# Recommendations for an antivirus package?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-an-antivirus-package/303615>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 12, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-an-antivirus-package/303615 "2005-05-12T23:09:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-an-antivirus-package/303615/1 "2005-05-12T23:09:19Z")

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Besides Norton/Symantec?

I’m about to give up. I’ve used an older version, but Norton Internet Security 2005 fails to load. I’ve been on the phone with their tech support over the past several days, tried the relevant bulletins on their site, all without success. It appears that there are still a few Norton/Symantec references in my registry that still haven’t been removed, and these kill the install.

I’m thinking of just reloading a competitor’s product and would like any suggestions. The only one that I can think of is McAfee, but it’s been years since I’ve used their stuff and I really don’t know what’s out there.

Any suggestions?

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**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-an-antivirus-package/303615/2 "2005-05-13T01:51:27Z")

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We’ve done this one many times, but after going throught the wringer with Norton and McAfee, I switched to Grisoft’s AVG two years ago and haven’t looked back.

It’s free, doesn’t hog resources, and has been bulletproof.

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**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-an-antivirus-package/303615/3 "2005-05-13T05:03:31Z")

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> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#):
>
> We’ve done this one many times, but after going throught the wringer with Norton and McAfee, I switched to Grisoft’s AVG two years ago and haven’t looked back.
> 
> It’s free, doesn’t hog resources, and has been bulletproof.

:Werd:

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**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-an-antivirus-package/303615/4 "2005-05-13T07:28:02Z")

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This is entirely unsubstantiated, but I have heard rumors of McAfee creating minor bugs to help sell McAfee and other such shadinesses. Certainly they were sending spam mail out for a while (“Buy our spam filter now!” I litterally asked around if it was a prank–which is when I heard the former information that they were possibly shadey.)

So I can offer a no-go on McAfee at least.

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**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-an-antivirus-package/303615/5 "2005-05-13T14:32:25Z")

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Thanks folks. Grisoft looks pretty good. I think I’ll give it try.