Topic: Best Antivirus/Firewall programs

[Mr. Analyst]

We used Norton for over five years until recently. I did some research and from my own experiences with Symantec, I found them very frustrating to deal with overall. We did enjoy using their Security program overall, but I have since started using McAfee and I find it easier to work with. As well, I have been able to chat online with a technical support person to help me out with some initial issues. Now we are running things very smoothly. I used to hear stories about problems McAfee had in dealing with Viruses, but I have to hand it to them - when it comes to virus protection, they are usually the first ones out to get a fix or to deal with viruses and trojans. I give them full thumbs up over Norton. And I would rather be overcautious when it comes to viruses than to be feeling somewhat uncertain and unsafe now with Norton. And I find their prices are just that much more affordable as well. What experiences to any of you have with a good Antivirus/Firewall program

[Zeus]

I've had several different installations of McAfee on different machines pretty much hosed.  I loath McAfee.  I've tried to uninstall it on my  bosses machine and my sisters machine (different versions), and it required a bunch of registry hacking to even let the computer boot in anything other than safe mode.

I may be a little extreme here, but I'd rather use nothing that McAfee.

[VE6JHC]

McAfee seems to take a lot of system resources to run.....Norton has had some issues over the years as well but overall it seems superior to me. If you are looking for a decent AV program I used to use Kaspery Anti Virus....It seemed to work (I never got a virus) and the system load was light.

[Death]

I used to use McAfee but had the same sort of problems as Zeus, so I don't use it at all any more. I use Norton for Anti Virus and just Windows for a fire wall. The software for my ISP doesn't like Norton or pretty much any other company except McAfee (that what the recomend). I think they have some sort of deal going on. But I don't use any because of that reason...................

[LobbDogg]

I like good ole free AVG and Kaspersky AV.  Norton seems to be very picky if its missing a file or something isn't 100% on the system you are installing it onto.  Plus I really hate Norton's interface for some reason.  Maybe its just me, but I just don't like it.

[lu]

I use norton, but i guess it doesn't alwayss get everything. I ran stinger.exe, and part way throught the scan norton came up with finding the download.trojan. It passed through on a normal norton antivirus scan.

[MaraudingDemon]

After using Panda I would never go back to Norton or McACrap.

[lu]

Though I should point out, I ran Newuninst a couple times first. It caught something. Then ran the virus check. A two step process. From
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/

[Mr. Analyst]

For the past five years, we had been using Norton but it just seemed to duplicate too much for us and I found my experience with tech support very frustrating and I found them not as helpful. Since working with McAfee, I had the best customer service help ever and we have run McAfee without any problems. Windows XP is another story especially with SP-2, but overall once again, things have been running very smooth for us lately. I was happy to move to McAfee now, not only because I was tired of the hassles we had with Norton, but McAfee does the job for us and is more in our price range. When you aren't working, you have to try and save without compromise. And another thing that in my mind puts Norton to task is how quickly McAfee gives updates for us in terms of what is happening out there - worms, viruses - and how quick they are to fix those issues. I am not sure if we will ever go back to Norton at this point. McAfee is less a drain on our system than Norton ever was. And we are feeling more secure with McAfee than we did with Norton. We did hear horror stories about how McAfee did not protect people from viruses but that has not been our case. We are very happy with our customer service and tech support now and we will be very happy to stick with McAfee. My parents also switched to McAfee and my brother and his wife have used McAfee for years without issues or problems. We had more problems in recent years with Norton and I was totally turned of to their customer service and tech support. They almost seem to be nonexistent at times and by the time they get a hold of you, your issue has been corrected without their help. It got so bad one year that we had to get a refund because we found out after we installed the newer version that we needed to uninstall the previous version. We did get the next version but that was the last we will be dealing with Norton for some time to come. Our experience with Norton was no bed of roses, and in reading what Smart Computing had to say, they would support our view there. They ranked McAfee as the best of the best antivirus programs and firewalls, and to this point, we have far less complaints about McAfee than Norton. I can't see us going back to Norton after how well things have gone for us with McAfee!

[Zeus]

It got so bad one year that we had to get a refund because we found out after we installed the newer version that we needed to uninstall the previous version.

As a rule you always uninstall old software first.  If you read the readme or installation instructions, it would tell you that.  Same with graphics card drivers, and switching from Office 97 to Office XP2003.  You can get by with installing over-top, but it's not recommended.

[Mr. Analyst]

I guess we did not read the fine print until it was too late. We still got our refund back and stayed with Norton for one more year. I am so used to not uninstalling programs like that so I did not find this out before it was too late. We never had to uninstall Norton when we did the Windows ME upgrade but we found out too late that this upgrade was much different!

I guess live and learn is the motto we always try to use. Now we know what to do next time something like this happens, but right now we are happy with McAfee and the service we get from them. They are number 1 in my books, and Symantec is not as high up after the service we had from them. The other thing I found a bit redundent was having the e-mails we sent checked with the anti-virus program. If we don't have any viruses on our computer, why would I want my own e-mails checked? I know others who had that same frustration. I like McAfee - sent it and go - and if you have a virus your computer will know it. I find McAfee is much quicker at reacting to the viruses and worms out there than Symantec. I would not waste my money on  them anymore. And for those who say they got viruses from McAfee, I still got viruses when we had Norton. Remember the mass-mailing virus for Outlook - the one about the tennis star, even though we had Norton, that mass-mailing virus still came to us - fortunately I wasn't using Outlook at the time! I think that proves my point - you can find fault with any antivirus program if you use it long enough - like we did with Norton. I think that is where McAfee has improved and Symantec has failed.

The other issue is customer Service. I have had no trouble talking with people right away with McAfee. I usually had trouble at times finding out how to approach Symantec and if they responded at all. I don't know if they have improved on this, but even their web site should have been more customer friendly like McAfee's. I think we will be sticking with McAfee now for years to come. Symantec lost a valued customer with their lack of service and with their lack of response to viruses. Congratulations, McAfee, you're our choice now!

[Mr. Analyst]

In talking with others, we seem to not be alone in our frustration with Norton. Others are equally as frustrated with the checking of viruses for e-mails you send out. All I need to know is whether it is a worm, or not, not a virus! I know people who simply disabled this annoyance. At least with McAfee, it checks to ask me whether I am sending out a worm or not. I would rather have it ask that than to check my own e-mail for an hour for viruses. I know others who have been using AGV and say it is a good freebie, but I tried it a bit and would not try it again. I like something that is proven and Norton is not as proven to me. I like to talk online with tech support people in chats, not deal with e-mails a week later!

My money is still on McAfee. We will be getting the complete suite in a few weeks as part of my Christmas gift. I just don't see the point in going back to Norton or any other confusing antivirus program. PC Cillin would be my next choice over Norton. And the advantage of McAfee is that Norton takes up more memory than McAfee from our experience. GO MCAFEE GO!! Funny how a year or two ago, we were so sure that Norton was the program for us - they are a bit overpriced for what they offer and they are more challenging to configure. I prefer something that makes me feel more secure and does as good if not a better job than Norton! As I said before, we are not the only disgruntled ex-Norton users, and the others we meet likely won't be the last ones either!

[Zeus]

I would rather have it ask that than to check my own e-mail for an hour for viruses.

You must send out a tonne of email for a virus scanner to check outgoing mail for an hour.  I think outgoing mail checking is absolutely essential as this prevents the spread of virus that may have snuck into your system.  You sending all that email . . . are you purchance a spammer?!

Yikes, I hope not.  On a 400MHz system, a standard text-based email with 250 words or less should take about 2-5 seconds to scan with any anti-virus software I've seen.  Either you're running a x286, or you're sending 1000's of emails a day.

I'm glad you found a scanner you like.  Keep it updated and it help you not spread virus'.

[Fujitsu]

I've actually switched over to McAfee too, even after using it in the past and absolutely hating it

It definately takes less resources I've found then old Norton, and the price was right (freeeee educational version)

[TheSeven]

must be going to a great school there Fuji  

I run McAfee as well, switched from Norton as the subscription had run out, it was a nightmare trying to uninstall Norton.