Norton anti virus outrage

[dennis thompson]

I have Norton anti virus, my computer got infected with a virus anyway & Norton wants $99 to fix it? What am I missing here? I thought that's what I paid for already. Can anyone recommend an anti virus program that works? (free would be nice but not absolutely required)
Thanks
Dennis

[Doug Shepard]

Thanks for helping me out with a decision. I had McAfee on my previous laptop but the hard drive went belly up on that right before Christmas and I ended up getting a new laptop. The new one came with a 60 day trial version of Norton and I've been getting prompted for the last couple weeks that I only have xxx days left. I wasn't crazy about McAfee either but it worked OK and I never got a virus using it. I haven't been all that impressed with the general user interface of the Norton, but hadn't really made up my mind yet whether to go with it or renew my McAfee again on the new PC. I think you just helped me decide to stay away from Norton.

[Dan Mages]

I use AVG's free version with no complaints.

Dan

[Matt Meiser]

AVG Free on the home computers, AVG paid version for the work PC. I lost a whole day of billable time at work to Norton 360 while their tech's remote controlled my PC and tried to get things working. In the end the they just refunded my purchase. Then just a couple weeks ago my mom's PC was acting up--Norton was using 100% CPU for about 20 minutes after each startup. Uninstalled using the downloadable Norton Removal Tool and installed AVG Free and its like new again.

From what I've read, McAfee has gotten just as bad and personally I've decided its not even worth the risk to try it.

[Jim Tobias]

I have used Bit Defender for 3 years and have liked it a lot. I used to have McAfee and before that Norton, did not like either one.
Bitdefender is around $50 and it covers everything. great support also.

Jim

[Chuck Wintle]

Another vote for AVG free or the paid version. Norton , for years now, have been releasing buggy software on the unsuspecting public often resulting in an unbootable system repairable only with a complete reinstall of the OS. And the charge a handsome fee for the privilege!!
Dennis,
There are programs that allow you to make a boot disk containing some AV programs so you can scan your system without booting into it. One is UBCD4Win which, I thought, worked well.

[Kevin Arceneaux]

Another AVG user.

Norton and McAfee have got so bloated that they just kill your computer.

[Joe Suelter]

Norton does absolutely no good unless updated on a regular basis. Remember, all an anti-virus does is keep you from getting a virus. Once infected, that is it. It probably won't fix it once that takes place. I have had Norton for 8 years (different versions), and it updates EVERY DAY at 2 in the morning. Thankfully, I have never had a virus. But, like I said, it updates it's definitions daily on its own.

[Scott Shepherd]

One vote for ESET's products. NOD32 is their anti-virus and they also have an entire security package. It's benchmarked as being the least intrusive resource package out there if I recall correctly. It's also rated very high in it's detection. I believe it rates better than both Norton and McAfee. I notice a big difference with it in performance. I can actually log into my computer and not have to wait 5 minutes before I can use it because of all the resource hogging the others do.

It's a very highly rated program by all the tech heads. Worth a look if you are considering a new package.

eset.com

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I used to be a huge fan of Norton...until I had problems. Trying to get Norton removed was a nightmare. I have used ZoneAlarm firewall free version for some years and the last few years I bought the ZoneAlarm PRo which has a anti-virus and spyblocker and spyremover. I've run without any problems.

[Chris Kennedy]

I've run Norton and McAfee, and I prefer Norton. McAfee did little to stem the tide, and it itself got corrupted at one point (I would open McAfee, and it had been taken over by adware!). By far the best thing has been a firewall in my wireless router.

Cheers,

Chris

[David G Baker]

I use Zone Alarm Security Suite but have done a lot of reading about AVG, AVG is very well thought of and from my research it rates much higher than Norton and McAfee. If I ever have a problem with Zone Alarm I will give AVG a try.

[Stephan Postmus]

I also have the NOD32 package from ESET and it has worked well for 1.5 years. I did get a virus on my home PC, but I brought it away and the computur guys got it removed. I asked them how it happen and they said virus protection can't stop everything. There are new virus' made everyday. I learned my lesson, I real watch what I click on now. This system updates itself everytime you log on to the internet. YMMV.

Stephan

[Jim Becker]

I switched to the ZoneAlarm suite two years ago for the convenience of one solution (and it covers 3 machines with one license), but was quite happy with the AVG paid product for a long time. Previous to that I used McAfee, but it was way too much of a pig. Norton has a similar reputation...and beware, it's also very hard to uninstall.

[roman fedyk]

One of the best in the Industry is Kaspersky. You can get it on Amazon for as little as $15. It works and works well. Updates everyday automatically and catches everything. It also fixes as well. I highly recommend this one. (In the computer/electronics industry for 20 years, and build all my own equipment. So I feel comfortable making this recommendation.)

Take care,