Is Norton worth the upgrade?

[ken]

Hi,

I am currently running Norton Internet Security 2002. I am having terrible
troubles with the Live update downloads. But Is it worth me upgrading to the
new version? your views gratefully received.

ken

 

[Sam]

ken said ...

Hi,

I am currently running Norton Internet Security 2002. I am having terrible
troubles with the Live update downloads. But Is it worth me upgrading to the
new version? your views gratefully received.

ken

my personal, relatively naive, user view is that NIS gives as good or
better protection than the others but it is a damn pain to use, slows my
machine down and always seems to present one problem or aother, whether
with liveupdate, or some other aspect of its functionality. I'm now
using Zonealarm free verson and ezAntivirus (free for the first year -
an offer from Microsoft together with Computer Associates). My machine
boots up in literally 1/3 of thwe time and everything seems to run more
smoothly. I may of course be getting a lower level of protection now
but I'm reasonably confident of what I'm using judging by comments from
people in this and other newsgroups.

 

[McSpreader]

Hi,

I am currently running Norton Internet Security 2002. I am
having terrible troubles with the Live update downloads. But Is
it worth me upgrading to the new version? your views gratefully
received.

No.

 

[Wattsville Blues]

Hi,

I am currently running Norton Internet Security 2002. I am having terrible
troubles with the Live update downloads. But Is it worth me upgrading to the
new version? your views gratefully received.

ken

God no. Whatever problems you're having will doubtless migrate into any
other installation of Norton, even if you do an uninstall. I used to
use Norton years ago and had nothing but problems with it. How it's
still the most popular AV software I'll never understand.

I'd recommend NOD32 antivirus and ZoneAlarm (free) for a firewall. Both
will protect you better and work more efficiently than any Symantect
product.

http://www.eset.com/download/trial.htm is the address for NOD32 - you
can get the trial version there, fully functional for 30 days.

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp
- ZoneAlarm free for personal use.

 

[tim riley]

How it's
still the most popular AV software I'll never understand.

Go to your local computer software store/Walmart and look at the shelf.
This will tell you why Nrotten is still so popular. I keep biting my
tongue every time I see someone grab a copy off the shelf when I happen to
be there.

tim

 

[Wattsville Blues]

Go to your local computer software store/Walmart and look at the shelf.
This will tell you why Nrotten is still so popular. I keep biting my
tongue every time I see someone grab a copy off the shelf when I happen to
be there.

tim

You mean there are loads of copies of it?

 

[J007]

no. In a nutshell:
Norton uses large ammounts of memory;it slows down your PC very
much...the updates are coming in much too late.

For your $$ you could find better:
NOD32
Kasperski
VBA32 (which i am testing right now...and happy with it)
Panda (also a memory hog...but at least they update very fast and nearly
every day;their detection rates also are great)
F-prot
F-secure

just to name some of the top shelf products here.

regards

J

 

[Hurricane Andrew]

Hi,

I am currently running Norton Internet Security 2002. I am having terrible
troubles with the Live update downloads. But Is it worth me upgrading to
the
new version? your views gratefully received.

ken

If your PC is decent, and you have 512MB or more of RAM, then there's no
reason not to upgrade. Frankly, I'd just go with NAV and use ZoneAlarm,
which is a better, more easily configurable, and free firewall. Now is the
time, since in preperation for the release of NAV 2006, you can pick up a
copy of NAV 2005 for free after rebate at just about any major retailer
(Staples, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.), and periodically from some online
retailers.

 

[louise]

Hi,

I am currently running Norton Internet Security 2002. I am having terrible
troubles with the Live update downloads. But Is it worth me upgrading to the
new version? your views gratefully received.

ken

No - I have a very fast computer with lots of memory (p4, 3.2, 2gig
ram). Norton slowed my computer quite a bit, caused problems with
live update every month or so and only updated once a week,
occasionally twice a week. It is a large resource hog.

Go with NOD32 - not at all a resource hog, automatically updates
pretty much every day etc. Their email tech support is quite good
and quite fast.

Firewall? Some here say Kerio. At the moment I'm running Sygate
and they have just been bought by Symantec - so I wont be running
Sygate for long. There is a free version of Sygate and if you can
still get it from their website, do it now and that will take care
of a firewall for a while.

Louise

 

[Buffalo]

Go to your local computer software store/Walmart and look at the shelf.
This will tell you why Nrotten is still so popular. I keep biting my
tongue every time I see someone grab a copy off the shelf when I happen to
be there.

tim

Yeah Tim,
Try reading the independent reports about different anti-virus products and you
will see AVG and many others well below Norton.

 

[Donny Broome]

Move to FREE antivirus. I've been using AVG AntiVirus Free Edition for
years. Works great, run leaner and meaner than Norton.

http://free.grisoft.com/


--

 

[Shadowman]

Hi,

I am currently running Norton Internet Security 2002. I am having terrible
troubles with the Live update downloads. But Is it worth me upgrading to the
new version? your views gratefully received.

ken

Another emphatic *NO*!!!!

I had a string of bad experiences with the last (and final) Norton
Product I purchased. My mother-in-law insists on buying the new ones the
last twos years, and with each, I've eventually had to reinstall and
sort out problems. Finally, she's conviced as well.

 

[McSpreader]

Yeah Tim,
Try reading the independent reports about different anti-virus
products and you will see AVG and many others well below Norton.

Reports somewhat independent of reality, given I regularly use AVG to
help clean up infestations missed by Norton.

 

[Conor]

Hi,

I am currently running Norton Internet Security 2002. I am having terrible
troubles with the Live update downloads. But Is it worth me upgrading to the
new version? your views gratefully received.

No. Norton is quite simply shite. Back in the 90's, Norton had good
products but then went downhill.

My suggestion?

Spybot Search and Destroy - FREEWARE
Sygate Personal Firewall or Zonelabs ZoneAlarme Personal - FREEWARE
Eset NOD32 Antivirus.

 

[Conor]

If your PC is decent, and you have 512MB or more of RAM, then there's no
reason not to upgrade.

Except its shite and the root of many problems.

 

[Buffalo]

Reports somewhat independent of reality, given I regularly use AVG to
help clean up infestations missed by Norton.

Any examples?
Norton doesnt' catch them all, but AVG reporttedly catches far fewer. Perhaps
AVG found some that Norton didn't but that doesn't mean it is more thorough, or
does it?
If you are happy with your product, stay with it.

 

[Kev]

Firewall? Some here say Kerio. At the moment I'm running Sygate
and they have just been bought by Symantec - so I wont be running
Sygate for long. There is a free version of Sygate and if you can
still get it from their website, do it now and that will take care
of a firewall for a while

Kerio has always worked well and caught a few nasties from even running
much less trying to access the internet, startups included (there are
little apps or control panels for startups but I didnt have one at the
time). So they were caught quick before they could do any damage. But then
I dont know how many people have that feature turned on. It can be a
nucence, such as when installing or running program updates. But once a
program is added to Kerio wont bother me about it. I didnt see that
function in Sygate but it wouldnt surprise me if I missed it. When running
windows update I just turn it off. Not just for Internet access, but for
running the updates themselves. Then its back on.

This past week for the first time I have been consistantly using Winamp to
tune into Internet radio. Each time it tries to access a different address
I have to accept. I can simply give Winamp full access to go anywhere it
wants. But then Im a bit paranoid about such things ;o)

 

[McSpreader]

Any examples?

None I can quote. I'm a computer engineer earning a living not a
computer scientist.

Norton doesnt' catch them all, but AVG reporttedly catches far
fewer.

Mmm, "reportedly". What does that mean?

Perhaps AVG found some that Norton didn't but that
doesn't mean it is more thorough, or does it?

Maybe ;-)

If you are happy with your product, stay with it.

Spot on. IMO paying money for a bloated, finnicky, resource-hogging
package like NAV or McAfee that has no *significant* benefits seems
like a bad deal.

BTW: I had to chuckle at Norton's logic. On a few occasions when
trying to uninstall NAV from a PC, the uninstall failed. Norton's
fix is to download a utility to uninstall it, which worked. So WTF
doesn't Norton include the uninstall utlility that works in the
package instead of the one that doesn't?

 

[ken]

Thanks for your many replies. I think now, after what you say, I will stay
with NIS 2002 and try the free versions that you recommend.

Ken

 

[Gaz]

Any examples?

Many many personal examples. The actual defnitions database for norton, is
by all accounts pretty good, but their engine and general software is so
poor, that it becomes useless.

I come across many computers, that are slow, sluggish and riddled with
viruses, despite having an up todate norton internet security.

AVG picks up many trojans that norton missis.

Norton doesnt' catch them all, but AVG reporttedly catches far fewer.
Perhaps
AVG found some that Norton didn't but that doesn't mean it is more
thorough,
or does it?

AVG might not be the best, but it beats hand down Norton. It is easier to
use, it is less prone to go wrong (norton adds itself to so many parts of
the computer, when it goes wrong, it takes the OS with it)

If you are happy with your product, stay with it.

If you are happy with Norton Internet Security, then continue using it, no
skin off my nose, but it is a pile of steaming horse poo.

Gaz