renewing Norton vs buying new software package

....(I'm not sure I will be staying with Norton but just in case I do....)I
have the Norton Anti Virus/Firewall which came with my PC that expires in
May this year. Is just renewing it with Norton as effective as just going
out and buying a new Norton 2007? I don't think there is any difference in
the cost, if any, but my primary concern is, will the renewal work as well
as starting off fresh? TIA
...... Vi

"Vi" <baseballfan@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:W6CdnaA_OOg4oo_bnZ2dnUVZ_rWnnZ2d@comcast.com...
> ...(I'm not sure I will be staying with Norton but just in case I do....)I
> have the Norton Anti Virus/Firewall which came with my PC that expires in
> May this year. Is just renewing it with Norton as effective as just going
> out and buying a new Norton 2007? I don't think there is any difference
> in the cost, if any, but my primary concern is, will the renewal work as
> well as starting off fresh? TIA
> ..... Vi

I would look at the features being touted in the latest version. I used
Norton AV for a number of years and Symantec pretty consistently improved it
which made the latest version more desirable to renewing a subscription.
Norton 360 has gotten some good reviews, but look at the system
requirements, too.

Vi wrote:

> ...(I'm not sure I will be staying with Norton but just in case
> I do....) have the Norton Anti Virus/Firewall which came with my
> PC that expires in May this year. Is just renewing it with
> Norton as effective as just going out and buying a new Norton
> 2007?

In 2002, I bought a still-in-box version of Norton System Works (NSW)
2002 for $10 at a swap meet. NSW includes Norton Anti-Virus (NAV).
NSW 2002 was released in the late summer or early fall of 2001.

I have installed (and re-installed) NAV-2001 and NAV-2002 on about a
dozen machines over the past 4 years, and when the subscription is
over I uninstall and reinstall the product and get another year of
free updates. Newer versions of NAV employ increasingly sophisticated
methods to prevent renewing the update service for free.

Once installed (even as recently as in the past few weeks), those old
versions of NAV will update themselves with the most recent scan
engine and virus definition files from Symantec's web site, so they
are just as capable at detecting viral files as the newest versions.

What these older versions of NAV do not do is any real-time monitoring
of the registry, or try to protect you from browser hijacking,
re-direction, phishing, etc. Then again, I don't know if the newer
versions of NAV do that - or not.

Newer versions of NAV have been universally derided for becoming
"bloat-ware" and consuming inordinate amounts of computer resources.
I have not found that to be the case with NAV 2001 and 2002 but I can
believe that for NAV 2003 and newer.

Norton/Symantec does not say, nor will they say if those older
versions are supported. But indeed they are, via LiveUpdate if
nothing else (but that's what counts).

"Virus Guy" <Virus@Guy.com> wrote in message
news:4612D6C5.384EE6C5@Guy.com...
> Vi wrote:
>
>> ...(I'm not sure I will be staying with Norton but just in case
>> I do....) have the Norton Anti Virus/Firewall which came with my
>> PC that expires in May this year. Is just renewing it with
>> Norton as effective as just going out and buying a new Norton
>> 2007?
>
> In 2002, I bought a still-in-box version of Norton System Works (NSW)
> 2002 for $10 at a swap meet. NSW includes Norton Anti-Virus (NAV).
> NSW 2002 was released in the late summer or early fall of 2001.
>
> I have installed (and re-installed) NAV-2001 and NAV-2002 on about a
> dozen machines over the past 4 years, and when the subscription is
> over I uninstall and reinstall the product and get another year of
> free updates. Newer versions of NAV employ increasingly sophisticated
> methods to prevent renewing the update service for free.
>
> Once installed (even as recently as in the past few weeks), those old
> versions of NAV will update themselves with the most recent scan
> engine and virus definition files from Symantec's web site, so they
> are just as capable at detecting viral files as the newest versions.
>
> What these older versions of NAV do not do is any real-time monitoring
> of the registry, or try to protect you from browser hijacking,
> re-direction, phishing, etc. Then again, I don't know if the newer
> versions of NAV do that - or not.
>
> Newer versions of NAV have been universally derided for becoming
> "bloat-ware" and consuming inordinate amounts of computer resources.
> I have not found that to be the case with NAV 2001 and 2002 but I can
> believe that for NAV 2003 and newer.
>
> Norton/Symantec does not say, nor will they say if those older
> versions are supported. But indeed they are, via LiveUpdate if
> nothing else (but that's what counts).

Hmmm.... Actually, even though the program I am using is the one that came
loaded with my Windows XP, I do have the actual Norton 2005 Antivirus disk
that I bought a couple of years ago and then didn't renew when it expired
because Comcast offered McAfee free downloads to it's cable
subscribers....(huge mistake on my part by the way!) McAfee, for me at
least, proved to be so intrusive, interrupting me with constant pop ups,
asking me "allow? or do NOT allow" etc., and then I finally made the wrong
choice on one of their queries (thanks to my lack of expertise) and wound up
having to reformat my computer and that's how I wound up with the original
Norton program getting back on my PC.. It expires in four weeks... It was
only a two month deal. So, now that I've bored everyone out of their
collective minds, do you think this will work with Norton 2005? I know you
said that older versions are bloat-ware... This won't have a firewall but I
can always either use the one that came with my computer or Zone Alarm or
whatever.... I'll deal with that once I take care of this ..... AVG also
sounds like a very effective (and free) anti virus program if I can judge by
the comments in this and another NG.... Thanks for your reply....

Vi wrote:

> I do have the actual Norton 2005 Antivirus disk that I bought a
> couple of years ago and then didn't renew when it ...
>
> ... wound up having to reformat my computer and that's how I wound
> up with the original Norton program getting back on my PC.. It
> expires in four weeks...
>
> do you think this will work with Norton 2005?

Part of NAV becoming bloatware starting in 2003 and continuing in
newer versions is it's ability to monitor itself and keep checking for
previously installed versions. So basically you have to do a hell of
a lot in order to remove all traces of NAV 2005 to make it think it
was never installed on the system.

> I know you said that older versions are bloat-ware...

I said that NAV 2003 and _newer_ are bloatware.

> This won't have a firewall but ...

Firewalls are the most useless piece of the computer security puzzle.

Here is what any computer should have, in order of importance:

1) residential NAT-router between your computer and your modem
2) a hosts file
3) updated JAVA runtime engine (and removal of ALL old versions)
4) spybot SD / Spyware Blaster (browser innoculation feature)
5) AV software

A lot of people and the tech press get a buzz when they talk about
firewalls, but a software firewall running on a SOHO computer is
pretty much the most stupid and useless piece of the security puzzle.
I personally don't even run AV software any more, yet I handle viral
files when I encounter them with no concerns.

"Virus Guy" <Virus@Guy.com> wrote in message
news:4612FE31.F49BD15F@Guy.com...
> Vi wrote:
>
>> I do have the actual Norton 2005 Antivirus disk that I bought a
>> couple of years ago and then didn't renew when it ...
>>
>> ... wound up having to reformat my computer and that's how I wound
>> up with the original Norton program getting back on my PC.. It
>> expires in four weeks...
>>
>> do you think this will work with Norton 2005?
>
> Part of NAV becoming bloatware starting in 2003 and continuing in
> newer versions is it's ability to monitor itself and keep checking for
> previously installed versions. So basically you have to do a hell of
> a lot in order to remove all traces of NAV 2005 to make it think it
> was never installed on the system.
>
>> I know you said that older versions are bloat-ware...

Sorry, I mistyped... I meant "newer"....
>
> I said that NAV 2003 and _newer_ are bloatware.
>
>> This won't have a firewall but ...
>
> Firewalls are the most useless piece of the computer security puzzle.
>
> Here is what any computer should have, in order of importance:
>
> 1) residential NAT-router between your computer and your modem
> 2) a hosts file
> 3) updated JAVA runtime engine (and removal of ALL old versions)
> 4) spybot SD / Spyware Blaster (browser innoculation feature)
> 5) AV software
>
> A lot of people and the tech press get a buzz when they talk about
> firewalls, but a software firewall running on a SOHO computer is
> pretty much the most stupid and useless piece of the security puzzle.
> I personally don't even run AV software any more, yet I handle viral
> files when I encounter them with no concerns.

If I had your expertise I might consider the above, but I am in no way able
to do so, from where I am coming from, so I'll just have to stick with
installing the necessary software. I may be the only one in this NG that
could relate to *only numbers 4 and 5 above. I even had to look up the
meaning for SOHO so I did learn something new <G> Thanks again....