Norton Anti-Virus: Worth it? or a waste of cash?

[Roshak]

I've been using Norton ever since we got hit by a major virus over a decade ago. And we've been using it ever since. I have Norton Systemworks and still a good 280 days before my subscription ends.

I like Norton, its got good features, keeps my system secure, and notifies me of any threats or errors. Yet I'm curious is if there's something else out there that's just as good or better.

My question is that when it does end should I continue with Norton after my subscription ends or move on to something else that doesn't cost $40 a year.

[Justinian]

AVG is good, and free.

[Dick]

You may as well stick with it whilst you've paid for it, but then move onto AVG.

[Simetrical]

Or use Linux and not have to use AV software at all.

[Shaun]

Or use Linux and not have to use AV software at all.

For most of us, though, that option is not practical...

[mrmouth]

Norton is a waste of money and a system hog. These PCs you buy from Dell, Gateway, etc, they make the majority of their profit from bundling programs like Nortons with their PCs. They are not bad programs by any means, they just suck the life out of your machine. McAfee has something like 7-10 running processes that load into memory, thats madness.

I was once a loyal ZoneAlarm customer, since that time I have tried every free AV on the net and I prefer AVG. AVG has 3 very small running processes. Dont worry that it is free, or doesn't have the features Norton might have, it does the job just as well if not better.

The last time I saw Norton on a machine was '05, I must say the '05 version did have some nice features to toy around with, but really nothing that inherently made you any more secure.

[Pnutmaster]

Free AVG deserves some attention, but if you're more comfortable with subscription based protection, I recommend Kaspersky.

I've used trials of the full version and it's nowhere near as bloated as Norton Anti-Virus. In fact, in the future I recommend you stray from every single Symantec product, including Norton Ghost.

[sapi]

Norton's fine; and the 2007/vista upgrade version only has an overhead of 10MB

*waves goodbye to the bloat

[ProneStar!]

norton is the worst AV suite ever bar none, the sheer amount of issues i have to deal with at work because of norton is ridiculous.

[Doono]

I use Nod32 for occational full system scans, and an antivirus pachage provided by my broad band provider for system monitoring because it's free.

[Professor420]

I'd just completely get rid of Norton and give the remainder of your subscription to someone you don't like.

[ProneStar!]

I'd just completely get rid of Norton and give the remainder of your subscription to someone you don't like.

lol so true, its worse than giving them a virus

[Roman Clone]

It's called Spybot people! I use Mcafee and it suits my needs.





Or Thats What They Want me To Think!

[Perszeusz]

Really, Norton Antivirus would be a great birthday present to your favorite arch enemy detects 3 out of 500 virus, it's never able to "repair" the issue, never detects spyware or malware, makes your computer a piece of junk, and it costs roughly 190 USD where I live!!! I suggest you to use another AV, no matter how bad it is, and will probably detect so much viruses (if you have used Norton for a long time) you'll curse the damn thing for life. A reality...

[STReetSamurai]

Re-format your computer and it renews your subscription.

Least it does for me, and a few other people I know.

[The Good]

I use Norton Anti-Virus. Is it really as bad as most of you are saying? So, that means I have hundreds of viruses if that is true...

[Dick]

It's not as bad as we're making out. I used to use it, and compared to McAffee in my opinion Norton is at stopping/catching virus's. However, Norton has been known to cause problems in some PC's and it uses a lot of RAM constantly.

Alternatives like AVG are considered better as they stay out of the way, are free and do as good a job at catching virus's as the Norton and the other subscription packages do.

[mrmouth]

Again, its actually a good AV program, its footprint is ridiculous though. For people who play games it just doesn't makes sense to go out and spend money on good ram only for Norton, McAfee, etc, to load 7-10 large running processes into memory every time you start you PC.

AVG and other free alternatives work just as well, are updated every day, and wont slow your system down. If you want to use Norton then use it, but just realize it is eating up ram. Also their firewalls that come with their suites are often a huge headache while playing multiplayer games.

For a free software firewall I would highly recommend Comodo.

[Roshak]

I've been looking at the AVG and it looks promising. I'll use the rest of my subscription ( I paid $30 for the 1 year Norton subscription and By damn I'm going to get my 1 year Norton subscription) and than try it out.

Note on Mcafee: That's really only practical for Macs for they don't have to put up with as many viruses as PCs do. At least in my experience with it I found Mcafee more annoying than helpful.

[Roman Clone]

I've been looking at the AVG and it looks promising. I'll use the rest of my subscription ( I paid $30 for the 1 year Norton subscription and By damn I'm going to get my 1 year Norton subscription) and than try it out.

Note on Mcafee: That's really only practical for Macs for they don't have to put up with as many viruses as PCs do. At least in my experience with it I found Mcafee more annoying than helpful.

Your Right, Mcafee is such a child. One Time It Disabled my internet just so I would restart my computer. It Doesn't even detect cookies!