AntiVirus Software Advice please :)

[stevesey]

All free antivirus software is IN MY OPINION generally not as good or as reliable over a long term as antivirus software which is paid for and has hourly updates and technical back-up if required.
IF that were the case, then nobody would buy it.

(In my opinion) the free tools are just as good, but as you say you don't get the support. If you are and experienced user support is not an issue, the free ones are fine (and often do just as well in reviews), but if you want the support then pay for it.

Spent last weekend working on two PCs for friends, one had the latest Norton and a bad case of Zlob, the other had Virgin PC Guard, Vundo and about 100 other bits of spyware. I did my usual sequence of killing a few processes in taskmanager, manual registry editing/deleting, re-boot, run the bitdefender and trend online scans. This normally does the trick, but in this case it didn't so I had to add the extra step of installing spybot and scanning with that - all sorted then.

So can I recomend Spybot to go along side AVG or AVast, it's on all of our PC's but set to manual mode and I've not needed to use it for so long I'd forgotten how good it is.

 

[whizzkid11]

My biggest beefs were that Norton wouldn't do a clean uninstall. It seems to get more visibly intrusive with each new edition. And it seemed to be quite half hearted about actually finding/fixing some problems - particularly adware.

This part I definitely agree with.... Norton is a nightmare to uninstall - then again if it works and does what you want it to do - why would you e uninstalling it....

To that end - I mention only install those parts that you need - I say that because I would only install Norton Anti-Virus ... not the whole Internet Services, Firewall schbang!

Just plain old Norton Anti Virus alone.

I actually use NAV 2005 - and get all the latest definitions and updates etc. It is simple and clean.

For Vista I use Symantec End Point - which is the latest version of Norton AV - and I get that with the work license... so its free for me...

 

[Dryce]

IF that were the case, then nobody would buy it.

Software market isn't that sensible. Huge amounts are paid by very qualified people for software that doesn't work or isn't fit for purpose.

I do not jest.

 

[Dryce]

I would only install Norton Anti-Virus ... not the whole Internet Services, Firewall schbang!

I would suggest that the ordinary user with an internet setup install that schbang.

In preXP-SP2 days it gave you protection against intrusion due to Windows weaknesses.

These days it's likely to be the first trip wire if you get a zero-day exploit that tries to get up to no good.

 

[Dryce]

For effective Mcaffee and Norton removal you must download and use their own removal tools.

Don't know about McAfee.

But Norton's own removal tools didn't do 100% removal last time I used them.

 

[Dryce]

This part I definitely agree with.... Norton is a nightmare to uninstall - then again if it works and does what you want it to do - why would you e uninstalling it....
.

Because it sometimes stops working properly and can't be fixed without a reinstall.

 

[maddog]

Because it sometimes stops working properly and can't be fixed without a reinstall.

^what he said ^

often if you arent very computer literate like many of my friends they dont notice its stopped working and end up getting infected machines

Thats why i like Avast its pretty much idiot proof

 

[grober]

Don't know about McAfee.

But Norton's own removal tools didn't do 100% removal last time I used them.

So are you suggesting that people with Norton shouldn't use them and use Windows add remove software instead? You must use the tool "from the off "tho. Its probably not going to work correctly if you have tried to remove Norton any other way first.

 

[Dryce]

So are you suggesting that people with Norton shouldn't use them and use Windows add remove software instead? You must use the tool "from the off "tho. Its probably not going to work correctly if you have tried to remove Norton any other way first.

No. What I'm saying is that Windows Add/Remove *and* Norton's own tools don't do the job properly. It doesn't matter whether you use just the Norton tool or both in any order.

It doesn't help that the last ditdh tool on their support downloads site doesn't do much better.

But let's go further. Why does a Windows installation become such a stinking mess on so many systems over time .... ? Well one contributory factor because the Add/Remove mechanism should work consistently but doesn't.

So we get things like 'restore points' and yet more overheads on ths system.

In this case Norton have been a little bit naughty because they really do want to leave bits behind - to make it difficult to repeatedly reinstall trial software. The problem is that if something goes wrong then reinstalling Norton for legitimate reasons may not work either.

 

[unit504]

just wanted to say thank you to everyone, on all the input about AV software and experiences. Was very helpful THANKS ALL!!