Solve : Disgusted with Norton. Good alternatives??

1.	Solve : Disgusted with Norton. Good alternatives??
Answer» I've always hated Norton. It consumes way too many system resources, contains a ton of "extra" useless crap, is impossible to configure and a headache to get rid of. I use it on my desktop computer only to search supicious FILES for viruses. Everything else I have disabled (I think... its hard to be sure). But I just bought a new laptop and it comes with and "Internet Security" version of Norton (or somesuch). I has already been annoying the censored out of me with a flurry of notifications, etc. But the last straw was today, when I had to call verizon tech support because my laptop was not able to connect to the internet for several days, or network with my desktop (though it has worked fine at first). We finally pinpointed Norton as the cause. Once I had disabled Norton, everything worked fine again. I was really pissed when I discovered Norton to be responsible. I knew it was an obnoxious program, but I never thought it could get in the way so much. Is anybody still reading after all that? So I am thinking of completely wiping Norton off my laptop, and finding another program that is not so worthless. Any suggestions for a good firewall or freeware antivirus program? (I've heard AVG is good.) I use Spybot and Adaware too. Or does anybody here think that Norton still has some redeeming qualities?AVG Free is a fine solution for me on my Windows boxes. Be sure and uninstall Norton completely. They have a program on their website to help remove it after the basic Windows uninstall, if needed.If you decide to use Spybot for spyware make sure you turn on the Resident features to get realtime protection. Firewall... Sygate Version 5.5 Build 2710 http://207.33.111.31/spf/Wont that be out dated soon? since they no longer update the free version?You have quite a few alternatives. For the AV, AVG is popular. AntiVir is good. Avast is another good one. You have a few good firewalls to choose from. Unlike AVs, firewalls don't need the constant UPDATING. Sygate is a good firewall regardless of the manufacturer continues to support it. Kerio is a very good unit. Zone Alarm and Outpost are popular. Some swear by them. Others swear at them. To replace Nortons script protection, check out Script Sentry at Jasons Toolbox. It's excellent and uses no resources. All these are free. All are better than Norton. Rick Quote Wont that be out dated soon? since they no longer update the free version? Listen & learn Grasshopper. Thank you all for your excellent recommendations. I will check them all out. Any more suggestions... keep 'em coming! Soon, hopefully, I can become Norton-free.AVG Free. Norton is a horrible memory hog and it acts like a virus when you try to remove it. Don't forget Firefox..I would suggest paying for an alternative, but if you only want a freeware anti-virus I would highly recommend Avast!, unless you have an old computer (because it runs a little slow on older machines). If you want to purchase an AV I would suggest getting Trend Micro's PC-cillin. I also recommend Sygate as a personal firewall. Quote Wont that be out dated soon? since they no longer update the free version? I know many people who use an older version of ZoneAlarm from 2 or 3 years AGO because they like it better than the new ones. Links to all of these free utilities, plus plenty of anti-spyware ones, can be found on this page. with regards[/color] Quote AVG Free. Norton is a horrible memory hog and it acts like a virus when you try to remove it. Don't forget Firefox.. AVG free found items that norton and mcafee missed. avgfree"www.grisof.com" both norton and mcafee caused me a lot of headachs.yeh, i hate norton (came preinstalled with this laptop). For antivirus i use McAfee (if you want a free one go for AVG) for firewall i am using kerio free. Who dug up this thread from a month ago? I have personally not heard much anything good of norton, I uninstalled everything on my machine with the words norton or symantec as soon as I plugged it in. I like McAfee, but I love Avast! personal edition(free), I use Zone Alrm personal firewall(free) and have no complaints about it at all. I also use adaware personal and microsoft anti spyware beta. I really like free stuff but I am very cautious about what I download. I personnally like to use the free shareware available for download at http://http://www.komando.com/I also used to have Norton. Never again. Bloated, resource hungry, invasive, not nearly as effective as they'd like you to BELIEVE. I use freeware exclusively to secure my systems. My main unit has been completely clean for over 3 years now, after dumping Norton. On the units I use for test purposes, freeware security apps have performed as well as the purchased ones, if not better. For the AV, I've settled on AntiVir. It doesn't have all the fancy extras the big names do. Doesn't use near as much disk space or system resources either. It's done quite well for me, especially against trojans. For the firewall, I use Kerio 2.1.5. Very small, strictly rule based, very configurable, no frills. For protection against malicious scripts, check out Script Sentry. It's caught things for me that everything else missed. For controlling ads and popups, Proxomitron is tops. If you need something to monitor your registry, especially the autostart areas, give RegistryProt a try. All these are high quality applications that are free, easy on disk space and resources and are very effective. All of them combined use far less disk space and resources than NIS does. RickBeen using Norton for over 3 years, and I'm satisfied with it. Bought Norton System Works (NSW) 2002 and Norton Personal Firewall 2002 as a package sometime near the end of 2002. At that time, my OS was Win 98SE. I installed NSW, which includes NAV, with Win 98SE. Subsequently, I started using Win XP; with it, I only installed the NAV component of NSW. I also installed Norton Personal Firewall 2002 with Win XP. Of course, I have renewed annual subsriptions to NAV so that I continue getting updates to virus DEFINITIONS. Never got infected with a virus while using NAV. And, going back 1 to 2 years or so ago, I actually received hundreds of virus-infected messages from junk mail coming in from a website I maintain. NAV stopped all of them. Works fine for me. Seems to be working fine for my son, who also has NAV and NPF on his computer. I'm not sure what version/year he has. One clear impression I've gotten from various forum discussions on Norton is the resource-hog complaints indicate that Norton got worse in 2003 and 2004 than in 2002, and then got better in 2005; by then, Symantec apparently decided too many users were complaining about that aspect of Norton. So, I'm glad I just kept renewing my subsriptions to NAV 2002 rather going out and buying the 2003 or 2004 version.

Answer»

I've always hated Norton.
It consumes way too many system resources, contains a ton of "extra" useless crap, is impossible to configure and a headache to get rid of.

I use it on my desktop computer only to search supicious FILES for viruses. Everything else I have disabled (I think... its hard to be sure).

But I just bought a new laptop and it comes with and "Internet Security" version of Norton (or somesuch). I has already been annoying the *censored* out of me with a flurry of notifications, etc. But the last straw was today, when I had to call verizon tech support because my laptop was not able to connect to the internet for several days, or network with my desktop (though it has worked fine at first).

We finally pinpointed Norton as the cause. Once I had disabled Norton, everything worked fine again. I was really pissed when I discovered Norton to be responsible. I knew it was an obnoxious program, but I never thought it could get in the way so much.

Is anybody still reading after all that?
So I am thinking of completely wiping Norton off my laptop, and finding another program that is not so worthless.

Any suggestions for a good firewall or freeware antivirus program? (I've heard AVG is good.) I use Spybot and Adaware too.
Or does anybody here think that Norton still has some redeeming qualities?AVG Free is a fine solution for me on my Windows boxes.

Be sure and uninstall Norton completely. They have a program on their website to help remove it after the basic Windows uninstall, if needed.If you decide to use Spybot for spyware make sure you turn on the Resident features to get realtime protection.

Firewall... Sygate Version 5.5 Build 2710
http://207.33.111.31/spf/Wont that be out dated soon? since they no longer update the free version?You have quite a few alternatives.
For the AV, AVG is popular. AntiVir is good. Avast is another good one.

You have a few good firewalls to choose from. Unlike AVs, firewalls don't need the constant UPDATING. Sygate is a good firewall regardless of the manufacturer continues to support it. Kerio is a very good unit. Zone Alarm and Outpost are popular. Some swear by them. Others swear at them.

To replace Nortons script protection, check out Script Sentry at Jasons Toolbox. It's excellent and uses no resources.
All these are free. All are better than Norton.
Rick Quote

Wont that be out dated soon? since they no longer update the free version?

Listen & learn Grasshopper. Thank you all for your excellent recommendations. I will check them all out. Any more suggestions... keep 'em coming!

Soon, hopefully, I can become Norton-free.AVG Free. Norton is a horrible memory hog and it acts like a virus when you try to remove it.

Don't forget Firefox..I would suggest paying for an alternative, but if you only want a freeware anti-virus I would highly recommend Avast!, unless you have an old computer (because it runs a little slow on older machines).

If you want to purchase an AV I would suggest getting Trend Micro's PC-cillin.

I also recommend Sygate as a personal firewall.

Quote

Wont that be out dated soon? since they no longer update the free version?

I know many people who use an older version of ZoneAlarm from 2 or 3 years AGO because they like it better than the new ones.

Links to all of these free utilities, plus plenty of anti-spyware ones, can be found on this page.

with regards[/color] Quote

AVG Free. Norton is a horrible memory hog and it acts like a virus when you try to remove it.

Don't forget Firefox..

AVG free found items that norton and mcafee missed. avgfree"www.grisof.com"
both norton and mcafee caused me a lot of headachs.yeh, i hate norton (came preinstalled with this laptop).

For antivirus i use McAfee (if you want a free one go for AVG)
for firewall i am using kerio free.

Who dug up this thread from a month ago? I have personally not heard much anything good of norton, I uninstalled everything on my machine with the words norton or symantec as soon as I plugged it in. I like McAfee, but I love Avast! personal edition(free), I use Zone Alrm personal firewall(free) and have no complaints about it at all. I also use adaware personal and microsoft anti spyware beta. I really like free stuff but I am very cautious about what I download. I personnally like to use the free shareware available for download at http://http://www.komando.com/I also used to have Norton. Never again. Bloated, resource hungry, invasive, not nearly as effective as they'd like you to BELIEVE. I use freeware exclusively to secure my systems. My main unit has been completely clean for over 3 years now, after dumping Norton. On the units I use for test purposes, freeware security apps have performed as well as the purchased ones, if not better. For the AV, I've settled on AntiVir. It doesn't have all the fancy extras the big names do. Doesn't use near as much disk space or system resources either. It's done quite well for me, especially against trojans.
For the firewall, I use Kerio 2.1.5. Very small, strictly rule based, very configurable, no frills.
For protection against malicious scripts, check out Script Sentry. It's caught things for me that everything else missed.
For controlling ads and popups, Proxomitron is tops.
If you need something to monitor your registry, especially the autostart areas, give RegistryProt a try.
All these are high quality applications that are free, easy on disk space and resources and are very effective. All of them combined use far less disk space and resources than NIS does.
RickBeen using Norton for over 3 years, and I'm satisfied with it. Bought Norton System Works (NSW) 2002 and Norton Personal Firewall 2002 as a package sometime near the end of 2002. At that time, my OS was Win 98SE. I installed NSW, which includes NAV, with Win 98SE. Subsequently, I started using Win XP; with it, I only installed the NAV component of NSW. I also installed Norton Personal Firewall 2002 with Win XP. Of course, I have renewed annual subsriptions to NAV so that I continue getting updates to virus DEFINITIONS.

Never got infected with a virus while using NAV. And, going back 1 to 2 years or so ago, I actually received hundreds of virus-infected messages from junk mail coming in from a website I maintain. NAV stopped all of them.

Works fine for me. Seems to be working fine for my son, who also has NAV and NPF on his computer. I'm not sure what version/year he has.

One clear impression I've gotten from various forum discussions on Norton is the resource-hog complaints indicate that Norton got worse in 2003 and 2004 than in 2002, and then got better in 2005; by then, Symantec apparently decided too many users were complaining about that aspect of Norton. So, I'm glad I just kept renewing my subsriptions to NAV 2002 rather going out and buying the 2003 or 2004 version.

Solve : Disgusted with Norton. Good alternatives??

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