# The Anti-Virus is worse than the damn Virus!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 11, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233 "2004-12-11T00:56:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/1 "2004-12-11T00:56:34Z")
So, my Norton Anti-Virus runs out (I always picture it being installed by Art Carney). I renew it and get an Order Confirmation from Symantec. Warnings continue to pop up: “Your Norton Anti-Virus has expired! Danger, Danger, Will Robinson!” Armed with my e-mail confirmation, complete with ID number, Confirmation number, Order number, I go to Symantec’s web site. If you have never been to Symantec’s web site, I will spare you the horror. Let’s just say I finally managed to find a phone number. The nice lady told me, “Oh, you want Customer Service.” Indeed I do. I call Customer Service and, after the expected three-week wait, get a human being on the phone. I explain that _they_ were supposed to have updated my Norton Anti-Virus from _their_ end, that’s what I paid for. He gives me yet another number to call and after I call them, I’ll have to call _Customer Service again_. At this point I am weeping softly to myself, figure I will just wait for the virus to destroy my computer and go out and buy a new one. [**Eve** goes to get her Underwood typewriter out of mothballs] ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/2 "2004-12-11T00:59:20Z")
P.S. The Norton Anti-Virus has just starting doing a virus scan on my comuter, less than an hour after telling me “You Have No Norton Anti-Virus!” I mean, is it _me?!_ ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/3 "2004-12-11T01:02:47Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > P.S. The Norton Anti-Virus has just starting doing a virus scan on my comuter, less than an hour after telling me “You Have No Norton Anti-Virus!” > > I mean, is it _me?!_ No it’s not you. Norton sucks. Norton is evil incarnate. ---
**Author:** ![Oat1957](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Oat1957](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oat1957)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/4 "2004-12-11T01:04:22Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > P.S. The Norton Anti-Virus has just starting doing a virus scan on my comuter, less than an hour after telling me “You Have No Norton Anti-Virus!” > > I mean, is it _me?!_ No, it’s not you. I recently bought Norton’s after using the 15 day free trial and it was doing stupid stuff for the first couple of days but after I ran Live Update a couple of times it straighten out. That said, it’s pretty crappy programing for as long as they’ve been around. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/5 "2004-12-11T01:04:55Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > No it’s not you. > > Norton sucks. > > Norton is evil incarnate. See, now I’m picturing Jackie Gleason saying this . . . ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/6 "2004-12-11T01:06:41Z")
> [@Oat1957](#): > > . . . but after I ran Live Update a couple of times it straighten out. How do I do that? See, I’m not a computer person, that’s why I want to pay _them_ to take care of these things. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/7 "2004-12-11T01:09:14Z")
“Gee, Ralph, you’ve heard me talk about my Auntie Virus. She’s the one who married my Uncle Cyrus.” “Get out!” ---
**Author:** ![Oat1957](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Oat1957](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oat1957)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/8 "2004-12-11T01:14:40Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > How do I do that? See, I’m not a computer person, that’s why I want to pay _them_ to take care of these things. Programs, Norton’s, Live Update. Run the program and let it download and install all the latest updates. Follow the on screen instructions. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/9 "2004-12-11T01:28:25Z")
Or better yet, drop that monstrosity and get [AVG](http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php) . The new free version just came out and it works great for me. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/10 "2004-12-11T01:43:58Z")
Just be glad you paid for the continued subscription. if you don’t, then EVERY DAY you get a pop up window telling you your subscription has expired and you must renew! You can’t stop these from appearing unless you uninstall or renew. wWhat if I’m happy with my current state of anti-virus and don’t want to bother to pay to get new virus definitions? I have AVG, but I never bothered to explore it, so I have no idea if it can be ‘always on’ in the background, doing autoprotect and scan my incoming and outgoing emails. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/11 "2004-12-11T01:49:17Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Just be glad you paid for the continued subscription. if you don’t, then EVERY DAY you get a pop up window telling you your subscription has expired and you must renew! But I _did_ renew and I _am_ still getting those, _even while it runs a virus scan!!!_ Tell me more about this AVG. Pros? Cons? Can a complete idiot (and _do not underestimate my idiocy_) install it? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/12 "2004-12-11T01:52:54Z")
Could a complete idiot install it and understand it? Didn’t I just say that _I_ use it? 😃 It has auto updates, isn’t intrusive and easy as all getout. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/13 "2004-12-11T01:55:18Z")
Occasionally Zone Alarm tells me that my Norton Antivirus is out of date, but NAV itself claims to be up to date. I choose to believe that Zone Alarm is in error. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/14 "2004-12-11T02:17:12Z")
**Eve** , if it will make you feel any better, I installed Symantec AV on my computer at work and set it all up to update and scan automatically. I didn’t have any problems with that. However, the next day, after the scan ran the first time, it deleted everything in my email in-box. No matter how bad computers are, it can always be worse. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/15 "2004-12-11T02:52:02Z")
**Eve** , you took the OP right out of my mouth. I got so fed up with the nag-ware reminders, that I just ditched it and downloaded AVG. The Norton subscription reminder gives you an option to “remind me later” complete with a pull-down list containing a single entry. Why do they have a pull-down that only contains one entry? And then to top it off, it ignores me when I say remind me tomorrow and insists on reminding me every time I log in. Peter Norton is rolling over in his grave; probably still with that smug look on his face. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/16 "2004-12-11T03:14:36Z")
McAfee is EVIL. Pure, unadulterated evil. I installed the firewall. It was fucking everythign up, so I uninstalled it. But it left the port blocked, and there was no way whatsoever to open it again. I ended up reinsalling it, changing settings, then uninstalling it again. I tell ya, never has any spyware been so hard to get off my computer. My computer still asks for missing McAfee files all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/17 "2004-12-11T03:25:24Z")
> [@LaurAnge](#): > > McAfee is EVIL. Pure, unadulterated evil. I installed the firewall. It was fucking everythign up, so I uninstalled it. But it left the port blocked, and there was no way whatsoever to open it again. I ended up reinsalling it, changing settings, then uninstalling it again. > > I tell ya, never has any spyware been so hard to get off my computer. My computer still asks for missing McAfee files all the time. Apparently, I’m the only person on the earth who uses McAfee w/o major problems. I’m running the Security Center for virus protection, but I don’t use the firewall. I have Zone Alarm for that. The only problem I had with earlier versions of McAfee was when I would get a newer version. It would never properly uninstall the older version. I had to scour the 'net to find out how to do it manually. This involved mucking about in the registry. Since I’ve been using the Security Center, I’ve had no problems. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/18 "2004-12-11T03:37:30Z")
Another vote for AVG. It’s got a professional installer, it runs in the background, checking everything like a good virus scanner should, it tells XP sp2 that it is up to date, and it has its own “live update” type of updater. Good stuff. Price is right too. I have another free one installed on a different machine: [Avast](http://www.avast.com/) It’s just as competent as AVG and it updates automatically. The only slightly unsettling thing is all of the pirate lingo that they scatter throughout their product. (Wouldn’t you be suspicious of anything calling home to “[jollyroger.blablah.com](http://jollyroger.blablah.com)”?) I like both of them and I don’t miss Norton. ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/19 "2004-12-11T03:56:09Z")
Is AVG Free significantly smaller than Norton? First, I got McAffee, which made my Dad’s cheap two year old Dell run like total CRAP. Then, even though I had paid for a year of McAffee, I ditched it and bought Norton (and I had to reinstall the OS from scratch to get rid of those horrible popups complaining about missing files). Then – SURPRISE!–Dad’s computer started running like crap again. Turns out that Norton is so huge, it ate up pretty much all of his memory (I don’t remember offhand how much memory the computer came with, but it is one of those entry level TV commercial special offer ones, and it doesn’t have much, that’s for sure.) Mind you, this is with absolutely NOTHING installed except Windows XP and Internet Explorer. I had taken everything else off to save space. I am buying Dad more memory for Christmas, but I’d still like to get something a little less “hungry” to replace good ol’ Norton when the subscription runs out. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233/20 "2004-12-11T04:02:34Z")
I must be a lucky one, because I’ve been using Norton for a number of years without any major problems. A guy I know swears by McAfee, but most of the time he is swearing _at_ his PC because he can’t get it to do what he wants. Occasionally something sneaks past the goalie and makes the box act up-in those cases Roxio GoBack makes the problem go away. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-virus-is-worse-than-the-damn-virus/279233.md?page=2)