A Love/Hate Relationship

[bulgin]

Hi Guys

I would really appreciate your advice. I've used N/S antivirus for a couple of years and my latest subscription expires in under 30 days.

It is without a doubt that the present stuff has slowed my computer enormously and costing me plently through this.

The store where I buy my stuff recommended P#nda, which also is a 100 bucks cheaper.

I must say, the current stuff is doing its job as I've no trouble here. Only yesterday, the software blocked some truly horrible stuff, as it has done several times before.

In spite of the expense and the slowness, I feel kinda sorry to dump it and go for something else and unknown...

What do you think??

Regards

bulgin

[SY]

I've used both Norton and Panda in the past. Horrible; they take over your computer and are very, very difficult to remove when there are the inevitable issues. Freeware programs like Antivir have caused me far fewer problems.

[peranders]

My personal experience of Panda isn't particular good. It makes the PC real slow.

My personal experience of antivirus software for Mac is really good, never used one, never got a virus on 20 years! (just teasing )

In a few days I'm going to retire my old G3 and let an iMac 24" do service.

[richie00boy]

Norton is pants. avast! Home is free and better. Zonealarm free firewall is also good.

[I_Forgot]

When my Norton subscription started wanting me to renew it every 6 months I got mad and decided to look for free alternatives. I found Avast and have been using it ever since (2 years now). I have never had any problems with it and don't notice any slowing down of the machine. I don't know why anyone pays for antivirus software.

More recently, I loaded Ubuntu linux on my computer and rarely use windoze any more. Linux has come a long way toward universal hardware compatibility. You should give it a try- you can actually run the OS from a "live" CD to try it out.

There are many fewer security problems with linux than windoze.

I_F

[Nordic]

Try the free version of AVG, there is another one slipping my mind at the moment....

Edit: oh yes, NOD32

[tschrama]

I have good experince with both AVG free and Antivir .. both are free downloads... I think Antivir was slightly better tested in one of my computer magazines...

[rdf]

Hi bulgin, my 2k install has run 3-4 years without AV and at last check is still clean of viruses or spyware. The trick is to always use a limited permission account (User) and never browse with Internet Exploder. For the rare software which still requires elevated permissions use the 'Run As' service. Holding shift and right clicking the program icon will bring up a menu which includes 'Run As', providing the option of running that piece of software as another user. Administrator for example.

It has a couple other minor operational inconveniences but the overall balance for me is overwhelmingly positive.

[audio-kraut]

I use AVG, it is free till january 15 - after that no more updates, you have to buy it. Seems very good.

[tschrama]

If AVG really doesn't support free updates anymore... then that would be a sure no-no-no ... a virus scanner absolutely needs his virus definitions being updated regulary... Antivir might still be a good alternative...