New PC Norton?? & Window Question.

[franey]

Just bought a couple of new PC,s from a member, a very good deal might I add!!
1: Every time I start up, the Norton anti virus thingy pops up and tries to persuade me to install and use it. I recall on a previous machine that when it had expired I found it very hard to remove.
Do you recommend I use and sign up 'Norton' or remove it before it imprints itself on the system? Is there a decent alternative?

2: When I want to open a new web page, ordinarily I would click the big 'e' button at the bottom of the screen. This system however just opens one window and will not let you open subsequent windows except as a new tab on the first one.
Does anybody know how I can change this please?

Thanks.

 

[moonloops]

1.bin it and go with a free antivirus package - microsoft's security essentials actually works very well and is highly rated.

2. Sounds like internet explorer is set to open in new tabs not new windows. Go into internet explorer, tools, options, tabbed browser settings and look for the bit where it says open links in new window or tabs.. that may do it.

 

[grober]

Don't install it if you don't intend to keep it. Its an anti virus whereas what you want is a more complete full internet security package complete with 2 way firewall+ anti spyware/malware+ pop up blocker. It may be best to download Norton's own removal tool fron their website to get rid of it completely rather than use the Microsoft standard software add/remove utility.

 

[DJM]

It should uninstall pretty easily. Norton is extremely slow so I would ditch it pronto.
'Kaspersky 2009 Internet Security - Complete Protection' is the best I've found and Ebay sell them for around £10 ish...with a free 2010/2011 upgrade!
Very easy to install and doesn't slow your machine down too much.
Hope that helps?
DJM

 

[Stratman]

+1 for ditching Norton. Their own website has a removal tool which is supposed to completely get rid of the annoying bloatware.

If you want a paid-for AV then Kaspersky is as good as any.

The free options generally come down to Avast! or AVG.

I have used Avast! for years and have never had a virus. It has warned me about some dodgy pages, saying it has blocked something nasty from downloading. It has email, web, P2P, messenger and network shields. It isn't a system hog, doesn't really slow down anything and updates itself automatically, often updating the virus database several times a day.

I can't comment on AVG as I don't use it, but it also has its afficionados and is very popular.

 

[kwakdonut]

Which version of Explorer is it? IE8 generally opens up a main window then tabs off that window although you can open further windows if you wish