Antivirus

cascaderailroad

New member
Every year I debate:

Is Norton Antivirus worth the cost ?

Now that Norton 360 is on my PC ... is it so tightly wrapped around protecting my files ... that choosing to uninstall Norton Antivirus could erase all my files, and Trainz assets ? (it did this once, when I chose to uninstall Norton 360, rather than just have the new Norton 360 overwrite the expired subscription).

I have read all about Free AVG, Avast, Firewire (which commonly give false positives on threats, and Avast was automaticly self choosing to delete any program and file it thought was a threat).

Is MicroSoft Security Essentials enough protection from threats and virus ?

I have heard that some people have no antivirus protection whatsoever ... That sounds risky !

I have seen Webroot, Kasperski, and many othere Antivirus software in stores

And my main question is:

Through Nortons site they have a: 3 PC, 1 Household, digital download antivirus for @ $29 USD.
If you download it on your PC ... how do you transfer the other 2 remaining antivirus subscriptions to your other 2 PC's ?
Do you burn the download to a disc ?
Or simply log in to your Norton Account, on your other 2 PC's, and download it again ?
 
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I use MS security essentials with the Windows firewall and have never had any trouble. Don't let MS haters tell you different, it is an excellent program. I also use Spybot Search and Destroy.

I know a couple of people who don't run AV at all. They know what they are doing a as far as internet safety and stuff and in the off chance a bug does sneak in, they just reformat.
 
The free Microsoft one security essentials together with Windows update would be my preferred approach.

Cheerio John
 
IMO...Norton's is a piece of crap. I use a full version of AVG, it has never given me a false positive, doesn't need to be stopped when doing anything with Trainz (any version) and doesn't hog resources. Just my 2 cents worth.

Peter
 
I use Microsoft Security Essentials without any problems. It is quite kind to system resources so doesn't hog the computer while it is running a scan. In my many years of computing I have never had a paid for Antivirus package because I have always been happy with the freely available versions

Andy
 
If you choose to uninstall Norton, let Norton do the uninstall.

Go to there website and look for the uninstall feature. Select the verision of Norton you
have installed and it will uninstall it for you.

Doing it yourself is risky, and time consuming to say the least.

I've had no problem doing this for other people in the past. Personally I use Microsoft Essentials but
different strokes for different folks.

-AL
 
I found Norton to be very rescource Greedy, it also slowed my computer and every utility I used was very slow at running so I changed to MS Essentail and have never looked back. It is free and downloads updates automaticaly without slowing the computer down.
 
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If MS Security Essentials, and AVG Free are are so good ... Why do they sell so many payware antivirus programs ?

I guess because of dummies like me !
 
I use MS Security Essentials, but periodically, I use msert and do a full scan. It's never let me down.
Norton indeed is a piece of crap.
 
I use BitDefender which gets good reviews and got a tremendous cheap price covering 2 machines. Being Scots I like being canny with my Bawbees and getting a bargain!
 
I use Trend Micro's Premium Security that comes with five licences. Basically I've had the same A/V system for years because it does the job and is unobtrusive. I'm not saying it is better than others but it suits my needs. I recall the last time I changed vendors it caused me no end of trouble trying to get rid of the old A/V software. They come with a tenacious grip and don't want to be removed.

With multiple licences you usually have to log in to your account and nominate the names of the PCs that get the extra licences.
 
I agree with the posters here about MS Security Essentials and I also use the paid version of Malwarebytes. I had Norton once but when it came time to renew I ended up on the phone to India and a woman who spoke such garbled English that it was like a comedy sketch. She asked me "York.....which country is that in?" and gave me the price in US dollars. After 30 minutes I slammed the phone down and binned the discs.
 
As has already been said, it's horses for courses, I've never paid for an anti-virus system yet, after 10 years, even the free trial ones you get installed on a brand new computer get dumped afterwards, I've used Avast ever since it came out and it does the job for me, I've had the odd false positive on various Railway Simulator downloaded assets, which I know were incorrect, and did a manual override of anything. I don't play any games whilst being on-line anyway as a matter of course, so, can merrily disable anything to give my computer a bit more ooomph for my PC gaming and it automatically enables itself afterwards, it all depends on what you want the anti-virus to do for you, I'd personally say get a freebie one off the internet, and when all is said and done, they often give you more than something you actually pay for, it's horses for courses.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.
 
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If MS Security Essentials, and AVG Free are are so good ... Why do they sell so many payware antivirus programs ?

I guess because of dummies like me !

It's historical, Microsoft essentials is a fairly new anti virus program that came about as Microsoft tried to recover from their just do it phase rather than code for security which came a little later. I think Norton was one of the very first back in the DOS days.

Cheerio John
 
If MS Security Essentials, and AVG Free are are so good ... Why do they sell so many payware antivirus programs ?

I guess because of dummies like me !

Because human beings have a predisposition to think that anything "free" cannot be any good, even though Air is free.

Having said that MS Security Essentials is not "free" - you have paid for it as part of Windows.
 
Hi cascaderailroad,

If you purchase the 3PC licence pack from NORTON you can download onto each computer. Use the same key and each computers unique id will register back at NORTON so as you can only have it available on up to 3PC's.

Andrew.
 
Say, I get rid of Norton (which oftentimes displays a notice: An Attack By Fake Something Or Other Was Blocked ... and many other notices of Attacks On Your PC Has Been Blocked.

I really find it hard to believe that Free AVG and Free MS Security Essentials will be able to block these Attacks as well as Norton does ?
 
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