John said:
When Vista first came on the market the publicity made a lot of it's
security features. Does this mean that I can dispense with (for example)
Norton which I now use on XP?
Well, a great many people would argue that you should dispense with
"Norton" on WinXP, as well. Any number of other anti-virus applications
would have a much lower impact upon your system's performance. I once
used, and recommended, Norton Antivirus and then Norton Internet
Security, for many years, on Win98, WinNT, Win2K, and WinXP. However,
when my subscription to Symantec's updates for Norton Internet Security
2002 came up for renewal (at a cost substantially higher than the
preceding year's subscription), I decided to try less expensive
solutions. I downloaded and installed the free version of GriSoft's AVG
(
http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php ) and the free version of
AVAST (
http://www.avast.com/). Additionally, I was pleasantly surprised
to see a very noticeable improvement in my PC's performance, once I'd
replaced the Symantec product.
Does Vista have regular updates of protection against new viruses e.t.c?
No, Vista has no built-in anti-virus capability; you'll still need to
install a 3rd party application for this purpose. Vista does include a
firewall that's adequate when properly configured, and Windows Defender,
an anti-spyware/adware tool.
--
Bruce Chambers
Help us help you:
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin
Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell