I wanted to update my Norton subscription, only to find that it is a longer process than what I care to engage in. I then signed up with McAfee. Once downloaded and installed, I kept getting a message stating that components are either missing or not installed properly. After numerous reinstalls and redownloads, and way too much time on the phone with tech support, no one could get it working properly. Needless to say, I am fed up with both of these products. Can anyone recommend an alternative?
AVG - http://www.grisoft.com It isn't the best, but it is free for personal use. Doesn't have all the bling bling features, but honestly the latest Norton is bloated. Only their corporate software seems to be the 'install it, set it and leave it alone'. Same with TrendMicro's corporate stuff as well... but those are typically managed via a server. Not ideal for the home.
Ever since I've trialled (and subsequently subscribed to) F-Secure Internet Security I haven't had any problems with viruses, trojans, or spyware. I'm not certain how it compares with the other stuff on the market, but I'm thoroughly pleased with it. Link is: http://www.f-secure.com/ I think they still let you test out a trial version. EDIT: Oh, and it's very easy to set up and run.
First of all... did you remove ALL of Norton??? If there is just a little left of Norton it can make so much mess with a new Scanner
I've never used any sort of virus software because I've found them all to be very cumbersome, but like Darth suggested, MS' Beta is pretty good at catching any sort of system change and letting you know what's going on. Additionally, viruses aren't that hard to avoid.. don't open emails & attachments from just ANYONE who sends you them (this is akin to buying every advertised product that gets sent to you via snailmail) but do pay attention to what software your email provider uses to avoid viruses. I've found that a lot of the problems come from servers, not individual computers. C.
Norton certainly SUCKS GOAT GNADS these days. It takes forever to scan even tiny drives and misses viruses, and the active protection lets a lot of crap in too. I've switched and recommend AVG Free for home and AVG Pro for office. No bloat, lots faster than Norton, and much more effective at finding viruses and stopping them from installing themselves. http://www.grisoft.com Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta is an excellent (and fast) tool for weeding out spyware and bots. http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx However, it misses some things, so use Spybot Search and Destroy too: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html If you are on broadband, a software or hardware firewall is recommended, too.
If your want to remove it, you will have to go into the registry. Otherwise if you will not be able to install Macfee. I have been using Stop Sign for 2 years with on line help. You can just down load it online, and it will not be affected by previous virus checkers. The best I have ever used, It cost 3.95 per month.
Just got my new laptop. It came preloaded with Norton, which I have no plans on using. I have been using the free AVG offering in the past, and am quite fed up with it. What's the latest and greatest out there now?
Avast! is the best Freebie out there. Norton, Avira, BitDefender NOD32 and Avast! are the best of the crop at the moment. Unless you want advanced features Avast! is good enough
Avast seems to use a lot of memory though. I'm not sure if it does, but my computer ran so sluggish using it. Just installed avira and performance seems better.
Sophos. Mac, Windows, and Linux. I have used AVG, and Avast, but Sophos is better. MacAffee, and Norton are themselves viruses.
Five years on and MS finally puts out something worth using. Norton, AVG...all of them just aren't really all that good in terms of what they offer and their impact on your system. MS has an excellent bit of kit here: http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/ Free. Regular updates. Does not make your PC shyt its kidneys. *keep your Java and Flash updated, use the built in firewall and a regularly updated HOSTS file as well as MS updates and you'll be ok. **The first, last and only malware I ever got on my Windows boxes was one that I made, back in like 2001.
NOD32 is the best I've used so far. http://www.eset.com/home/nod32-antivirus Very lightweight, too. RMX
I've been quite happy with my trend micro internet security suite. I paid $15 for a years subscription for 3 computers. I like it for my laptop because I have it set to change my firewall settings based on whether I'm @ home (secured network), @ school (unsecured), or elsewhere. It hasn't seemed to affect my system performance at all either. Sent from my DROIDX
download AVG, its free and awesome. I've used it for 3 years. No viruses. That or I'm smart about the porn I download....i dunno..(shrugs)
If you are affiliated with an academic institution, or even just have an email from one of them, you can usually leach it off them. Go on their tech support/software website and see.
Bump. Time for new anti-virus software. I have been using Panda over the past couple of years, based on reviews I had read. I have seen a lot of advertising for Bitdefender, as well as good reviews. Anyone have recommendations?
Have been using BitDefender for about a year now and haven't experienced any apparent problems with it. The only time it has picked up something was the first time I used it, so I guess it is still doing its job. My only disappointment is that it takes far more time to download all the latest virus search signatures than it requires for an actual abbreviated critical areas scan.
For what it's worth. I'm using Avira. It's a German product available in English. Germans have been pretty solid about engineering killing things, and computer virii are no exception. As a former IT tech, I know 'nerds' can get pretty downright opinionated about which is the holy grail of anti-virus, I'm not that OCD. Critical data is backed up on an isolated storage device, Avira is not atrocious memory hog, doesn't irritate me to death with useless crap or flamboyant messages, doesn't crash the system or lose a partial services in a memory dump, it just works. And I'm happy.
I've never liked or had much luck with Norton or McAfee. They seem to create more problems than they fix.
I'd have to second Avira. I stumbled on it as a recommended pick somewhere recently and gave it a try. It found about half a dozen suspicious items that Windows Defender didn't flag which is a good sign, not withstanding that the consensus of late is that WD is not terrible but not one of the best. My $.02: what's best is a moving target. Last year I went through the same process of finding the best free option and settled on Bitdefender. I was very impressed at the time and it seemed to be both unintrusive and effective. Then after maybe 9 months or so it started to crash, fail to update, not run etc. even with the latest updates. My guess is the vendor for some reason has not kept up with Windows 10 updates and if I recall correctly was publicly more less admitting that there may be issues with W10 specifically. Also, I would definitely stay away from McAfee and Norton and agree that they create more problems than they solve, almost to the point of seemingly intentionally complicating the whole process. FWIW, I would go back to WD before either of them! At least it keeps it simple and updates along with Windows which can be a plus.
