[mouldy101]

Hi all,

What antivirus software do people use???

My Norton subscription comes to an end soon, and i have had a good few problems with it so I am looking elsewhere.

May Dad uses McAfee and thinks its great but I have heard mixed reports...

I'd be interested to know what other peoples experiences are with antivirus software

Thanks in advance,

Matt

[Steve]

The two free ones that always get mentioned and recommended are Avast and AVG.

I use Avast myself but have used AVG in the past, both are excellent products and do not clutter or hog resources like Norton.

The above programs and other internet security tools are available from our Download Section

[silkstone]

On XP I use AVG free edition, and also AVG AntiSpyware. No problems at all - daily updates and hassle-free.

[Dabhand16]

I decided to kick Norton into touch earlier this year. I went for the zone alarm security suite because i saw some very good wrtie-ups on it.

After a couple of months there was an update made available that I installed, and then it all went to rats**t. A look on their forums made it obvious that I was not alone, and the customer servive was c**p.

My computer man said 'I wish you had spoken to me about this before you did it - I've had problems with ZA before with XP'.

What do you recommed? I asked.

Norton he said.

I read some reviews and it seems that in the 2007 release they have addressed the resource-hogging that made me dump it in the first place - in March 2007!

Looking back, although it used to slow my machine up, it always worked and did not actually foul things up.

So with my tail between my legs, I bought Norton 2007, and lived happily ever after. It does seem better than before.

I'm impressed with the free AVG anyi-virus though.

[fionaB]

i use macafee for the firewall and AVG for virus. have used AVG for a long time now and had no probs with it whatsoever.
wouldnt touch norton with a bargepole, it lets thru more than it stops!

Fi

[silkstone]

I think Norton may have improved a little now, but I had horrendous problems with an earlier version (Norton AV 2003) when I decided to ditch it rather than pay for an upgrade. It wouldn't go away! It had changed a load of registry entries, and even when I though I'd kicked it out there were still some remnants which messed up my network connection. Eventually I got rid of it and Norton also brought out a removal tool. It seemed more like a virus than a antivirus prog. IMO when you uninstall something it shouldn't leave behind bits of itself and a corrupted registry, so I decided to give all Symantec stuff a wide berth after that.

[Markulous]

Norton suits me well enough (have always used it - for near decades now!) - has the control others lack. For others, I'd recommend Avast and Nod32

[_MB_]

Nod32 till the license runs out then AVG.

[Dave Canon]

As part of BT's Broadband deal I get a fairly comprehansive package of security software (anti-virus, spyware, personal firewall etc). The initial Norton software provided did have some problems and I had to uninstall and re-install several times. Recently, the whole Norton/BT package was upgraded and now seems more stable and easier to use.

I also look after the Camera Club's Laptop which I have protected with AVG. It has only light exposure to the internet so I am satisfied that this is good enough.

[mouldy101]

Thank you all for taking the time to comment... Still some thinking time as my subscription still has a couple of weeks. A couple of people have come up with some names I am not aware of so I will look in to those.

IT doesn't sound like getting Norton off my system is going to be an easy job!!!!

Thanks again,

Matt

[JMitchell]

A Norton update recently somehow managed to wipe my dad's computer's hard drive, and his computer man said don't touch it. He recommended AVG, which is what I already use, and I haven't had any problems.

[emmettleffel]

I use Steganos Internet Security 2007 (PL version of Kaspersky) and Spyware Doctor for Trojans etc)

[dogdots]

I use Trend Pc-cillin. Since I got it I haven't had a bit of problems.