right now i have Norton AV 2004 with a paid subscription. however lately it's been pissing me off. when i try to dl a zip or rar file with Opera, FF, IE, or anything else, it tries to scan the file which makes the program downloading the file not respond. i dont know if this happens with other AVs since i have only used Norton.

so my question is, should i stick with Norton or get another AV. also if i plan to get another AV, should i wait for the subscription to end?(it ends 5/13/06)

just my uneducated opinion, but i would wait till it expires and then get e trust 1 year free trial. ive never had a virus and i have used norton, avg and etrust. but then i dont surf porn or hacker type sites and dont click on emails from folks i dont know, so i feel fairly safe.

Norton is junk. It slows down performance and dosen't do a good job. If your fine with getting rid of it than I HIGHLY recommend you do so. Fill out this offer and use Etrust. You won't believe how much faster your pc will be and you wont have to deal with any of the other annoyances you might have with norton.

http://www.my-etrust.com/SubscriptCenter/M...gistration.aspx

Yes, Norton slow downs your computer alot, I noticed that on some computers it was installed on.

But eTrust is only one year free trial.

AntiVir and avast! are antivirus software that never expire.
ClamWin is another software, but it dont have real-time scanning.

http://www.clamwin.com/
http://www.free-av.com/
http://www.avast.com/

Clamwin is NOT ready for average users eldmannen.

quote from the site:

Enough said.

Antivir doesent have auto updates.(you have to pay.)

Avast is ok but it still has a hard time removing a lot of what it finds. I do use it on an old WIN 98 machine though.(its in the close though. )

Use norton! But if you think that he is not enough use firewall with extra settings (so set up your firewall to the max!)

i'm not using Norton's gay firewall, just the av. anyways i just uninstalled it using CCleaner and an extra utility from symantec.com so that it's fully removed. i checked all the folders so i hope it is.

right now ima try getting EZ AntiVirus. will post feedback.

So, how does AVG Free rate among free antiviruses? Whenever I fix a computer, that is what I install on it. Is it > Avast? Just curious.

I personally like the fact that it (AVG) updates almost every day.

i dont want to go too much offtopic but i just want to say that you should go round EZ AntiVirus! His trojan detection sucks and he is not detecting rootkits (i think that Pest Patrol is doing this)!

wait so are you saying he should get EZ or not get EZ?

I disagree with you 100%. I have been puting etrust on multiple machines to clean them up and it has done a wonderful job. I have not even once had it not remove what it finds. Rootikit is just the new buzzword right now. Hell Norton and Kaspersky even use rootkits.

Get etrust for sure. Its light on recources and does a great job. If you dont like it get rid of it but its better than any other AV that your going to get.(I have tested them all)



AVG is ok. I havent had the same problems with it finding and not removing but it does miss some. Nothings perfect and you need multiple programs but along with this list and Etrust I promise you will be adequetly protected and not bogged down.
http://forum.ccleaner.com/index.php?showtopic=3505

Fortunately, rridgely is incorrect. AntiVir has a highly customizable free autoupdate; you can set it for any amount of time that you choose (every minute if you want it too). Additionally, it has the best detection rate of any free antivirus (better than AVG and Avast).

People may speak FUD about the update process, but I have never had any problems with the incremental updates.

However, the best antivirus is whichever runs best on your machine. Many of the antivirus companies offer a free trial. You should definitely trial Kaspersky and NOD32.


**edit: I was planning on posting a screenshot of the autoupdate wizard/menu; but I keep getting this error:
"The total filespace required to upload all the attached files is greater than your per post or global limit. Please reduce the number of attachments or the size of the attachments."
The file is only 81.1 KB....

Thanks for that. So as far as free antiviruses go, AVG is one of the better ones then, right? I realize that eTrust is the av king, but when I repair someone's computer, the last thing I want to give them is trial software; even if it is really good trial software.

And of course, every computer I work on gets a copy of CCleaner as well. I figure 14 million downloads isn't nearly enough!

Yeah AVG is fine. Thats what I put on machines for people that I dont really know. But for family and friends I will go ahead and register for the one year etrust, but I know that I will probably fix it again before the years up.

Tarun has an awesome package that I keep on a thumb drive when I fix comps. Look at this:
http://www.lunarsoft.net/index.php?ind=dow...ry_view&iden=12

Cool! That's a pretty nice software package. I'm actually a little more laid back with my anti-malware needs, cause my ZA pretty much keeps anything from getting on there in the first place.

Thats just a cleaning package. It has pretty much all the programs you will need to clean up a pc.(minus the av but I keep an installer for AVG on my drive too).

To keep my personal pc clean I basically keep spyware blaster up to date and run Etrust and MSAS.(I have both set up to do auto scan each night.) Then I will scan with ewido and the bunch probably once a month. Usually while listening to the new TWIT or Diggnation.(great pod casts to anyone who used to like tech tv.)

I'm in the process of writing a follow up to the spyware removal guide about how to prevent spyware/maintain your clean system. I just havent had the time to finish it.

Great! You'll have to post a link when you finish it.

When I fix a computer, I always install AVG Free, Spybot S & D, SpywareBlaster, and CCleaner. I also install Zone Alarm Free for anyone I think can handle it; otherwise, I just leave the Windows firewall on, since it makes most decisions on its own.

If the person is on XP than you should really put MSAS on it since lately Spybot seems to be lacking.(adaware has always been kind of a companion to spybot). Surprisingly with most comps I clean I find ewido to be the best one of them all. It will clean more than any of the other spyware programs and usually most of the stuff an AV would catch.

By MSAS, are you referring to Microsoft Antispyware? If so, I have mixed feelings about that one. I had it installed on my computer for all of 2 hours, and it started turning on startup processes that I had turned off (such as QuickTime, which I no longer use), and I thought the interface was less than perfect as well. Of course, I used one of the first versions, so maybe those gripes have been remedied by now...

Also wasn't a huge fan of Ad-Aware Personal, although when people ask me for spyware removers, I still suggest it. I put it on a bunch of computers at my school, and it was notorious for finding problems, but not fully removing them, even after a restart. When it would find items like the 180 toolbar and crap like that, I would end up having to manually find, disable, and remove the components, because Ad-Aware wouldn't do it for me. Once again, I haven't used Ad-Aware for probably 5 or 6 months, so maybe these issues no longer exist as well...

Anyway, in the past few months, Spybot hasn't found anything, and my computer has no problems whatsoever, so I could probably live without any antispyware apps. But I also use common sense when surfing the web, unlike many of the users whose computers I fix.

Ewido is one app I haven't tried yet, so maybe I'll give that a whirl. Would you say it does a more comprehensive scan than either Spybot or Ad-Aware? (and yes, I realize that they all search for different things)

Thanks for the suggestions.

Lokolke,
Ewido is a really good prog, and I would urge you to give it a try.I liked it so much I paid for a year's full which cost £16 (27 dollars ) Even though the trial only lasts a few weeks you can still manually update and scan after that time.

That sounds perfect for me. I usually get my updates manually anyway, so that wouldn't bother me in the least. I'll make sure to download that and try it out tonight.

@rridgely
from technical aspect EZ AV is poor! They have no heuristic and no advanced settings! I used almost all av-s but i noticed that EZ have very poor backdoor and trojan detection ! EZ Av (i think that was v7.0.6.9 (im not sure)) has a problem with offline update. I downloaded the base (it was 4 mb i think) ant that little program that is performing auto update (from folder that you want to EZ Av folder). I updated it and when i connect on internet he started to download Bases again (all over)! Norton is far better product from techical aspect (technical abilities are important isn't it?)
Dont get me wrong i love EZ Av but these are the facts!

m.p. ClamWin and Ewido (free version) are 10 times better solution than EZ Av and AdAware together

Are you kidding me? Norton trashes the registry of anything its installed on. Once you put it on a system its nearly impossible to get rid of. Just recently norton was discovered to install a rootkit to give it even more penetration in the registry. Not to mention the fact that it slows down even the most high end of computers. Lastly it DOES NOT do a good job cleaning viruses.

Here is a perfect example. This log is highly infected and norton has done absolutely nothing to help.
http://forum.ccleaner.com/index.php?showtopic=4108 (dont post here just an example)


Clamwin is a waste of time.

How can that even be recommended?

Where are you getting your info from?

while we're on the topic of Norton, Microsoft Anti-Spy considers it a threat to the computer.

for more details: http://it.slashdot.org/it/06/02/11/2259232.shtml

edit:the comments are more informing rather than the issue

Awesome, at least something is detecting the norton virus.

@rridgely
i just sad the facts! Norton has better support for packers, it has OK heuristic and it is detecting more viruses!
Yes there is an issue with uninstall but Symantec released an uninstall tool! And on thing more:
you sad that EZ Av is light on resources? Are you sure? I downloaded the lattest version today (i have 305 day left on my license@CA) and what i saw? This:



CA is huge corporation but their av iz shame for them...

I'm not sure whats up with your pc but EZ AV is using way less recources on mine...(and every other pc I put it on.)




Also where are your facts coming from? You say norton does all this...Prove it, because I have seen otherwise.

Here is a bloated Norton at it's best.

since we're all posting memory usage, here's mine.



looks like memory usage is a little high

Not sure why its so high on your system. I have never seen it go that hight on ANY of the comps I have put it on. The thing is, its still way less then Norton.

before norton uninstall



after norton uninstall

found this link of test on most populat AV programs FREE and PAID
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,124475,00.asp