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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | ok
I got notice that norton expires in 4 days.
should I renew?
should I just go with the microsoft defender?
other suggestions? |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 1249
Location: Texas | I would say it depends on your internet usage, but I would stick with Norton (just because you are familiar with it). If you have ever had to try to recover from a destructive virus or worm, you will have wished 100x you would have spent 50 bucks on a leading software package. It only takes one infection before you make sure you are covered by the folks that make it their business to keep your OS and data secure.
I have yet to read that MSFT provides the same level of protection of the Nortons and Kasperski's. But I trace better than I read, so it is just my .02. |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 4535
Location: Flahdaw | A.V.G. (www.avg.com) |
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Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Norton virus has been an overbloated turd for years now. Dump it for anything else.
I use PREVX but there are several good ones out there including the one DB mentioned. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | LOL norton did not catch a major worm that got me a year ago.
I have no faith in norton and have been using them for years.
macafee cut my performance to a standstill so I will never use that one and it caused my computer to reboot. |
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Joined:
September 2011
Posts: 260
Location: Spain | Agree that Norton is garbage. AVG (if you use Pro version) is very well rated, as is Microsoft Essentials. |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 1249
Location: Texas | here is a good place to start if you want to switch.
Sometimes new suites can be as confusing as new operating systems.
I do agree that there are others out there as good or better than Norton...but I do not think one of those is Microsoft's free product. I use Kaspersky and it does a great job. But I also do a monthly scan with Search and Destroy and PC Tools Security suite. |
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Joined:
March 2006
Posts: 269
Location: Nîmes, south of France | For years i put Norton Symantec off my computers.
Avast works just fine. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | For FREE, AVG (either their totally FREE product or their competitively priced pro-version depending on your usage) are great.
For an overall paid solution either F-Secure or F-Prot. Both are outstanding products that HAVE ALWAYS BEEN light years ahead of Norton, McAfee etc.
Most importantly THEY ARE NOT OEM on ANYTHING. What that means is they are not supplied as a "free trial" on any pc or with any software package so they are not as prevalent in the market even though they have been around since the late 80's. This means they are not a TARGET of malware like Norton, McAfee and Microsoft.
The Microsoft Essentials is good as a SECONDARY tool if you manage to get infected, but I would not trust it as the primary tool. Again, it's a target. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Originally posted by Arnaud:
Avast works just fine. Be VERY careful using Avast. Arnaud's experience with Avast is a good one, but I have seen things go very sideways with Avast. It is, by all accounts a virus in itself. A good one. Like anti-bodies to a human. However, if a malware does get by it, you are pretty much screwed because any other tool will be blocked by Avast AND you will likely not be able to remove or get around Avast in that situation. This is also the basic malfunction of MacAfee.
If anyone brings me a PC with either McAfee or Avast installed and they have malware, so far the only cure is format c:. Norton at least can be worked around. |
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Joined:
March 2006
Posts: 269
Location: Nîmes, south of France | Thanks for the information Miles, i must admit i am not an expert and didn't know HOW it works.
I have Avast installed for 5 years in 4 PC's for the whole family, because it is free and was recommended by software litterature and friends as well. I must say i am very pleased and never encourtered any problems during that time, although the kids make an intensive use of the internet. As a fact, it doesn't slow the PC's like Norton does.
Avast is also available as a more complete version you have to pay for, but i never choose it. |
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September 2003
Posts: 815
Location: Colorado | I've had great success with AVG the past 5 or so years. Best of luck finding what works best for you Al. |
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February 2004
Posts: 1634
Location: Warren,Pa. | ...a Mac |
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September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | posted by bauerhillboy:
...a Mac That might be ending...
The lack of viruses for Mac has nothing to do with the Mac operating system.
Y'see, Macs didn't get viruses cuz nobody made viruses for Mac.
Back when Macs were only 7% of computers, and 89% were running Windows, it was just easier and more economical to make viruses for Windows.
You got the most bang for the buck, caused the most damage with one bug.
But it this ever-changing world in which we live in...
All those iPhones, iPads, iMacs, iChihuahua ...  |
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February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | I get weekly threat reports from Watchguard. There are plenty of security threats aimed at MacOS. |
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Joined:
February 2004
Posts: 1634
Location: Warren,Pa. | "A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with a theory".
I know Al's not gonna switch to a Mac; I'm only kidding around.
But I haven't spent a dime on any virus protection in 10 years. |
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Joined:
May 2006
Posts: 4233
Location: Steeler Nation, Hudson Valley Contingent | My brother is an internet security professional. When I bought my first personal computer in over ten years this past spring, I asked him what anti-virus I should use. He said install AVG. That's good enough for me.
I'm also in the habit of running scans with Spybot and Malware Bytes on a regular basis. |
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Joined:
November 2005
Posts: 4832
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | We've got AVG on the Macbook and PCs (we're Bi-Com :-) )and never had a problem. Other than the normal PC screw-ups, which are normally more operator error related....but don't tell the wife. |
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October 2008
Posts: 639
Location: NW of Philadelphia | AVAST is free and a solid AV program. All you need to do is register. Updates are automatic. never had a problem with it when I was a windows user.
Now I'm a Mac... what's a virus? |
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Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 815
Location: Colorado | I'm also in the habit of running scans with Spybot and Malware Bytes on a regular basis. [/QB] +1 again. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | FWIW..
BAD Anti-virus software has really added to the Virus/Malware panic that's out there. A good product like AVG or F-Secure or F-Prot (those are the only ones I endorse) does NOT require manually checking your pc with anything else ever unless you suspect something. I admit, out of habit, I do a full/deep scan once a year, but I've never found anything. I usually have to clean the up the registry of extraneous garbage (non malicious) to feel like I have a new system again.
As far as the whole Mac's and malware myth... MAC's are the single most at-risk community out there for a severe, global, malware attack. It hasn't happened because the hacker community just hasn't decided to do it yet. The software (eg malware) is there, it's ready.
Every time I see people at coffee shops and free wifi spots on a MAC I cringe. I have hit those places with network trace software and lets put it this way... If you use the web, go to your bank, check stocks, etc, at a Starbucks, then there's a good chance someone in China has a file on you. Computer Security, Network Development, Programming, etc.. is what I do for a living, and have been for the past 30+ years.
Shameless plug: http://www.mileskbaron.com |
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Joined:
May 2009
Posts: 364
Location: Bellevue, Washington | We use the GFI Vipre product here at the office, made the switch from Symantec (Norton) products last year when we had a massive infection of around 700 computers and Symantec said everything was fine.
Haven't had a virus outbreak since, because GFI catches everything.
Personal opinion on AVG and Avast as an IT guy is that they are great for free products but far from what I would call acceptable. A good free product that you can run once youve already determined that you have a virus you need to get rid of though is ComboFix. I highly recommend checking it out if you've got a nasty virus that Symantec can't seem to get rid of. |
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February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Vipre was good... until GFI bought Sunbelt. Trust me, it doesn't 'catch 'everything'. |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 379
Location: Alagoas, Brazil | I used to use AVG-Free. Had a lot of problems, mainly because I carry my classes in a flash drive and every few days a new virus went to it from the class computer, wreaking avoc on my files at home and work.
Then I decided to go for Norton 360 and from then on no more trouble with viruses. Sometimes it warns about a virus in the flash drive but checks and cleans that automatically. I'm pretty happy with it. |
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April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Miguel, you are one of the lucky ones using Norton. |
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Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | The problem with most A/V's is that they only "go off" when they hit a virus they recognize. Otherwise everything appears fine.
Only a handful are capable of recognizing a new virus they have no definition for and dealing with it in some way, even if it's only to warn you. |
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Joined:
November 2010
Posts: 125
Location: Derry NH | remember when talk about a virus was cause ya still kissed Emily Van Deven even though she had a snot nose? and safe sex meant her parents weren't home? :eek: |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 379
Location: Alagoas, Brazil | Originally posted by stephent28:
Miguel, you are one of the lucky ones using Norton. Yeah, I think I had a special star shining the day I was born. I've also got a Taurus pistol that never ever failed on me AND a Fender Stratocaster that doesn't hum.
Go figure! |
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Joined:
September 2005
Posts: 3619
Location: GATLINBURG TENNESSEE :) | I have used them all also, and now have Avast AND Malwarebytes for the malware. No problems after two years and my computer isn't bogged down as when using Norton. I was using AVG, but it began to intrude on other computer functions, so I dumped it. |
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May 2009
Posts: 364
Location: Bellevue, Washington | Originally posted by Waskel:
Vipre was good... until GFI bought Sunbelt. Trust me, it doesn't 'catch 'everything'. We haven't really noticed too many issues with the product since GFI took over, although tech support has really gone downhill... |
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February 2008
Posts: 747
| Originally posted by Mr. Ovation:
...The Microsoft Essentials is good as a SECONDARY tool if you manage to get infected, but I would not trust it as the primary tool. Again, it's a target. Can Microsoft Essentials and AVG co-exist together on the same machine w/out clashing and causing issues for each other such as slowing down the system due to having two virus programs running in the background instead of just one.
I've used CCleaner, Malwarebytes and Spybot along side either AVG or Essentials alone but never with both AVG and Essentials together on the same machine.
AFAIK, the malware programs only run on demand so they are less likely to interfere with a virus program which runs all the time.
So, can AVG and MSE be active on one machine w/out causing problems for each other or would you have to (if possible) disable one of them and only engage it as a secondary when needed. |
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February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | The problem with running two (or more) active protection apps is that they are both monitoring for programs making changes to the system state and for programs trying to communicate outside. These are both things that active A/Vs do on a regular basis.
The issues arise when one of them catches the other one doing it. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Originally posted by Waskel:
The problem with running two (or more) active protection apps is that they are both monitoring for programs making changes to the system state and for programs trying to communicate outside. These are both things that active A/Vs do on a regular basis.
The issues arise when one of them catches the other one doing it. Yep... what he said.
Find a good one (as I have said, I ONLY endorse AVG, F-Prot, or F-Secure products) and use it as directed. Also, follow safe computing practices and should be all set.
A few thought to ponder...
- A Virus or any Malware DOES NOT infect your computer on its own. YOU have to DOWNLOAD them. YOU have to RUN them. It's not like a virus from a human where you can just walk by someone who sneezed and catch what they got.
- Anti Malware software is the LAST line of defense NOT the first. Much like a car alarm. If someone wants the contents of your car, they will get it. But you don't leave your wallet lying out on the seat so they steal your identity too, you try not to park in bad neighborhoods, and you lock the doors when it's unattended. Failing all that, an Alarm "might" deter someone from completing the act. Don't go to questionable websites, open unknown attachments, store confidential info in the open and chances are you'll never need to worry about malware, but on the offchance you make a mistake, a good product will catch it or at least deter it.
and it's worth mentioning twice..
- A Virus or any Malware DOES NOT infect your computer on its own. YOU have to DOWNLOAD them. YOU have to RUN them. It's not like a virus from a human where you can just walk by someone who sneezed and catch what they got. |
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Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Originally posted by Mr. Ovation:
and it's worth mentioning twice..
- A Virus or any Malware DOES NOT infect your computer on its own. YOU have to DOWNLOAD them. YOU have to RUN them. It's not like a virus from a human where you can just walk by someone who sneezed and catch what they got. Well... not exactly .
If you don't want to read the article, or have never heard of "drive-by malware", here's the gist of it - bad guys take advantage of software with security holes. Perennial favorites have been Adobe products (Reader and Flash) that are now ubiquitous on the web and have always had security issues. When this content is opened in a browser like FF or IE, they can be used to exploit security holes to download malicious content to your computer without you ever knowing how it got there. It may show up immediately, it may show up in 6 months, you may notice your computer is running slower than it used to, or there are a lot of 'svchost.exe" services running.
This is why you need a strong, active, up-to-date anti-virus/anti-malware program. If you are admin on your PC, most free or budget A/Vs will assume (because it's happening through a browser) that you approve of this behavior and will do nothing until the infection is already in place. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Originally posted by Waskel:
Originally posted by Mr. Ovation:
and it's worth mentioning twice..
- A Virus or any Malware DOES NOT infect your computer on its own. YOU have to DOWNLOAD them. YOU have to RUN them. It's not like a virus from a human where you can just walk by someone who sneezed and catch what they got. Well... not exactly .
If you don't want to read the article, or have never heard of "drive-by malware", here's the gist of it - bad guys take advantage of software with security holes. Perennial favorites have been Adobe products (Reader and Flash) that are now ubiquitous on the web and have always had security issues. When this content is opened in a browser like FF or IE, they can be used to exploit security holes to download malicious content to your computer without you ever knowing how it got there. It may show up immediately, it may show up in 6 months, you may notice your computer is running slower than it used to, or there are a lot of 'svchost.exe" services running.
This is why you need a strong, active, up-to-date anti-virus/anti-malware program. If you are admin on your PC, most free or budget A/Vs will assume (because it's happening through a browser) that you approve of this behavior and will do nothing until the infection is already in place.
This is tough to avoid when researching via lets say google, but even there, you are making a choice to click on the link, and the link is right there to read. If it doesn't look like it's from a legit host related to what you are looking for, don't click.
So bottom line, I stand by my statement that virus protection is the last line of defense. A paid product like I recommended will likely catch anything that gets through safe computing habits.
Inversely, UNsafe computing habits will eventually defeat almost any malware protection.
It's in the article... the two major ways to get malware... "hackers use social engineering to entice trusting users to perform some action" or "automatically deliver the payload when the user lands on a compromised Web page."
It's a good article, but I still think it perpetuates the "mask the symptom" instead of "cure the problem" mentality. |
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November 2005
Posts: 4832
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | It's Soooo cute when geeks argue about things like 'who was the best Starfleet Commander...!'
:-) |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Originally posted by fillhixx:
It's Soooo cute when geeks argue about things like 'who was the best Starfleet Commander...!'
:-) That's simple.. NOT JANEWAY !!!! LOL...
I think Waskel and I are on the same page actually.
I give lectures on Computer Security and I am constantly amazed. The recent popular thing is people thinking that if they click the "remove me from this email list" link they are actually getting their email removed from a list rather than added. The look on their face when I tell them that they just confirmed their email address to get more spam is almost heartbreaking. |
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Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Originally posted by Mr. Ovation:
Originally posted by fillhixx:
It's Soooo cute when geeks argue about things like 'who was the best Starfleet Commander...!'
:-) That's simple.. NOT JANEWAY !!!! LOL...
I think Waskel and I are on the same page actually. |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 4535
Location: Flahdaw | Originally posted by Mr. Ovation:
The recent popular thing is people thinking that if they click the "remove me from this email list" link they are actually getting their email removed from a list rather than added. The look on their face when I tell them that they just confirmed their email address to get more spam is almost heartbreaking. Oops....DAMN!!! |
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Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | Originally posted by Mr. Ovation:
- A Virus or any Malware DOES NOT infect your computer on its own. YOU have to DOWNLOAD them. YOU have to RUN them. It's not like a virus from a human where you can just walk by someone who sneezed and catch what they got. For now, sort of ... but now there's Stuxnet and Duqu. They were able to infect the Iranian nuclear facilities which had no connections to the outside world without anyone with admin or other privileges running them. AT least that's what the boys with the super propellers are telling me. |
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Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Somebody got a flash drive or SD card in there...
Good for them. |
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virus control