Antivirus Software

[Vinny's Westie]

Done a search and found the last time was July 2006.

Need to update complete security (anitvirus/spam/etc/etc) in short the whole thing.

Got Norton Antivirus and Firewall, but now well out of date.  

What's best and do I need to uninstall Norton (July 2006 reviews not good for Norton) before installing new.

Cost not the issue, TOTAL security is.

Any thoughts gratefully received.  Cheers all.

[marshalla]

Download AVG free (http://free.grisoft.com/ ) and Zonealarm BASIC free version (http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp )

Uninstall Norton, then install these two as a good starting point.

Once they're done, add-in some anti-spyware

[marccus]

My internet security has also just expired! I have for the last 2 years used the Zone Alarm suite and the logical step was to sshell out for the latest edition.

But alas all the reviews have given it a right slating! So i have looked further and found that Kaspersky V7 has good reviews on the Amazon website and the Which? website.

So on their recommendation i have just purchased via Amazon.

I hope this helps!

[CedricTheBrave]

I use 'F Secure' at home and I have to say its bullet proof also gets good reviews.

always liked the name as well it give you a sense of well being

[BIG G]

Like many people I have used Norton antivirus and Norton Ghost for years, as they were regarded as the industry standards. etc etc.

Continual problems with recent Norton products (which are a real pain to remove properly) forced me to search for replacement programs.

I have tested and used AVG Internet Security which has the advantage of being really simple to use, but after testing it and others, I have changed to Kaspersky Internet Security suite which is really easy to instal, has a small footprint which doesn't hog resources, and appears to have worked great for the last six months on my 2 PCs. It also uninstals easily and cleanly (unlike Norton and others...)

Instal Kaspersky in default mode and it is a doddle to use, but it also has all the bells and whistles required for more serious use, if you know what your doing.

For your info...

I also have a high regard for JV16 Power Tools which is a great Registry cleaner among other things, and I have used it for several years. It will help enormously getting rid of traces of Norton, and I am also more than happy with Acronis True Image as my new backup program, and it is much better than Norton Ghost.

This might be more info than you require, but... did I mention that no Symantec Norton program will ever appear again on my computers... You have no idea how nice a Norton free PC can be...

GJM

[Major Stare]

Ad-Aware 2007 (free download)

AVG Free (free download)

Dont bother with Norton

HTH

[Hammy]

And don't forget to turn on your XP firewall..

[Major Stare]

Dont surf porn and you'll be ok.

Not that i know, i dont surf porn.  

Often        

[Blatman]

XP firewall... never turned mine on and don't recall ever seeing an update for it so how good can it be?

If you have Norton, boot the computer in to safe mode before uninstalling, uninstall Norton whilst still in safe mode. Seems to work. Be prepeared to dig around the registry too for a totally clean uninstall...

I use Nortons on a lap top, and Mcaffee on my desk top. Both seem to work OK and seem to be pretty unintrusive. Nortons does seem to get it's fair share of bad press, but uninstall issues aside, I've never really had any problems with it in use or when updating. Same goes for Mcaffee. IMO, either is fine with both being equally slow to release the internet connection! Not massively slow, just takes an extra few seconds for the connection icons to appear in the system tray, and as I say, they're both the same in this respect with Nortons being slightly quicker, if anything. If you have broadband then sit your machines behind a router (I use a Netgear) and you should have little to worry about.

You *must* keep the anti virus programmes up to date though. Mine are set to check for updates every day, and the updates happen in the background with a simple pop up confirmation to let me know what's happened. I really should use the install request features so that I do custom installs rather than fill my machines with what they want, but as they seem to work well, I can't be bothered!

[CedricTheBrave]

Info on how to completely remove Norton here

Useful link if you wish to remove any software

[John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison]

QUOTE

XP firewall... never turned mine on and don't recall ever seeing an update for it so how good can it be?

Thats what critical Windows Updates are for which you have hopefully set to automatically download and install.

The only problem with them is that they are released as fixes for secuity threats that have already been detected. A bit like bolting the stable door after the horse has bolted. However, they are essential IMO

A hardware firewall is the real answer but they dont come free. One of my bug bears of ISP blurb - "Get upto 8Mbps for £10.99 a month......." but they give you no [protection when really they should be including a hardware firewall in the router as part of the package, especially when computer numpties can easily set an ISP connection up in 2 minutes using instructions but get infected shortly afterwards. Working in IT for a living reeally gets me down when the family start calling me at home to say "I think I have a virus, can you help..."  

[Blatman]

Ah, yes I do download the critical updates, but I still have the Windoze firewall off. I've never had a problem and I do surf a disproportionally large amount of porn!

[marshalla]

XP firewall is OK, but it only blocks inbound connections (i.e. someone trying to attack you). ZoneAlarm and other decent firewalls alert you when something is trying to send data OUT of your system when it shoudn't/hasn't done it before. That gives much better protection against things like ID theft, particularly if you are in the habit of sharing data using things like USB memory sticks.

[CedricTheBrave]

Firewall should not need updating as it only blocks certain ports

You just need to check every now and then that a program has not added itself to the exceptions list and has full access to all and sundry.

If you use a decent router with an integral firewall then you should be pretty well protected against the outside, as long as you remember to change the default password and switch on the wireless security etc etc

and also make sure remote management is off

[Vinny's Westie]

Lots of good feedback, thanks for that, will have a little look when I get home tonight.

Appreciate that, any further info. gratefully received.