Virus protection

[alan40]

Just bought a new computer a couple of months ago with Norton Anti virus on it. It expires in a month. My buddies say Norton isn't much good but have no suggestions for any other program. Any suggestions? Is Norton all that bad? I'v heard of PCcillian. Is it any good?
Thanks in advance

 

[Bird]

Alan, I don't know enough about computers to know whether one antivirus program is better than another, but I've been running Norton a long time now, update it regularly (doesn't cost much to renew your subscription) and I haven't had a virus hurt my computer yet (knock on wood), but it has caught and notified me of several. Actually now I've running Norton SystemWorks; seems to be a pretty handy tool for us computer dummies.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I use McAfee and have never had a virus. One the other hand I am a very careful surfer. I never download a file unless I know what it is and who's sending it. By the way McAfee doesn't expire and the dat updates are free.

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

I run Norton. I had McAfee, but McAfee had some files that made my business software hang up.

Steve

 

[MikePA]

I've used both Norton (home) and McAfee (work - desktop and servers) and much prefer Norton. I switched from McAfee to Norton before I bought my last computer. It came with Norton and I renewed.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

You're right. Their VShield and Vstat programs can conflict with some software.

 

[TerryinMD]

I currently have Norton and have used McAffe.

As far as Virus protection, both do a good job. As far as working well with other products, I believe Norton to be a bit better.

Both products offer free DAT file updating.... to an extent. At some future point, a software upgrade is necessary to take advantage of new features. With Norton, you can get a subscription for around $29 a year. This gives you both software and DAT file upgrades. I believe McAffe has a similar program.

If you really think about it, $29 or so a year is cheap insurance to protect your computer. All it takes is one bad viral infection and kiss your data goodbye. Plus, quite a few viruses find a nice way of propagating themselves via your email address book. This tends to get your friends and relatives upset.

Terry

 

[beagdog]

There is really no reason to pay to subscribe to virus protection software.

There is very good free software available from the web, as long as you are not a business.

Go to www.grisoft.com and download AVG virus protection. Been running it for the past two years and it has caught several of the very nasty viruses, cleaned them right up, and never had a problem.

Doesn't tie up the system resources like Symantec (Norton) or Network Associates (McAfee), and can be set to do auto updates, if your machine is on all the time.

And best of all, the price is right.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Free ones sound great, and I'll check them out, but after I had 2 computers completely choked with viruses so bad I had to reformat, I bought 5 copies of Norton Systemworks for $29 each (I get emails all the time offering it for that, and they are legitimate), and pay $14.95 a year each to update the subscriptions. Haven't had a virus since, but I get notified all the time about the onces they catch - the record was 5 different emails in one day on one computer. $75 a year is a pittance compared to what I lost.

 

[cstocks]

I ran Norton about six years ago... until I downloaded an icon from the internet that contained a virus specifically designed to attach itself through Norton's programming. I dumped Norton after that and ran without virus protection for a while. I now have McAfee but don't leave it running in the background because it crashes my computer. Come to think of it, it crashes my wife's computer, too and she doesn't have nearly as much stuff in hers as mine does.

My ISP offers virus protection on all incoming email, and even though that is not enough to eliminate all risk of infection, it works for me because I rarely download anything from the internet anymore. My ISP's virus protection apparently works because it notifies me that it has caught a virus or trojan horse about once every other month. I still use my McAfee from time to time to make sure my computer is virus free. I download the latest DAT files and scan my entire hard drive. Then I turn McAfee off again.