Is it me or does Norton AV suck?!

[manimal]

i paid the $60-ish for the security suite that includes firewall/internet security but within about 5 minutes of being online the firewall gets disabled and i'm pretty sure the virus scan is missing something.

a friend of mine uses AVG free edition and loves it. he had norton, hated it, then installed AVG and found a bunch of stuff that norton missed. ....then he got his money back from norton for sucking so bad.

i'm no security guru and i want something that works w/out me having to get a degree to install and run it.

is AVG good or do you have any other suggestions?

[binary visions]

AVG is excellent, it's low profile, doesn't consume a lot of system resources, and is very effective.

I hate Norton because it's way too intrusive. It absolutely sucks system resources down, and while I don't think I've had it miss a virus, I find myself turning it off all the time because it's so resource-intensive.

Norton WinDoctor and SpeedDisk are both good products but I won't install either one of them because of all the overhead that Norton installs along with its software.

AVG is a good product. An extra firewall is usually unnecessary - if you're paranoid, just buy a broadband router to put in between your computer and the internet connection, and use Windows Firewall.

If you want something to serve the purpose of Norton WinDoctor, try downloading TuneUp Utilities 2006 trial version - if you like it, buy it. Great little product.

[OrthoPT]

AVG is excellent, it's low profile, doesn't consume a lot of system resources, and is very effective.

I hate Norton because it's way too intrusive. It absolutely sucks system resources down, and while I don't think I've had it miss a virus, I find myself turning it off all the time because it's so resource-intensive.

Norton WinDoctor and SpeedDisk are both good products but I won't install either one of them because of all the overhead that Norton installs along with its software.

AVG is a good product. An extra firewall is usually unnecessary - if you're paranoid, just buy a broadband router to put in between your computer and the internet connection, and use Windows Firewall.

If you want something to serve the purpose of Norton WinDoctor, try downloading TuneUp Utilities 2006 trial version - if you like it, buy it. Great little product.
I totally agree with all of the above. Get AVG nad don't even THINK of looking back.

[johnbryanpeters]

What's AVG?
I have observed that NAV is intrusive and a resource hog big time on XT Professional.

[binary visions]

What's AVG?
I have observed that NAV is intrusive and a resource hog big time on XT Professional.
http://www.grisoft.com/

AVG is a virus scanning program. Nice and light on resources but still gives you top notch protection.

[johnbryanpeters]

Does it include real-time protection?

[binary visions]

Does it include real-time protection?
Yep. It's got all the normal features you'd see in any other good A/V program, including heuristic detection to try and discover viruses not in the database.

[OrthoPT]

Yeah, and it does automatic updates on startup so fast you barely notice it.

[binary visions]

By the way, manimal, I believe Internet Security has some spyware blocking stuff. I use Microsoft AntiSpyware for that and it's a suprisingly good product - fairly low profile, real-time protection and does a great job of catching everything. Plus, it's free.

AVG + Microsoft Anti-Spyware + Broadband router = secure, reliable setup that doesn't bog your system down.

[blue]

I've been using ClamWin (open source) for the past year or so and it's been very good to me. It managed to cleanse my parents spyware/trojan/whatever the hell else it had (AIDS?) compy. It's fairly barebones and simple, but it gets the jorb done. I've yet to get a virus on this compy, but I have faith in my Clammy. However, now I'm tempted to try this AVG...

Btw, Zonealarm, Norton, McAffee...all of them blow the goat. I really don't know why everyone is like "NORTON!". At my work we have Norton, and my boss likes to play online games with ActiveX controls, so we regularly get trojans and spyware. Then they try to use Norton to fix it, and fail. So I download ClamWin, fix it, then get bitched out for downloading a program that "MIGHT SCREW UP THE COMPUTERS!". Morons. All of them.

[BUCKET]

Snip>Btw, Zonealarm, Norton, McAffee...all of them blow the goat. I really don't know why everyone is like "NORTON!". At my work we have Norton, and my boss likes to play online games with ActiveX controls, so we regularly get trojans and spyware. Then they try to use Norton to fix it, and fail. So I download ClamWin, fix it, then get bitched out for downloading a program that "MIGHT SCREW UP THE COMPUTERS!". Morons. All of them.

Well - I don't know of any AV product that can compensate for total user stupidy. It's not the AV's fault that your boss is knowingly downloading malware. We use Norton Corp here at work, which I really like (Home edition does suck - uses to much resources). But I really like Sophos on the important servers here at work.

[binary visions]

But I really like Sophos on the important servers here at work.
A large company I used to work at used Sophos. I thought it was a pretty good product - not unreasonable on the system resources, either.

[Changleen]

AVG is excellent, it's low profile, doesn't consume a lot of system resources, and is very effective.

I hate Norton because it's way too intrusive. It absolutely sucks system resources down, and while I don't think I've had it miss a virus, I find myself turning it off all the time because it's so resource-intensive.

Norton WinDoctor and SpeedDisk are both good products but I won't install either one of them because of all the overhead that Norton installs along with its software.

AVG is a good product. An extra firewall is usually unnecessary - if you're paranoid, just buy a broadband router to put in between your computer and the internet connection, and use Windows Firewall.

:stupid: Exactly.

[manimal]

update:

uninstalled all of norton.

installed avg, everything running much smoother :thumb:

[binary visions]

AVG is one of the few pieces of software I pay for ;) - I try to support companies that I think make really great software. Supporting the development process and all.

[santacruzed]

if you're a gamer..like myself....stay away from NAV (hogs too much memory) AVG 4 Life :)

[narlus]

i have had good luck w/ Panda on BV's advice. norton was WAY too much of a resource hog.

[binary visions]

i have had good luck w/ Panda on BV's advice. norton was WAY too much of a resource hog.
I had Panda on my computer for a while, and wanted to change my system around a bit so I did a format/re-install. When I reinstalled Panda, it completely FUBAR'd my system. Ever since then I've been a little gun-shy and installed AVG instead.

I'm positive it was a fluke thing, but... :confused:

[narlus]

huh. when i wiped/reinstalled my machine, panda played nice.

maybe yr copy had rabies.

[H8R]

I've been using McAfee VS Pro for about 6 months now. It has some overhead but not anywhere near the Symantic crap. I've been totally happy with it.

After my license expires 6 months from now I get to D/L it again for free from my new Comcast account, so I'm hooked up for awhile.


Spyware scanning for me consists of MS Antispyware Beta running in the background and a once-a-week full system scan from Adaware.

Firewall = router + Windows firewall + common sense + limiting what my kid does on the computer = no problems.

[Reactor]

Norton is way intensive. At work I had to download the sysinternals pskill utility to kill the programmed full disk scans, it won't let task manager kill it or reset it's priority.

At home I shut of the real time scan when I run a local game. You are better off to download something like zone alarm for firewall and a different AV program.

[Ciaran]

Giving ClamWin a try. It installed quickly and easily. Low overhead. We'll see how it goes.

[N8]

Looks like AVG is now longer free...

http://www.grisoft.com/doc/5/lng/us/tpl/tpl01

[binary visions]

Looks like AVG is now longer free...

http://www.grisoft.com/doc/5/lng/us/tpl/tpl01
Or, you could open your eyes and see the item on the left hand side that says, "AVG Free Edition" and click on it.

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

;)

AVG has always been commercial software, they just offer a free download if you don't want tech support or the bells & whistles.

[Ciaran]

Giving ClamWin a try. It installed quickly and easily. Low overhead. We'll see how it goes.
4.5 months... so far so good. Go clammy go!

[SkaredShtles]

I've been using AVG for about 6 years now. Never a problem.

[syadasti]

AVG is overrated in the realm of free antivirus clients. It often fails to stop various virus, scripts, and email vulnerabilities.

You can expose the AVG email flaws with this test:

http://www.windowsecurity.com/emailsecuritytest/

I would check out Avast (http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html) for the most secure, user friendly, full-featured free antivirus available. Avast also offers support via e-mail for its free product - you don't need to buy the professional edition for support...

[binary visions]

So, aside from email (which I don't care about, since I don't use POP mail anymore - I didn't even try the test), do you have any evidence for AVG "often" failing to stop various viruses?

I know you said in another thread that it let one through on your machine, but I hardly consider that "often" or to be a widespread problem.

I have found one negative review of AVG, but the review is dated August 2002 - as far as software development goes, that review may as well not exist. I have also found some evidence that old versions of AVG were indeed poor performers (which would suggest that the old review was correct for the time), but even independant websites have verified that recent versions have been excellent.

Avast has a history of a lot of negative performance as well, so I'm not sure what would be so much better about it.

[syadasti]

Yes its true older versions of AVG were even worse and it wasn't until June of 2003 did it pass the Virus Bulletin certification. AVG has not received the VB100 rating as many times as avast has over the years for their Windows or Linux version, thus it often does not detect all ItW viruses (i.e. viruses known to be 'in the wild')

You do use the WWW though where stopping scripts is important - thats come in use for me often? What about IM, P2P, or other network traffic Avast has built in plug-ins for (you can install whatever plugins you like/use on installation - not all are required)? It also has free international versions and free x64 support/compatibility (AVG requires pro for either of those features). Also for the average user free support is very useful.

Awards and test results:
15th February 2006...Secure Computing Readers Choice Awards for best Antivirus (avast!) for the USA section of the award event and also avast is Secure Computing's Awards 2006 Finalist, worldwide.

Download.com user ratings
4.5 out of 5 Avast Free Edition - 1478 votes
4 out of 5 AVG Free Edition - 873 votes

As far as Avast negatives - I don't like the default two tray icon view it installs or the icon animation (you can combine the icons and/or turn off animations and/or turn them off completely). I also don't like the default sound effects for notifications/warnings, but you can turn them off too.

[ALEXIS_DH]

So, aside from email (which I don't care about, since I don't use POP mail anymore - I didn't even try the test), do you have any evidence for AVG "often" failing to stop various viruses?

I know you said in another thread that it let one through on your machine, but I hardly consider that "often" or to be a widespread problem.

I have found one negative review of AVG, but the review is dated August 2002 - as far as software development goes, that review may as well not exist. I have also found some evidence that old versions of AVG were indeed poor performers (which would suggest that the old review was correct for the time), but even independant websites have verified that recent versions have been excellent.

Avast has a history of a lot of negative performance as well, so I'm not sure what would be so much better about it.

i found one flaw on avg.

i installed the free version, latest everything, and it did not catch mytob virus.

another antivirus (per antivirus, last update sept 05) did.
it did not clean it well, but at least it recognized the virus.

[binary visions]

Oh come on. You always have a reason why you think your choice is the best for everyone everywhere, but here's the facts. The fact is that neither AVG nor Avast! did very well in independant testing until a few years ago. Avast didn't start passing Virus Bulletin's testing until February of 2002, so your claims of it being significantly better are just plain unfounded. 17 times vs 12 times? Since 1998? What the hell kind of significance does that have?

None. No significance is what that has. Software development is what counts and BOTH programs have had plenty of recent success.

I've used IM and P2P and AVG has stopped any viruses I've inadvertantly downloaded. Of course, I don't test my virus scanner very often since I'm smart about what I download. As a matter of fact, all three times I've set off my virus scanner in the last 6 months have been when I've suspected the file is a virus but decided I'd take a look anyway. However, it has not failed to stop them, notify me, and clean the file.

I'm glad it has international versions and x64 support, that's very nice - but this is generally an English-speaking site and most people don't use x64 yet so the application is limited.

If you like Avast better, that's great. It has some beneficial features. But your statements are just plain wrong (especially "It often fails to stop various virus"). Wrong and misleading. Don't mislead people just because you like your product better. Virus scanners are NOT 100%. I've seen viruses sneak through AVG, Avast!, Panda, Norton and McAfee. You can't prevent all viruses, the scanners are just a help.

edit: Alexis, see above. Sucks that you caught something but virus scanners are not a guarantee. Being smart about what you download AND running a virus scanner is a pretty good bet but even then, things sneak through. Nothing is perfect, that's why we make backups.

[syadasti]

If you like Avast better, that's great. It has some beneficial features. But your statements are just plain wrong (especially "It often fails to stop various virus"). Wrong and misleading. Don't mislead people just because you like your product better. Virus scanners are NOT 100%. I've seen viruses sneak through AVG, Avast!, Panda, Norton and McAfee. You can't prevent all viruses, the scanners are just a help.

Superior email protection is important for most users. As a system administrator, most virus I encounter on firewall or email archive stats are from attempted infection via email.

While the various other built-in plugins are not useful for you or me, they are for the average user.

Also I guess Alexis is wrong, also, a virus really didn't get on his system with AVG :rolleyes:

A year for AVG to receive VB100 certification compared to Avast is significant in regards to IT and how fast products become obsolete.

Free technical support on a free product is significant for average users.

There are more biligual people on RM than you might think. I think Alexis, vitox, others might like a free Spanish (or other) version of antivirus software.

Just cause you don't use/need a product features doesn't mean it isn't better for the average user or even yourself.

As far as overall protection performance the latest tests from AV comparitives and virus.gr show NOD32 and Antivir as superior to either AVG or Avast which have similiar recognition rates but Avast getting many more polymorphic virus (26.7 vs. 10% - both pretty piss poor compared to others out there). Those tested were all pay version though, so assume free version not to do as well or offer as good protection.

Useful resource thread (http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=33&threadid=1658987&enterthread=y)

I'm going to switch to the AntiVir 7 free edition for now looking at the current performance of Avast and AVG. It doesn't hurt to try new things that are free...

edit: - pretty fast


Scanning for 388921 virus strains and unwanted programs.
Used time: 12:51 min

The scan has been done completely.

5188 Scanning directories
165127 Files were scanned
0 viruses and/or unwanted programs was found
0 files were deleted
0 files were repaired
0 files were moved to quarantine
0 files were renamed
1616 Archives were scanned

Real-time protection so far, about 20 MB RAM and very low % CPU

Also just found this piece of info:

"Response Times
How nimble your antivirus vendor is can make the difference between an infection and a non-event. To gauge this, we looked at the response times recorded for 26 major outbreaks during a particularly prolific virus period. Vendors who were among the first five to release antivirus updates for one of these 26 threats received points accordingly. AntiVir was one of the top 5 vendors a total of 5 times, AVAST appeared twice, and AVG only once.

...

If we left spyware/adware removal out of the mix and focused only on the scanner's ability to detect traditional virus threats, out of a possible 125.6 points, AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic scored 94, AVAST 4 Home Edition scored 89, and AVG Free Edition scored 66. However, when we included adware/spyware removal in the judging, the results were dismal, with AVAST scoring highest at 66 points, AntiVir following at 58, and AVG with only 30.

Of course, these particular antivirus scanners don't claim to have adware and spyware removal capabilities, so it would be unfair to judge them harshly if they do not. Still, if you are looking for a standalone antivirus scanner that can also offer spyware or adware protection, you'll have to shell out a few dollars to get it."

[binary visions]

Also I guess Alexis is wrong, also, a virus really didn't get on his system with AVG :rolleyes:
Yes, that's what I said. :rolleyes:

You don't read well, do you?

A year for AVG to receive VB100 certification compared to Avast is significant in regards to IT and how fast products become obsolete.
At the time, yes. But not 3 years later.

There are more biligual people on RM than you might think. I think Alexis, vitox, others might like a free Spanish (or other) version of antivirus software.
I'm not saying there aren't people who could use it. Please read my post again. I'm saying on a generally English-speaking site, the application is limited

Here's the point:

There are some features that Avast offers which people may choose the program for. But, just as with many of your arguments, things aren't black and white. AVG clearly suits my, and many other's needs, and does not offer the significant lack of protection that you imply it does.

And yes, trying new things is always good.

[SK6]

Norton sucks. If one purchases it, should seriously reconsider this. their support sucks. the installation sucks. The engine sucks.

And if you want it to be bilingual, then learn to speak Pakistani when calling support.

They suck. period.

This is NOT personal opinion,, but years of dealing with these asshats in regard to support and updates. I just spent 6 hours fixing a machine that WILL NOT RUN NORTON, for no known reason at all.

Fvck 'em.

[syadasti]

Yeah the Norton consumer edition sucks but the Symantec corporate AV engine isn't that bad....

[N8]

Damn... AVG has cut my boot-up time to nothing. Damn NAV was bogging down my system so bad it was taking me a good 2-3 minutes to log in... now I am in within seconds.

[Ciaran]

OK, now here's the strange thing.....

Other than it being a resource hog when using the full installation I have NEVER had a problem with Norton. Don't get me wrong here... I am not endorsing it, and I don't run it anymore. I am just wondering why I haven't had these issues that others have had. I can build and config a pretty good PC, but I am no guru by any stretch of the imagination so it's not that I am building better PC's.

Now I do run a MINIMUM of 1 gig of ram in all my machines, I take my time configuring it and turn off anything that's not needed. I reboot regularly, and keep my machines clean. I also reblast once a year. Never had long login times like N8, never had an issue install in as SK6 has. And I haven't had a virus in about 5 years. Though I think that has more to do with being aware and dilligent than it does with the AV I am using.

Strange, eh?

Gamers are a different story. I don't game and can't comment on the performance of a gaming box.

[syadasti]

OK, now here's the strange thing.....

Other than it being a resource hog when using the full installation I have NEVER had a problem with Norton. Don't get me wrong here... I am not endorsing it, and I don't run it anymore. I am just wondering why I haven't had these issues that others have had. I can build and config a pretty good PC, but I am no guru by any stretch of the imagination so it's not that I am building better PC's.

Are you sure you are not confusing it with symantec corporate edition - it uses a different AV engine and works very well?

[Rip]

Corporate edition rocks.

[sanjuro]

My unbiased opinion is that Norton Anti-Virus has to be the best.

[Ciaran]

Are you sure you are not confusing it with symantec corporate edition - it uses a different AV engine and works very well?
Possibly. I have a couple of different copies gained from ahem, privateer operations (Arrrgh!). They could be corporate editions.

[geargrrl]

Norton subscription is up and I'm ready to dump it for AVG.

Here's the question - what about the "internet security"? Aren't the windows firewalls etc adequate, and to have Norton on top of it, overkill?

Also, the one Norton thing I like is the anti-spam. It seems pretty trainable. Is there something else that works similar?

thanks

gg

[SkaredShtles]

Norton subscription is up and I'm ready to dump it for AVG.

Here's the question - what about the "internet security"? Aren't the windows firewalls etc adequate, and to have Norton on top of it, overkill?

Also, the one Norton thing I like is the anti-spam. It seems pretty trainable. Is there something else that works similar?

thanks

gg
I have the ZoneAlarm software firewall. I personally don't trust M$ to do a firewall. :p

[geargrrl]

zonealarm is not an antispam engine, though, it's not the kind you can train to automatically send certain types of thing to the junk folder. Or, is it?
Or am I thinking of Spybot...?

[Pat...]

Does anyone use the AVG anti-spyware?

edit: I was talking to someone and they said that AVG is better than most pay anti-virus programs, but NOD32 is a lot better. BV, do you think it's much better. I found it for $24 somewhere.

[binary visions]

edit: I was talking to someone and they said that AVG is better than most pay anti-virus programs, but NOD32 is a lot better. BV, do you think it's much better. I found it for $24 somewhere.

Well, err, a virus scanner either does its job, or it doesn't. Everything else is just user interface or system resources. I like AVG because it hardly uses any system resources but still does a good job.

I've never used NOD32, but they have an excellent track record with Virus Bulletin. For me... I don't see why I'd ever pay for a virus scanner, since there are so many good free ones. $24 is a lot of beer :D

[SkaredShtles]

zonealarm is not an antispam engine, though, it's not the kind you can train to automatically send certain types of thing to the junk folder. Or, is it?
Or am I thinking of Spybot...?
I think that you have to use mail client with specific anti-spam capabilities for that.

[SkaredShtles]

Does anyone use the AVG anti-spyware?
I do.

edit: I was talking to someone and they said that AVG is better than most pay anti-virus programs, but NOD32 is a lot better. BV, do you think it's much better. I found it for $24 somewhere.
Do people *pay* for AVG? I've always just used the free version.

[Pat...]

Well, err, a virus scanner either does its job, or it doesn't. Everything else is just user interface or system resources. I like AVG because it hardly uses any system resources but still does a good job.

I've never used NOD32, but they have an excellent track record with Virus Bulletin. For me... I don't see why I'd ever pay for a virus scanner, since there are so many good free ones. $24 is a lot of beer :D

Good point. I'll just stick with AVG, which I really like. :cheers: :lighten: