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sleeper View Drop Down
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Points: 16449 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Freware Anti-virus?
    Posted: February 27 2007 at 17:01
My subscription to Norton is up and I'm wondering if its worth continueing with it or getting a freeware anti-virus. So whats better, renuing the subscribtion or downloading a freeware A-V, and if getting a freeware one, whats the best one to get?

Thanks.
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Points: 7606 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2007 at 17:04
AVG anti-virus is free and can scan individual files and be scheduled, doesn't pretend to be a firewall and self-updates. if your computer isn't up-to-date a professional anti-virus tool can often be more demanding on your system than the virus itself
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Points: 11746 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2007 at 17:23
I'm not even sure it's free but I have Avast! and it works perfectly.

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Points: 13536 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2007 at 17:37
Originally posted by Bern Bern wrote:

I'm not even sure it's free but I have Avast! and it works perfectly.


Yes it is (home edition, for non-commercial usage). Here's the website:

http://www.avast.com/
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Points: 13244 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2007 at 17:40
Originally posted by Bern Bern wrote:

I'm not even sure it's free but I have Avast! and it works perfectly.


It's free for personal use, if you re-register every 14 months. I've been using it for 4 years now, without problems and nicely (Wink) catching a virus every once in a while.

I switched to Avast from AVG 4 years ago because the update server of AVG was down more often than up.
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Points: 32995 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2007 at 17:51
AVG is excellent. Highly recomended.
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Points: 5109 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2007 at 18:33
Get a Mac.
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Points: 21149 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 28 2007 at 02:28
^ if everybody switched from Windows to Mac, then the malware developers would also switch to that platform. So if you want your Mac to stay low-profile, you better not make people switch to it.Wink
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Points: 5109 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 28 2007 at 06:39
Originally posted by MikeEnRegalia MikeEnRegalia wrote:

^ if everybody switched from Windows to Mac, then the malware developers would also switch to that platform. So if you want your Mac to stay low-profile, you better not make people switch to it.Wink


I bet it still wouldn't freeze and crash as much as windows.

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Points: 1475 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 28 2007 at 06:45
I've had AVG for over six years, no virus problems at all.
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Points: 7559 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 28 2007 at 08:44
Originally posted by bhikkhu bhikkhu wrote:

Originally posted by MikeEnRegalia MikeEnRegalia wrote:

^ if everybody switched from Windows to Mac, then the malware developers would also switch to that platform. So if you want your Mac to stay low-profile, you better not make people switch to it.Wink


I bet it still wouldn't freeze and crash as much as windows.

 
The reason Macs crash less than PCs (let's not confuse operating systems with hardware) is that Macs support far less hardware, and the hardware they do support is proprietary and expensive.
 
Microsoft have no control over who writes drivers, and 9 times out of 10, it's a driver that crashes Windows - and most of the rest of the time, it's Norton. A standard Windows installation is very difficult to crash - and here I speak as a professional software quality controller who has to test Windows products most of the time (I also test Macs, most *nixes and other sundry o/ses).
 
 
Mike's 100% right about virus writers - they always aim for the biggest target because it's easier to hit.
 
Back O/T...
 
I'm going to look into these Freeware AV packages - Norton is a pain in the preverbial...


Edited by Certif1ed - February 28 2007 at 08:47
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Points: 4097 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 28 2007 at 08:55
Originally posted by bhikkhu bhikkhu wrote:

Get a Mac.

On a Mac I'd recommend Clam AV, because most other freeware antivirus stuff for them is awful.
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Points: 16449 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 28 2007 at 13:52
Thanks for your help guys, I'm going to try the Avast program but first, how on earth do i get rid of that bloody Norton, there's no uninstall option?
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Points: 5109 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 28 2007 at 14:09
Originally posted by Certif1ed Certif1ed wrote:

Originally posted by bhikkhu bhikkhu wrote:

Originally posted by MikeEnRegalia MikeEnRegalia wrote:

^ if everybody switched from Windows to Mac, then the malware developers would also switch to that platform. So if you want your Mac to stay low-profile, you better not make people switch to it.Wink
I bet it still wouldn't freeze and crash as much as windows.

 

The reason Macs crash less than PCs (let's not confuse operating systems with hardware) is that Macs support far less hardware, and the hardware they do support is proprietary and expensive.

 

Microsoft have no control over who writes drivers, and 9 times out of 10, it's a driver that crashes Windows - and most of the rest of the time, it's Norton. A standard Windows installation is very difficult to crash - and here I speak as a professional software quality controller who has to test Windows products most of the time (I also test Macs, most *nixes and other sundry o/ses).

 

 

Mike's 100% right about virus writers - they always aim for the biggest target because it's easier to hit.



Fair enough. I'l still never go back to a PC, or Windows.

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Points: 32995 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 28 2007 at 14:36
Originally posted by sleeper sleeper wrote:

Thanks for your help guys, I'm going to try the Avast program but first, how on earth do i get rid of that bloody Norton, there's no uninstall option?
 
Yes Norton antivirus is extremely dificult to get riid of. I had to purge it from my registry eventually.
 
Try downloading CCleaner. It has an uninstaller, or try Windows own uninstal facility.


Edited by Snow Dog - February 28 2007 at 14:38
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Points: 15535 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 28 2007 at 14:37
Originally posted by sleeper sleeper wrote:

Thanks for your help guys, I'm going to try the Avast program but first, how on earth do i get rid of that bloody Norton, there's no uninstall option?


Go to Add/Remove Programs and remove it. I think that would do it. Its in the control panel btw.
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Points: 7559 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 01 2007 at 03:23
Originally posted by progismylife progismylife wrote:

Originally posted by sleeper sleeper wrote:

Thanks for your help guys, I'm going to try the Avast program but first, how on earth do i get rid of that bloody Norton, there's no uninstall option?


Go to Add/Remove Programs and remove it. I think that would do it. Its in the control panel btw.
 
You can do it that way - but Norton still leaves loads of crap behind.
 
The safest way (and I know you don't want to hear this) is a clean installation of Windows - wipe the hard disk and start again, or restore the backup you made before you installed Norton... you did make one, right?
 
No, 99.99% of people don't!
 
 
I'll have to keep it brief - I cannot recommend you wipe your hard disk unless you're confident that you can get your system back the way it was by yourself.
 
BUT
 
It's the best and most effective way to remove Norton.
 
 
The other way is to use Control panel - but hunt around the Internet first for Norton Uninstallation issues - try this: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=norton+uninstallation+issues&meta=
 
While there are plenty of "solutions", it really pays to be aware of the issues that may arise before you need the solution.
 
*Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. Wink


Edited by Certif1ed - March 01 2007 at 03:24
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Points: 11979 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 01 2007 at 11:12

So basically you are saying that when I come to uninstall Norton from my system there will be problems.

I wish I'd never installed Norton because it seems to have taken over my PC . Norton is installed on my wife's laptop and the laptop takes ages to load. I am 99.9% convinced that Norton is responsible for this.

Back to my PC. The last time I tried to run a full system scan with Norton Antivirus I aborted after 18 hrs with it still incomplete! This is pathetic. I have two large hardrives but these days there isnt much on them as I keep all my files etc on two external drives.

In recent tests performed by a PC magazine AVG Free did as well as both Norton and McAfee and Steganos (and one I cant remember but which was related to Steganos) outperformed both by a mile.Apparently Norton and McAfee only blocked 33% of viruses on one test....
 
Addressing Bikkhu and his Mac not crashing, I can honestly say that I cannot ever remember my Windows XP PC crashing...
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Points: 1377 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 01 2007 at 11:23
Originally posted by Certif1ed Certif1ed wrote:

Originally posted by progismylife progismylife wrote:

Originally posted by sleeper sleeper wrote:

Thanks for your help guys, I'm going to try the Avast program but first, how on earth do i get rid of that bloody Norton, there's no uninstall option?


Go to Add/Remove Programs and remove it. I think that would do it. Its in the control panel btw.
 
You can do it that way - but Norton still leaves loads of crap behind.
 


I uninstalled Norton 6 weeks ago and moved on to AVG .... I had no problems at all getting rid of Norton ..... what is all this 'crap' that gets left behind?
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Points: 32995 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 01 2007 at 11:53
Originally posted by Tony R Tony R wrote:

So basically you are saying that when I come to uninstall Norton from my system there will be problems.

I wish I'd never installed Norton because it seems to have taken over my PC . Norton is installed on my wife's laptop and the laptop takes ages to load. I am 99.9% convinced that Norton is responsible for this.

Back to my PC. The last time I tried to run a full system scan with Norton Antivirus I aborted after 18 hrs with it still incomplete! This is pathetic. I have two large hardrives but these days there isnt much on them as I keep all my files etc on two external drives.

 
I had a terrible time getting rid of it. I managed eventually but can't rember exacvtl;y how.
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