Do I need Norton

[frogtog]

Mine has expired and the price has gone up to $49.95 + they want all your life information ( Phone #, Address etc ) when all they need is a M/C number. Is there any thing else available?

[Long Mike]

McAfee Antivirus. Hands down better than Norton, but it will cost you about the same $ per year.  I've never tried it, but I have heard there are free, or almost free antivirus programs available off the web, but I'm not about to go there.

[Hookemdown.]

We stopped using Norton a few years ago.

I know use AVG, and it's free.

[frogtog]

Everytime I try to down load AVG  I get ( URI is to large ) so what can I do?

[Dan:]

Kaspersky.

Or PC-Cillin

[Muddy]

L have had the oppisite experience as Mike, I love Norton 360 but McAfee ran slow. I think it has to do with your provider.

[CFFF 1.5]

go to download.com and search for either AVG or Avast, both are very good anti-virus programs and  they are free.

[Glenn]

I hate Norton.  Too many false alarms.  In addtion, Norton and McCafee are all too often targeted by viruses, which can shut them down.

I've been using PC-Cillin by Trend Micro for about a decade.  Very reliable, very accurate, never seen it shut down by viruses.

http://us.trendmicro.com/

They also have a free version: http://housecall.trendmicro.com

[MitchIsFishin]

X2 on either AVG or avast. I've used Norton, McAfee, PC-Cillin, Kapersky, and ultimately wound up with various types of infections

with all. Never a problem with AVG, although V8.0 leaves something

to be desired. Avast is rock solid.

[firefightn15]

Glenn, I also am looking for a change, and a few years ago trying to uninstall Norton, it stated certain files had to remain because they were shared files with another program.  If I do uninstall Norton to switch protection, is this a big deal?

[Dean]

I use AntiVir PE Classic, I've had it for a year and so far so good. And it's free to download and use.

[Muddy]

I hate Norton. Too many false alarms. In addtion, Norton and McCafee are all too often targeted by viruses, which can shut them down.

I've been using PC-Cillin by Trend Micro for about a decade. Very reliable, very accurate, never seen it shut down by viruses.

http://us.trendmicro.com/

They also have a free version: http://housecall.trendmicro.com

How much does the full service cost?

[Glenn]

I don't know how much it costs. Maybe 40-50 bucks/year. To me, it's the cost of doing business, just like oil changes are for your car.

I don't know how difficult it is to remove Norton these days, since I don't use it anymore.

[Muddy]

Thanks, Elaine is looking to switch outta Norton, I am going to show her this.

[moby bass]

I have been using McAfee security suite for some time. IMO, much better than Norton.  Norton only warned me of stuff, after it was on my computer and it had quarantined it.  But I could not remove it.  McAfee stops problems before they are on my computer. I am constantly, daily

and sometimes twice daily, getting updates to install.  They seem to be on the ball.

[frogtog]

I uninstalled Norton with no problem, I have Ad - Ware what does it do?

[frogtog]

I went with the Boss's recommendation and got Trend Micro for 69.95. Now I will see if they send as many pop ups as Norton did.

[moby bass]

I uninstalled Norton with no problem, I have Ad - Ware what does it do?

Ad-Aware is an anti spyware program. Works good. So does Spy-bot.  First time I ran them it found several hundred questionable items on my computer, such as cookies, unwanted programs, malware, spyware, etc.  Easy to get those off your computer after you do a scan.  

[Olebiker]

go to download.com and search for either AVG or Avast, both are very good anti-virus programs and they are free.

I run Avast on one computer and AVG on another.  I am happy with both.

We used McAfee for years until an upgrade within the last year slowed my computers to a crawl.  It's a common problem with McAfee.

[frogtog]

I uninstalled Norton and installed Trend Micro. Now my PC has come to a crawl, I couldn't hardly get on BR. I ran AD Ware and Trend Micro and they found 212000+ virus and glitches on my PC. Last night when I uninstalled Norton it said that I had 211000 viruses quarantine and asked if I wanted them removed. I clicked on the yes button and guess where they turned them lose at. I guess this is how they do payback. I can see this costing me a lot of money. :-[

[Glenn]

It won't cost you anything but time. Go to http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Introduction and follow the instructions.

Note to all - I highly recommend going to that link and following the instructions.  You will be amazed at how much junk is really on your computer.  You will learn how to clean it, and prevent it from happening again.

[tyrius.]

Glenn,

It looks like your last link isn't working anymore.  Is there a different one that you recommend?

[done]

McAffee and Norton all offer good products, I liked MS' oferring as well but it will be discontinued soon.

Personally I like the bug vendors, they have more of a budget to keep their virus definition files up to date. However, there are a lot of good smaller companies as well.

One suggestion, get a Anti-Virus, and Anti-Spyware combination package. A lot of folks to one and not the other. In addition assuming you have a MS based operating system, always keep it up to date on patches.  Nothing is 100% though.

[Glenn]

Glenn,

It looks like your last link isn't working anymore. Is there a different one that you recommend?

Well C R A P!!    That's been my favorite "computer resolution" site for years!  *sigh*

Well, here's a few to try, but I honestly don't know anything about these sites:

http://www.techsupportforum.com/security-center/virus-trojan-spyware-help/

http://www.pchelpforum.com/

http://forums.techguy.org/79-security-malware-removal/