Confined to the painfully strict rules of the OP, I’d prefer Kaspersky. I wouldn’t install Norton on my worst enemy’s computer, much less my own.
Outside those restraints, neither. Microsoft’s Windows Security Essentials is a completely free and very, very adequate antivirus/antispyware program that isn’t as bloated as the other ones. Failing that, I go with AVG’s free version. There’s very rarely any good reason to pay for antivirus software.
It’s like paying for a phone book. Sure, you can do it, but why bother when you can get one just as good for free? From the phone company no less.
If those are the only choices on the menu, I’d say Kaspersky. But then if the choices were Norton vs leg amputation, I’d still have trouble choosing Norton.
Kaspersky, when I got it it said good for 3 computers too and I was indeed able to install it 3 times and they all get updates. Definitely go with Kaspersky, you already bought that, why is there much to think about now?
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to install it or not. I have heard such bad things about Norton, and I know relatively nothing about Kaspersky, so I thought I’d ask. I bought it because I am now on a PC… the last time I was on a PC I was infected a few times. My mac has never had a problem. (not worth the price difference, IMO, but the mac has been incredibly stable).
Just the other day I was saying to myself: “self, never, ever get a Norton product again”. It may protect my computer but it does it by taking over the control of thing it has no business touching and it’s all but impossible to get rid of.
If software was a form of government, Norton would be the fascists. Ever computer containing Norton that has ever been in my household has suffered chronic problems because of it. It takes over every aspect of your computer, greatly slows performance, nags you constantly, and is near impossible to uninstall completely. It’s a virus in itself.
I am not a computer person, and I haven’t read the thread. I absolutely HATED Norton. It made my computer slooooow. We got Kaspersky with our new (and squeaky clean!) computer, and I hardly notice it’s there.
Ick and double ick. I used to be an AVG user, but that was before I discovered Avast. AVG has gotten progressively worse, and in my experience fixing the three computers at my dad’s house (he swears by AVG), it enjoys changing your default search engine, doing DNS redirection, and other stuff, all without asking.
To the OP: If you want a free AV, go with Avast. If you’re willing to pay, go Kaspersky (Norton, as others have mentioned, is just as bad as AOL products in terms of thinking it owns your computer).
People are still silly enough to click on internet adds?
Broadband users are not behind a router/switch and using something like Zone alarm?
When looking for an item they don’t search and go to the manufacturer web site but follow adds?
I have been on the SDMB since forever and have never found it necessary to click on any add, heck, never thought to do it… It makes no sense to do so.
Threw away a HD that had Norton’s on it. Same with McAffee…
Used AVG, used AVAST, all slow the computer if scanning in real time.
You’re also a member. There are threads about people getting infected HERE from ads. And they didn’t click on any of them.
The other thing is: why the heck do you care if you computer is being slowed down while you’re on the net? The web may be more of a resource hog than it was in the past, but it’s not so bad that running an antivirus significantly slows it down (if you use the right options.) Unless you’re computer is older than the 2 Ghz P4s at my college library.
Anyways, the thing with malware is that, while the risk of being infected is somewhat small if you practice “proper Internet hygiene”, the amount of damage it can do more than makes up for it for most people. I’ve been infected twice (once with a flippin’ rootkit), and both of those were because I was stupid. But I’ve had my anti-spyware/malware/virus stop quite a few more. And most of them I wouldn’t have even known they were doing anything.
(One I actually beat running Adaware. I don’t know what it was doing, but it somehow screwed up my harddrive so that 20 GBs were missing. And this was back when I had a “huge” 40GB drive, and the 20GBs was all my free space.)
I think the biggest lesson here (and elsewhere) is that people who are knowledgeable and interested and motivated to understand the topic still arrive at a wide variety of conclusions, and it is a mess.
There is no confusion. Virus/Malware protection programs are necessary on all computers connected to the internet. Don’t mistake ignorance and bravado for an informed opinion.
True. Now, there is some variance in even expert opinions, like I said, I have a high level techy friend who thinks that with Windows 7, a good firewall, some reasonable caution, and a a free anti-malware app, he’s fine. But note he’s still using quite a bit of protection, just that he’s not paying extra for it.
If you decide to remove Norton, uninstall it and then run the Norton Removal Toolas well. The Norton uninstaller does such a poor job of removing all the bits and pieces of their bloated antivirus product that they had to issue a dedicated tool to clean up after it.
