Which Antivirus do you use at present?
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Raje, I'm a big fan of Antivir, have it on all 4 systems. Almost daily updates, lately.
It does have it's quirks though, when main system is updated, it has to be shut down, or you get some very strange results.
It does work well for me though, just browse a few iffy sites and see it do it's stuff.
Best freebie available, imo, knocks spots off of Nortons, and yes, I used Nortons for 4 or 5 years.
If I were paying, I'd go for NOD32, £53.00 for three years is good value and from what I've read, it's probably the best AV proggie out there.
It does have it's quirks though, when main system is updated, it has to be shut down, or you get some very strange results.
It does work well for me though, just browse a few iffy sites and see it do it's stuff.
Best freebie available, imo, knocks spots off of Nortons, and yes, I used Nortons for 4 or 5 years.
If I were paying, I'd go for NOD32, £53.00 for three years is good value and from what I've read, it's probably the best AV proggie out there.
gabriella
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Dear Flops
May I crave your indulgence?
My Norton is up for renewal in 10 days time. Do you suggest renew the Norton or go with the Antivir?
If the latter - is it true that Norton can be very hard to fully get rid of?
I'm grateful for your time.
Kind regards
Gabriella x
May I crave your indulgence?
My Norton is up for renewal in 10 days time. Do you suggest renew the Norton or go with the Antivir?
If the latter - is it true that Norton can be very hard to fully get rid of?
I'm grateful for your time.
Kind regards
Gabriella x
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gabriella said:
OK, strong, a little skimmed milk, no sugar, thank you
The best thing to do is try Antivir before renewing Nortons, and see what you think of it. The big advantage with antivir is that it stops some Trojans as well as viruses.
If you try it and don't like it, go for Nortons, you're on a win/win situation here, I believe. Antivir uninstalls easily.
Yes, Nortons is a little bit awkward to get rid of completely, if you decide to uninstall it, post again and I'll let you know what I can remember on how to be shot of it completely.
Basically, it involved enabling the 'see all folders' option and searching everywhere, and deleting absolutely everything Nortons/Symantec related. There was one file I couldn't remove though, as it was always active. To get rid of that one, I booted in safe mode, renamed the file extension, rebooted, then deleted it.
Nortons creeps in just about everywhere on your system and it does take a little getting rid of.
However, if you just wanted to try Antivir, do a basic Nortons uninstall then try it, they shouldn't clash then.
Also, when updating Antivir, if the main system is to be updated, close Antivir down first before updating, otherwise sometimes you get some odd little quirks. Once you've installed it, you'll see four parts of the system, some of which will be due for upgrade. The main system is the first line.
Other than that, it's very user-friendly. And it's free.
Let us know what you decide to do.
Good luck
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Just for some more information ... and not designed to confuse ... But I have recently dumped Norton in favour of KAV Personal 5. It to will protect from the other "nasties" as well as the usual expected from a leader in AV protection.
Try it out before you buy from the above link.
You must uninstall any other AV program first, before installing KAV ... you should always do that when changing AVs anyway.
... and if you get stuck with any aspect of KAV, they have a UK national number you can call.
Try it out before you buy from the above link.
You must uninstall any other AV program first, before installing KAV ... you should always do that when changing AVs anyway.
... and if you get stuck with any aspect of KAV, they have a UK national number you can call.
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Try it for a week- it uninstalls perfectly
Though I know you addressed this message to flops I thought I'd help out a bit too. I agree with Folps on try it before you sign it. At lest see if you like it, It not quite as flashy as Norton but gets that job done(especially when coupled with things like Firefox and Addaware) Every time I sit down to my "personal" computer (I usually post from work) there is a 2 min update waiting or me. I don't get teh same error as Flops though I do notice that if I don't close out the program and reopen it, it asks for the same update next day or hour.
and YES Norton can be difficult to un-install. I did it from Safe Mode piece by piece; Progrom, auto update, firewall. That was about 2 1/2 years ago. I always use custom uninstall if available and select all folders manually. And If your really fanatical about having it all out you can get a 'windows washer' program to remove the rest of it safely enough.
gabriella said:
Though I know you addressed this message to flops I thought I'd help out a bit too. I agree with Folps on try it before you sign it. At lest see if you like it, It not quite as flashy as Norton but gets that job done(especially when coupled with things like Firefox and Addaware) Every time I sit down to my "personal" computer (I usually post from work) there is a 2 min update waiting or me. I don't get teh same error as Flops though I do notice that if I don't close out the program and reopen it, it asks for the same update next day or hour.
and YES Norton can be difficult to un-install. I did it from Safe Mode piece by piece; Progrom, auto update, firewall. That was about 2 1/2 years ago. I always use custom uninstall if available and select all folders manually. And If your really fanatical about having it all out you can get a 'windows washer' program to remove the rest of it safely enough.
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I use NAV at present ... i have used Avast for about 13 hours then i formatted my pc ... think i might go back to Avast after NAV expires ... i also use Ad-Aware, Spybot and SpywareBlaster ... question ... what is the best way to stop things like trojans and worms? firewall? if so, is the windows firewall good? or should i go with norton or another one?
Disclaimer: this turned out quite long. I'm not a blowhard, but I do have some experience with this topic. If you want a general overview of AV products (as I see them, of course), give this a read. If not, feel free to skip it and I won't be at all offended.
Hello. I've put some time into this exact question, so maybe I can share a few insights. First, make sure you don't compare apples to oranges. Norton is an antivirus product with a firewall included (albeit a very basic one). Many other antivirus scanners DO include firewalls, but others do not. It is not a measure of quality, but merely of program specification. The BEST option is often to use a separate firewall product anyway, because the ones that are included with basic antivirus programs are not always the most robust.
Norton has a good scanning engine and a good interface, but it's not a particularly well-designed program. It's huge, it installs way too many little components, it causes way too many problems on way too many computers, it slows down many computers, Symantec's support is bad, etc. It may work for you, and if it does and you don't need your computer running at peak performance or don't plan to install programs in the future that might conflict, then don't worry too much about it. You may encounter a problem at some point, and when you do you may find it hard to get answers from Symantec AND hard to uninstall the product, but then again you may never have problems. Just be aware that due to the intrusive, inelegant way the program is designed, you are more likely to encounter problems with Norton than with many other products on the market. However, as I said Norton does have a quality scanning engine.
Norton's best-known competitors at the moment are McAfee and PC-cillin. McAfee suffers from some of the same problems as Norton, in that it's a pretty bloated product. But it has fewer such quirks, and also has decent scanning and a pretty good interface. PC-cillin is the fastest and most stable of the three, and also has a few cutting-edge features that the other two don't have, like protection for wireless. PC-cillin has been gaining in popularity over the last few years partly because of the problems many people have had with Norton and McAfee (particularly over that period of time). McAfee and PC-cillin are an apples to apples comparison because they both have basic firewalls included.
There are some other competitors that are slightly less well-known but also high quality and picking up momentum. Panda has made a big splash on the scene with a program with a colorful interface and a fast, accurate scanner. I would recommend it over Norton but it may have a few quirks of its own. BitDefender is another solid all-around option that people like; it also has a quality scanning engine and no major disadvantages. Its system scan is not the fastest, though is competitive with Norton and McAfee, but its background program does not slow down a system like Norton and McAfee can. Kaspersky is a solid option. It has top-notch scanning and an interface that has improved a lot recently; it has a reputation for being better suited to power users because of its eccentricities, and this may be true to a degree but Kaspersky has improved a lot in this area. F-Secure is another option with VERY reliable scanning based on two scanning engines (including Kaspersky's). It has advantages over Norton but speed and size are not two of them, as it is about as slow as Norton. All four of these products have firewalls built in, just like Norton, so they are apples-to-apples. Two others worth mentioning. Zone Labs has recently introduced its security suite, which is basically Zone Alarm plus a rebranded version of Computer Associates' eTrust EZ Antivirus, a quality and very fast and slim antivirus program. Of course EZ Antivirus alone would be apples-to-oranges, because it contains no firewall -- although Computer Associates, having partnered with Zone Labs, offers its own security suite containing a rebranded Zone Alarm. Stick with Zone Labs, however; they are cheaper and have better support. The final option worth mentioning is Authentium's new antivirus+firewall solution. It includes Command Antivirus, which contains the very good F-Prot scanning engine (again, F-Prot alone would be apples-to-oranges) plus a firewall.
Finally, there's the apples-to-oranges comparison. These options are good for people who want to use both antivirus AND firewall software. This is probably the best setup in many ways, but it does involve installing two programs. A very highly respected AV product is NOD32. Its scanning is highly accurate, even for many unknown threats, and it is one of the smallest, fastest, most compatible programs out there so it won't adversely affect your computer performance. NOD32 has a good reputation among power power users but its interface isn't all too intimidating. Similarly small, sleek, and fast products include F-Prot and eTrust EZ Antivirus (a.k.a. Zone Labs' antivirus solution), already mentioned above. Command Antivirus, which uses the F-Prot engine, is also quite popular in corporations and schools if not as much with home users. Another ultra-high-quality scanner is Antiviruskit, which like F-Secure uses two high quality scanning engines at once for even greater security. The downside with it, as with F-Secure, is that its scanning is a little slower. It does not slow down the system, however, to the same degree that Norton can. Sophos is a good option as well. They are well-known for providing about the best customer and technical support in the industry, so if that is a priority they are worth considering. Their scanning is solid as well although the interface (and perhaps even overall design) of their program could use some work. Many of the smaller companies have decent tech support, so if that is important, don't even think about Norton or EZ Antivirus, and probably skip McAfee as well; go with a product like NOD32, Sophos, or Command.
Good firewalls to throw on top of these babies include Outpost, Zone Alarm (about the most idiot-proof, but also a bit large and with a handful of compatibility problems), Look 'N' Stop, Kerio, and Sygate. If you use a robust firewall along with a sleek and trim AV scanner, you're once again not comparing apples-to-apples because you'll have a better firewall than what comes with most of the basic AV security programs.
Can't forget about the ever-popular free scanners. The three real contenders here are AVG, AntiVir, and Avast. Of these three, AntiVir might have the scanning engine I trust the most. It's actually used in commercial products like AVIRA (another way they make money). Its interface is a bit dated looking but it's functional. Avast's interface is downright weird, but its scanner is OK. AVG is quite popular and its protection has historically only been OK but it has improved a lot and is now pretty robust.
Also, a final couple of products. SystemSuite is a utility product that uses the same AV engine that PC-cillin uses plus the same firewall engine that Sygate uses, so that is a pretty good all-in-one option that also includes a bunch of other utilities that could come in handy. System Mechanic is a utility suite that uses the Kaspersky antivirus and firewall components, and also comes with some other goodies, so that should provide relatively solid protection too.
Yes, this post is pretty mammoth. I have no particular agenda. For full disclosure, I use EZ Antivirus, which I more or less recommended you not buy merely because CA's support is shoddy. The scanner itself is good, however, so if you want to go with this one buy it from Zone Labs.
And no, mine is not the final word by any means although I have tried to provide a good overview. I hope it will be useful to someone. Clearly there is no one right answer here, but fortunately there are plenty of quality products by now. Note that you have to take detection tests with a grain of salt. Most of them are misleading in one way or another. The Virus Bulletin tests are the de facto and quite useful, but realize that a program might have failed 10 times in a row but then passed the last five times and only be 5/15. As some companies have made huge strides over the last few years, this can be misleading. Also, tests that only show how many viruses a product detects can also be misleading. Some of these viruses are either obsolete or were never released in the first place. When I say a program has a great scanning engine, I base that on trying to reconcile what I've seen with a common sense analysis of it. As of now, the best scanning ENGINE is probably Kaspersky's. However, if that is true (and it is hard to judge for certain), it is true only by such a small degree that most users will never notice a difference and I would not recommend you base your decision on that. Everything I've mentioned is quite capable of protecting nearly everyone. And it's important you get a scanner that you know how to use properly and that works well with your system, because otherwise it's nowhere near as useful.
Hello. I've put some time into this exact question, so maybe I can share a few insights. First, make sure you don't compare apples to oranges. Norton is an antivirus product with a firewall included (albeit a very basic one). Many other antivirus scanners DO include firewalls, but others do not. It is not a measure of quality, but merely of program specification. The BEST option is often to use a separate firewall product anyway, because the ones that are included with basic antivirus programs are not always the most robust.
Norton has a good scanning engine and a good interface, but it's not a particularly well-designed program. It's huge, it installs way too many little components, it causes way too many problems on way too many computers, it slows down many computers, Symantec's support is bad, etc. It may work for you, and if it does and you don't need your computer running at peak performance or don't plan to install programs in the future that might conflict, then don't worry too much about it. You may encounter a problem at some point, and when you do you may find it hard to get answers from Symantec AND hard to uninstall the product, but then again you may never have problems. Just be aware that due to the intrusive, inelegant way the program is designed, you are more likely to encounter problems with Norton than with many other products on the market. However, as I said Norton does have a quality scanning engine.
Norton's best-known competitors at the moment are McAfee and PC-cillin. McAfee suffers from some of the same problems as Norton, in that it's a pretty bloated product. But it has fewer such quirks, and also has decent scanning and a pretty good interface. PC-cillin is the fastest and most stable of the three, and also has a few cutting-edge features that the other two don't have, like protection for wireless. PC-cillin has been gaining in popularity over the last few years partly because of the problems many people have had with Norton and McAfee (particularly over that period of time). McAfee and PC-cillin are an apples to apples comparison because they both have basic firewalls included.
There are some other competitors that are slightly less well-known but also high quality and picking up momentum. Panda has made a big splash on the scene with a program with a colorful interface and a fast, accurate scanner. I would recommend it over Norton but it may have a few quirks of its own. BitDefender is another solid all-around option that people like; it also has a quality scanning engine and no major disadvantages. Its system scan is not the fastest, though is competitive with Norton and McAfee, but its background program does not slow down a system like Norton and McAfee can. Kaspersky is a solid option. It has top-notch scanning and an interface that has improved a lot recently; it has a reputation for being better suited to power users because of its eccentricities, and this may be true to a degree but Kaspersky has improved a lot in this area. F-Secure is another option with VERY reliable scanning based on two scanning engines (including Kaspersky's). It has advantages over Norton but speed and size are not two of them, as it is about as slow as Norton. All four of these products have firewalls built in, just like Norton, so they are apples-to-apples. Two others worth mentioning. Zone Labs has recently introduced its security suite, which is basically Zone Alarm plus a rebranded version of Computer Associates' eTrust EZ Antivirus, a quality and very fast and slim antivirus program. Of course EZ Antivirus alone would be apples-to-oranges, because it contains no firewall -- although Computer Associates, having partnered with Zone Labs, offers its own security suite containing a rebranded Zone Alarm. Stick with Zone Labs, however; they are cheaper and have better support. The final option worth mentioning is Authentium's new antivirus+firewall solution. It includes Command Antivirus, which contains the very good F-Prot scanning engine (again, F-Prot alone would be apples-to-oranges) plus a firewall.
Finally, there's the apples-to-oranges comparison. These options are good for people who want to use both antivirus AND firewall software. This is probably the best setup in many ways, but it does involve installing two programs. A very highly respected AV product is NOD32. Its scanning is highly accurate, even for many unknown threats, and it is one of the smallest, fastest, most compatible programs out there so it won't adversely affect your computer performance. NOD32 has a good reputation among power power users but its interface isn't all too intimidating. Similarly small, sleek, and fast products include F-Prot and eTrust EZ Antivirus (a.k.a. Zone Labs' antivirus solution), already mentioned above. Command Antivirus, which uses the F-Prot engine, is also quite popular in corporations and schools if not as much with home users. Another ultra-high-quality scanner is Antiviruskit, which like F-Secure uses two high quality scanning engines at once for even greater security. The downside with it, as with F-Secure, is that its scanning is a little slower. It does not slow down the system, however, to the same degree that Norton can. Sophos is a good option as well. They are well-known for providing about the best customer and technical support in the industry, so if that is a priority they are worth considering. Their scanning is solid as well although the interface (and perhaps even overall design) of their program could use some work. Many of the smaller companies have decent tech support, so if that is important, don't even think about Norton or EZ Antivirus, and probably skip McAfee as well; go with a product like NOD32, Sophos, or Command.
Good firewalls to throw on top of these babies include Outpost, Zone Alarm (about the most idiot-proof, but also a bit large and with a handful of compatibility problems), Look 'N' Stop, Kerio, and Sygate. If you use a robust firewall along with a sleek and trim AV scanner, you're once again not comparing apples-to-apples because you'll have a better firewall than what comes with most of the basic AV security programs.
Can't forget about the ever-popular free scanners. The three real contenders here are AVG, AntiVir, and Avast. Of these three, AntiVir might have the scanning engine I trust the most. It's actually used in commercial products like AVIRA (another way they make money). Its interface is a bit dated looking but it's functional. Avast's interface is downright weird, but its scanner is OK. AVG is quite popular and its protection has historically only been OK but it has improved a lot and is now pretty robust.
Also, a final couple of products. SystemSuite is a utility product that uses the same AV engine that PC-cillin uses plus the same firewall engine that Sygate uses, so that is a pretty good all-in-one option that also includes a bunch of other utilities that could come in handy. System Mechanic is a utility suite that uses the Kaspersky antivirus and firewall components, and also comes with some other goodies, so that should provide relatively solid protection too.
Yes, this post is pretty mammoth. I have no particular agenda. For full disclosure, I use EZ Antivirus, which I more or less recommended you not buy merely because CA's support is shoddy. The scanner itself is good, however, so if you want to go with this one buy it from Zone Labs.
And no, mine is not the final word by any means although I have tried to provide a good overview. I hope it will be useful to someone. Clearly there is no one right answer here, but fortunately there are plenty of quality products by now. Note that you have to take detection tests with a grain of salt. Most of them are misleading in one way or another. The Virus Bulletin tests are the de facto and quite useful, but realize that a program might have failed 10 times in a row but then passed the last five times and only be 5/15. As some companies have made huge strides over the last few years, this can be misleading. Also, tests that only show how many viruses a product detects can also be misleading. Some of these viruses are either obsolete or were never released in the first place. When I say a program has a great scanning engine, I base that on trying to reconcile what I've seen with a common sense analysis of it. As of now, the best scanning ENGINE is probably Kaspersky's. However, if that is true (and it is hard to judge for certain), it is true only by such a small degree that most users will never notice a difference and I would not recommend you base your decision on that. Everything I've mentioned is quite capable of protecting nearly everyone. And it's important you get a scanner that you know how to use properly and that works well with your system, because otherwise it's nowhere near as useful.
--This didn't quite fit (I should probably take that as a hint. --
p.s. Oh, by the way, the Norton corporate edition is a lot sleeker and less problem-prone than the home user edition. A lot of home users who also have access to the corporate version have lamented that Symantec doesn't make that product available to home users. Also, note that I haven't listed EVERYTHING. I have listed the ones I think are most relevant, but you might hear the occasional argument in favor of something like Norman or Dr. Web as well. This is just my take. (I haven't included any discussion of spyware scanners or trojan scanners, etc. but this is also a relevant discussion. If you don't have a spyware scanner -- i..e Microsoft Antispyware, Ad-Aware, Spybot, CounterSpy, Spy Sweeper -- consider one. Some people also like to use a dedicated trojan scanner like TrojanHunter or TDS-3. There are a couple of good free trojan scanners as well: a-sqared and Ewido.)
--p.s. Oh, by the way, the Norton corporate edition is a lot sleeker and less problem-prone than the home user edition. A lot of home users who also have access to the corporate version have lamented that Symantec doesn't make that product available to home users. Also, note that I haven't listed EVERYTHING. I have listed the ones I think are most relevant, but you might hear the occasional argument in favor of something like Norman or Dr. Web as well. This is just my take. (I haven't included any discussion of spyware scanners or trojan scanners, etc. but this is also a relevant discussion. If you don't have a spyware scanner -- i..e Microsoft Antispyware, Ad-Aware, Spybot, CounterSpy, Spy Sweeper -- consider one. Some people also like to use a dedicated trojan scanner like TrojanHunter or TDS-3. There are a couple of good free trojan scanners as well: a-sqared and Ewido.)
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I have to agree with floppy's strong convictions for AntiVir. It gets what Norton doesn't and it doesn't slug your computer down.
A couple of days ago my Father in Law wanted me to hook up his wireless router.....OMG.....I started at 4pm it was 9:30pm by the time i got rid of all of his Spyware, Malware, and Viruses!!! He was running Norton *&$&%!!! I uninstalled Norton and all of its components, then Installed AntiVir and the new Ad-Aware SE...12 Trojan Horses and 380 corrupted files later things were looking better
I continued with Hijack This and got rid of 47 executables at startup. His computer went from a 15-18 minute start-up to 30-45 seconds.
Every time someone comes to me to "fix" their machines they have Norton. First thing I do is get rid of it and install AntiVir, and every time they had a virus that Norton didn't find.
One more thing, I have a buddy that is taking Computer Forensics. One day AV's came up and someone mentioned Norton. He said his professor flipped out and told him how his 12year old kid wrote a simple command to disable Norton.
Av
A couple of days ago my Father in Law wanted me to hook up his wireless router.....OMG.....I started at 4pm it was 9:30pm by the time i got rid of all of his Spyware, Malware, and Viruses!!! He was running Norton *&$&%!!! I uninstalled Norton and all of its components, then Installed AntiVir and the new Ad-Aware SE...12 Trojan Horses and 380 corrupted files later things were looking better
I continued with Hijack This and got rid of 47 executables at startup. His computer went from a 15-18 minute start-up to 30-45 seconds.Every time someone comes to me to "fix" their machines they have Norton. First thing I do is get rid of it and install AntiVir, and every time they had a virus that Norton didn't find.
One more thing, I have a buddy that is taking Computer Forensics. One day AV's came up and someone mentioned Norton. He said his professor flipped out and told him how his 12year old kid wrote a simple command to disable Norton.
Av
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Norton = Money = I'm allergic to spending it
All my m8s use Norton, but I use AntiVir and Avast. They work fine 4 me.
Why pay £££££ for Norton when freeware can do the job?
All my m8s use Norton, but I use AntiVir and Avast. They work fine 4 me.
Why pay £££££ for Norton when freeware can do the job?
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Norton is a pain in the butt uninstall from ADD AND REMOVE programs.Belloni said:Thanx for that i'll use that instead of Norton ... shall i use it instead of AVG aswell ?! How do i full get rid of Norton then aswell ?!?!
Thanx
I use AVAST =ZONE ALARM= AVG and more it don’t cause any problems no matter how many you use, though some will say differently.
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Even if you use Add/Remove programs to uninstall Nortons, you'll still find traces of it all over the place, notably in the registry and all three Application Data folders.
C drive; Documents and Settings; All Users/Default User/'Your Name' (enable 'view all files and folders')
C drive; Documents and Settings; All Users/Default User/'Your Name' (enable 'view all files and folders')
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Belloni,
After you uninstall Norton and have rebooted your system try to clean the registry with easy cleaner
Here is the link to Easy Cleaner
After you uninstall Norton and have rebooted your system try to clean the registry with easy cleaner
Here is the link to Easy Cleaner
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