Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Norton and stuff...

May 26, 2005 12:56AM PDT

Ive been reading post and stuff about Norton, and yes it use a alot of my resources.

I was wondering how do i unstall it the right way, with out the trouble. I also have Zone Alarm firewall with I really dont like.

Can anyone give my some tips as, How do i unstall Norton the right way, whats a better friendly user Firewall(that works Great) and do I need unstall that the right way as well(ZONE alarms).

I also have Dial up wich can make Downloading updates a pain. Also I was wondering is Error Guard good? My friends likes it. Also With firewall and norton anti virus does it pick up adware, spyware, key loggers?

If not Please post a good Adware, Spyware program, Im also dont have a awesome computer

If you cant answer these questions(theres alot lol) please give any suggestions.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Uninstall Nortons
May 26, 2005 5:45AM PDT

Your best bet is to go here; http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/consumer.html
and input your version of Nortons, and in the next screen use the Search option to search for Uninstall options.

If your friend likes Error Guard, why not give it a go.

Personally, I use ZoneAlarm firewall, which is free, and is very good for my needs.

A firewall and an anti-virus do not pick up spyware or adware. But there are combination programs available, like Nortons, but as you seem to have seen, such programs can be bloated, and take up resources. On faster machines Nortons Internet Security is said by many to be very good.

Anti-adware, Ad-Aware SE Personal (free version) from http://www.lavasoftusa.com

Anti-spyware; All free

1] http://www.safer-networking.org/
2] http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html and
3] Microsoft's Anti-Spyware, from http://www.microsoft.com

I use all three.

Anti-virus, AVG7 from http://www.grisoft.com/doc/40/lng/us/tpl/tpl01

It seems that Grisoft and Kerio have got together with an Anti-Virus and Firewall combination, but it costs $55, although there is a trial version.

As with all of these anti-xxx programs, you need to keep their definitions uptodate, at leaset once a week, and for anti-virus, every other day.

Mark

- Collapse -
Norton alternatives
May 27, 2005 8:06AM PDT

Hi,

Mark has given you very good advices. I work in the IT industry and all my customers with Norton antivirus or Norton Internet Security, having the antivirus enabled, have their computer infected the same way as any other computer. So I can only recommend removing Norton antivirus or disabling the antivirus option from Norton Internet Security (the other software from that suite are not that bad...) and install a free antivirus (my preference goes for AVG 7 Free Edition (http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1). Why paying for an antivirus that doesn't fully protect and doesn't provide you with a refund if you get infected?

I sometimes had some terrible experience uninstalling Norton after a computer crashed because of its misbehaviour (and it happens, believe me). Several programme components get installed with the Norton Antivirus (live update, live reg and VMI) and sometimes need manual uninstallation (well, through your add/remove programs from control panel).

Now, why not trying Linux?

Cheers,