independent testing finds that it finds most virus, with few false positives and with fast scanning. However you are right, the user interface is pretty terrible. Which is a pity, as writing a god AV engine is the hard bit, writing a decent UI should be relatively straight forward.

BostonB

bk wrote: »

Honest to god, hand on heart, it is excellent.

I use to absolutely hate Symantec products and I thought the exact same way about their products as you guys, they have been the bane of my life for many years. Norton Systemworks use to do the complete opposite of what it was supposed to do (speed up your PC) and uninstalling it and Norton AV use to be the first step in significantly speed up PC's.

The only good product I've ever used from them is Ghost and that was bought from another company.

However recently I had to install it for a friend on an effected PC and I was blown away by how much it had improved and how good it was now. It installed very quickly and didn't need a reboot. It used very little system resources, far less then my combination of separate apps (Nod32, Zonealarm, etc.) and is extremely clean and easy to use interface (great for non technical family and friends).

I suppose there is only so long your product can be absolutely despised by people like us in the IT industry before you are forced to re-write your app from the ground up. Honestly you guys should give it another try, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Well Just for the crack I downloaded the demo. Ran it to see if the download was ok. Theres no cancel button on the install on the first few screens which is handy.

Keano

I'll stick with Avast on my laptop and Kapersky on my pc.

art

They seem to be all slashing their prices at the moment - Kaspersky Internet Security here for 20 sterling (oddly cheaper than just the Anti-Virus solution) : http://www.kaspersky.com/store

T-Bird

art wrote: »

They seem to be all slashing their prices at the moment - Kaspersky Internet Security here for 20 sterling (oddly cheaper than just the Anti-Virus solution) : http://www.kaspersky.com/store

Thats for 1 Licence. Go on Ebay and you can get boxed 3 Licence from UK Eur 19.00 Delivery about 5 Eur.

Bit Defender have a free version on their site of their virus checker.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

bk

ziggy wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Why would you say that, in testing by independent labs it gets excellent ratings for detecting and removing virus, trojans and spyware. In fact it gets the same or better results then Avast.

Check it out for yourself:
http://www.av-comparatives.org
http://www.av-test.org

You mightn't like Norton and that is fine, but what you said above is the only bollox here.

madmoe

I would not go near Norton either. For one its a massive system hog and WILL slow down your computer.

I use AVG, nice and lightweight and catches most things...did I mention it was FREE too??

BostonB

bk wrote: »

Why would you say that, in testing by independent labs it gets excellent ratings for detecting and removing virus, trojans and spyware. In fact it gets the same or better results then Avast.

Check it out for yourself:
http://www.av-comparatives.org
http://www.av-test.org

You mightn't like Norton and that is fine, but what you said above is the only bollox here.

I can say that in my experience in real life norton does not perform anything like as good as it does in these tests and magazines. It would be quite common for me to be given a machine with a problem and norton. Only to find its not finding some nasty that AVG or similar finds no problem without the resource overhead that norton seems to inflict. That said I haven't tried the 2009 version, but I can't believe its changed that much, as its most likely been written by the same people who wrote all the dire earlier versions. I will try the demo at some point. If only to learn how to uninstall it.

Toiletroll

Anyone imho who uses norton is off their head.

Any time I fix a persons computer for internet connectivity problems, its always norton causing it.

It looks like they create easy to fix problems to top up that commission for PC world blokes

bk

I give up, it looks like people will never forgive Symantec for their past sins, even if they re-write their software and end up with the best suite out there.

BostonB

For the 2007 version it was quicker to wipe/reformat the disk and reinstall XP than uninstall norton. Worse one I had took itself 10hours to uninstall itself. Left it running out of curiosity.

BostonB

bk wrote: »

I give up, it looks like people will never forgive Symantec for their past sins, even if they re-write their software and end up with the best suite out there.

Do you know many programmers who improve their bad habits over time? LOL. Maybe the 2009 has broken the mould. We'll wait and see. I'd like one app that does everything for family and friends who are update challenged.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

bk

ziggy wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I use Norton on over a dozen machines (family and friends), plus my company uses it on thousands of machines and I've never seen a machine with up to date Norton AV definitions get affected with a virus, trojan or spyware.

Sure, if people don't keep their AV definitions up to date, then their machine can become infected, just like any other AV software and I have certainly seen that on machines were people got a 3 month Norton or McAfee trail when they bought the PC from Dell, etc. and never bothered to subscribe. Maybe that is what you are seeing?

Also there is also the risk of zero day exploits, it can take a few days between the release of a virus before the AV companies get notified of it, dissect it and update the virus definitions. Again this is true off all AV programmes.

Now some of the better AV programmes, including Norton, include advanced heuristics software that tries to identify and protect against new, unknown viruses. This can work, however it is far from 100%.

That is why even if you have up to date AV software, you still need to act responsibly, don't run unknown executables, visit dodgy websites, etc.

BostonB wrote:

Do you know many programmers who improve their bad habits over time? LOL. Maybe the 2009 has broken the mould. We'll wait and see.

You are right, however I have seen companies who hired or bought in a whole new programming team, give them the requirements and lock them in a room to write the app completely from scratch

Firefox jumps to mind (compared to the old Mozilla suite), Mac OS X is another good example.

BostonB wrote:

I'd like one app that does everything for family and friends who are update challenged.

Yes, that is the major advantage I've found with this, it is just so easy to use and all in one. The only thing to watch out for is what I was talking about above, if they don't renew the sub after the first year. That is why I get all my family and friends to update at roughly the same time every Christmas, which conveniently is when PC World has these half price deals almost every year.

vibe666

i'm willing to suspend disbelief that symantec have actually finally realised what a pile of crap their software was an have actually re-written it from the ground up, but it doesn't change the fact that it's still not free and even when you buy it they lock you into a subscription to keep you updated when other AV/AS/AT software firms with just as good offerings are giving away their software for free.

actually, thats why i use linux and don't have any virus problems at all.

ah, c'mon, someone had to say it!

BostonB

vibe666 wrote: »

i'm willing to suspend disbelief that symantec have actually finally realised what a pile of crap their software was an have actually re-written it from the ground up, but it doesn't change the fact that it's still not free and even when you buy it they lock you into a subscription to keep you updated when other AV/AS/AT software firms with just as good offerings are giving away their software for free.

actually, thats why i use linux and don't have any virus problems at all.

ah, c'mon, someone had to say it!

You're not comparing like with like. Usually the free AV solutions are less well featured and score less well in the AV tests. That said they are usually sufficient for most people. I've used them for years with no problems.

Actually you didn't. The majority of people use Windows and have no problems with viruses either. But well done you, for needing a new OS to do what most people can do with Windows. :P (grabs flame proof shorts).

Toiletroll

In my experience norton uses up about 200 - 300mb of RAM on computers that I fix making them totally unusable.

Avast uses between 2mb - 10mb and is as good if not better due to it being 100% free of course.

Norton do not deserve any sales for the new app.. they need to be punished for the endless years of grief and money they have conned their clients out of.

BostonB

bk wrote: »

I use Norton on over a dozen machines (family and friends), plus my company uses it on thousands of machines and I've never seen a machine with up to date Norton AV definitions get affected with a virus, trojan or spyware.

Sure, if people don't keep their AV definitions up to date, then their machine can become infected, just like any other AV software and I have certainly seen that on machines were people got a 3 month Norton or McAfee trail when they bought the PC from Dell, etc. and never bothered to subscribe. Maybe that is what you are seeing?

I have seen it miss thing things that free products can find. Usually after I've updated it. Thats a few years back. I don't waste time on it anymore, I just uninstall it, or wipe the machine before working on it. Its just quicker.

bk wrote: »

Also there is also the risk of zero day exploits, it can take a few days between the release of a virus before the AV companies get notified of it, dissect it and update the virus definitions. Again this is true off all AV programmes.

Now some of the better AV programmes, including Norton, include advanced heuristics software that tries to identify and protect against new, unknown viruses. This can work, however it is far from 100%.

That is why even if you have up to date AV software, you still need to act responsibly, don't run unknown executables, visit dodgy websites, etc.

True enough. Most problems are user created alright.

bk wrote: »

You are right, however I have seen companies who hired or bought in a whole new programming team, give them the requirements and lock them in a room to write the app completely from scratch

Firefox jumps to mind (compared to the old Mozilla suite), Mac OS X is another good example.

Yes but you don't know if Norton did this. Could be the same team, might not be. Who knows. At the end of the day you can only judge the final product.

bk wrote: »

Yes, that is the major advantage I've found with this, it is just so easy to use and all in one. The only thing to watch out for is what I was talking about above, if they don't renew the sub after the first year. That is why I get all my family and friends to update at roughly the same time every Christmas, which conveniently is when PC World has these half price deals almost every year.

Which suggests you've been happy with the earlier releases, which in my experience were definately sub par. So I'm doubting your praise of 2009 now. That said I installed the trial on of my machines and its definately a lot lighter and faster. Which is encoruaging. If I find its missing some nasties, then it will be too late though.

Do you know how to remove it from the context menu. Annoying that.

BostonB

Toiletroll wrote: »

In my experience norton uses up about 200 - 300mb of RAM on computers that I fix making them totally unusable.

Avast uses between 2mb - 10mb and is as good if not better due to it being 100% free of course.

Norton do not deserve any sales for the new app.. they need to be punished for the endless years of grief and money they have conned their clients out of.

Very true.

I didn't like Avast, can't remember why. I went back to AVG once they allowed you do disable the link scanner.

nice1franko

^^^ Agree...

If you want bargain anti-virus software get AVG Free.

vibe666

BostonB wrote: »

You're not comparing like with like. Usually the free AV solutions are less well featured and score less well in the AV tests. That said they are usually sufficient for most people. I've used them for years with no problems.

me too, i'm from a windows support background and have used just about every av/as/at tool going over the years (right the way back to the point where virus's and the like started. i'm bvery old ) to varying degrees of success but like most people have been burned repeatedly by norton so have left it alone for quite a while now and have a very successful relationship with a select few free tools that cover all the bases between them with a smaller footprint than either Norton or McAfee

BostonB wrote: »

Actually you didn't. The majority of people use Windows and have no problems with viruses either. But well done you, for needing a new OS to do what most people can do with Windows. :P (grabs flame proof shorts).

i'm reminded of an old viz cartoon where a scientist had invented flame-proof underpants and tested them by wearing them on their own and getting someone to use a flame thrower on him. was looking for it online but can't find it. shame, twas v.funny

BUT, as I said, I'm from a windows background I just started with linux for the challenge (and what a challenge it is!) and for the extra nerdy factor so i can say it in treads like this.

i've tried linux many times in the past and i always used to dual boot it on a windows box, but kept getting annoyed with it and just going back to windows, but about a year and a half ago i decided not to dual boot and just wipe windows completely and start from scratch with ubuntu and although it's been a long hard slog re-learning everything from scratch it's been well worth the effort and i'm very glad i forced myself to stick with it by not having the xp dual boot as a fallback.

i'm still doing windows based support at work, although i's been a couple of years since i did any desktop support, it's all servery these days aside from the obligatory family and friends stuff) and my work pc is xp with mostly 2003 servers so microsoft is still a major part of my pc life (the g/f still has xp on her laptop too) but overall i'm still enjoying the challenge of linux.

bk

Toiletroll wrote: »

In my experience norton uses up about 200 - 300mb of RAM on computers that I fix making them totally unusable.

Avast uses between 2mb - 10mb and is as good if not better due to it being 100% free of course.

Norton is currently using less then 1MB (667KB) on my system at the moment, as I've said it is completely different now.

vibe666 wrote:

actually, thats why i use linux and don't have any virus problems at all.

Agreed, I use a *nix OS on my desktop in work all day and dual boot or VM all my personal machines. However you unfortunately still need windows for gaming and some other multimedia tasks.

I have found one thing to be incredibly annoying about Norton 2009, you have to sign up for a free Norton Account, otherwise it keeps reminding you to sign up every time you want to do a manual scan. Very annoying and I readily admit I don't like this sort of carry on.