Norton AntiVirus 2006 or McAfee VirusScan 2006?

Our server has Mcafee installed in their email setup, to catch malware and viruses before they reach my email box. McAfee in this instance is unobtrusive, efficient, and ease-of-use is not a given, since Worldpath runs it from their end. It is also about 99% effective. It's that other 1% that worries me, and for that reason (but not only that one) I also run Norton 2006 on my Xp Pro, as well as Norton 2004 on ME.
it has become far more complex and complicated to use, and many of the features are intrusive, invasive, and annoying, since I have had s a series of spyware programs in place for quite some time.
Bottom line--of the two, I would trust Norton for virus protection (it has never let me down), and McAfee for spam detection, but neither one works cleanly across the board. Which is why I also run HijackThis and Spybot *g*

Based on reviews on CNET and elsewhere, I switched from Norton 2005 to ZoneAlarm Security Suite two months ago and have been quite happy.

As a side benefit, its built in spam filtering (which only works with Outlook and Outlook Express) when *added* to the Microsoft junk mail filtering already in Outlook has dropped my spam to effectively zero messages per day, with almost no false positives. I didn't even realize this feature came with the program when I bought it.

I have been using mcafee since 2000 and I love it. Both are supposedly equally the same. I've known many people that have used both. I tried Nortons when I bought my first computer after it kept crashing. But back then I was supposed already have a virus protector on my pc. So after checking with friends I chose Mcafee. Ive only seen one time I had a problem and that was with changing my passwrd ect but when I contacted mcafee they did the corrections on their end. This was only due to I had changed Isp carriers and completely forgot to to notify mcafee of the change. I have mine automatically renewed each year via computer and thus far they have always sent me a receipt to advise when it would come out of my checking account/visa card. Plus a receipt for my yearly update. Good luck on your decission....

I help my elderly friends keep their PC's working. This past week I worked on three different XP PC's who had tried to update Norton AntiVirus 2005 (2 cases) and update to Norton Internet Security 2006 (1 case). I was able to get all of them operating after a total of 9 1/2 hours of work.
Observations:
1. NEVER try to update using dial-up even if you ordered the CD. The obligatory first update took >2 hours, and then would not install. Even after giving that message, it started the obligatory first full system scan which I stopped but the Live UpDate froze and could only be shut down by using the Task Manager.
2. Live UpDate is the real problem in both programs. When it does not work it cannot be fixed except by uninstalling every single Symantec product and then reinstalling. (The four technical articles had complex fixes and didn't work. One even had the words "the cause is unknown".)
3. The free 1-hour online chat session provided only misleading information. The technician directed me to "edit" a file that did exist even after using the Help and Support search. He directed me to folder that also did not exist.
4. The help files (e.g. scheduling system scans) directs you to links that are not present in that window.
NOTE: Norton now has so many bells and whistles that one is very lucky to get all of them to work at the same time. I have used and worked on McAfee and PC-cillin in the past, without any problems using or updating the PC-cillin that came installed on a new notebook pc (Vaio).

The McAfee program came loaded for "free" on my relatively new Dell, but it seemed to cause more problems than it solved. Their support was useless--neither knowledgeable nor polite, so when the free subscription expired, I looked elsewhere. Although I never had real problems with previous Norton programs, better reviews led me to get Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security 2006. I've had it for about 6 months and am satisfied with it.

I have both a Mac and a PC and have had used Norton on both at one time. Symantec (Norton) sold (and some places including Amazon) are still selling System Works for the Mac. It is not compatible with OS X 10 and almost destroyed all my data when I installed it. They stopped supporting the Mac but continued to sell an outdated and dangerous product without sufficiently warning the public.

I ran the full set on Norton utilities on my PC for a long time but almost always traced most of my conflicts back to Norton. Besides the fact they they charge you an exorbitant yearly fee, their software takes over your computer and edges out anything that might be a competitor. They have also been guilty of tampering with the root tool kit. There are free antivirus programs like AVG that work just as well and other cheaper utilities that work better. I wouldn't touch anything with name Norton or Symantec again.

I have never used McAfee so I can't speak from experience but many knowledgeable people say they are just as bad as Symantec.

"Buyer beware"

I used McAfee for years. Then in the latest computer I bought, I had bundled in Internet Security (Norton).

Simply put, Norton has been awful! Simply awful! Why? 1) It's so d**n intrusive! Always some window popping up, some interruptive "message". Put quite frankly, I feel like my computer was the guy in Alien and Norton is the alien stuck fast to his face. I tried to remove it and that's when the REAL fun started (and that's where my Alien comparison comes in). The "uninstall" on my brand new computer supplied by Norton ran for over 2 hours(!!!!) and when it finished, it said there were "errors". Thanks a freaking lot, Symantec! I was about to do surgery on my registry (never a good idea) when I managed to find a Symantec removal tool via (located on one of their support pages) worked superbly (it took about 2 minutes - imagine that!?!?) and got everything out. If NIS worked half as well as their IE-based removal tool, I might still be using it.

McAfee has a terrific anti-spyware program built in, and generally was simpler to operate and didn't give me the feel that it absolutely seeped into every inch of my system files and took them over, like a virus itself. McAfee's scanning time takes awhile, but once you get through a painful "first scan", you're fine when it runs in the background. However, my Updater program didn't work so great, so I had to manually find and load any new virus defs (which isn't so bad once you find the site on McAfee).

McAfee's products are hands-down far superior to Norton. But then again, Pong from 1977 is far superior to Norton.

All this said, ironically enough, now I'm using neither! I've switched over to the much cheaper and highly-rated Trend Micro's PC-cillin. We'll see how it works.

As a computer guy, I see the results of Norton and McAfee all the time. Norton is a horrible drain on performance and McAfee loves their pop ups as much as Norton does. As a rule I delete either and load AVG or Trend PCCillin.

Norton and McAfee have great marketing people, but inconsiderate programmers. Remove Norton and your computer will lurch into gear with speed and enthusiasm.

I have used Norton in the past, until I found Trend's PcCillin'. Since then I haven't turned back. To me and many others it is the best of the lot.

I have used AVG for over a year. It has worked fine. It updates automatically and is very user-friendly.

I never use Norton because if you install a Norton product and later decide to uninstall it, you might not be able to uninstall it entirely. Norton leaves bits and pieces of itself on your computer.

I started out using Norton exclusively.
I just had antivirus.I decided to upgrade to Systemworks, so I (I thought) uninstalled antivirus installed works, but antivirus wouldn't update. After much frustration I had to go to Symantec and download a removal program, because when Norton installs, it puts itself EVERYWHERE !!!..I finally purged my system of all Norton and started using McAfee happily ever after....lp

It scans for viruses and spyware, offers the usual features in an easy to understand interface

Our clients are getting tired of Norton's high renewal fees. McAfee is expensive too. See:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118541,00.asp

Their PC-cillin internet security has great parental controls that allow parents to choose the settings they want for their children. There are also categories obviously targeted at employees.

Reasonably priced, they offer a three license pack for little more than the single, allowing people with more than one machine to stay in license.

I usws ro eun mcafee okay back in the 1990's without any problems. The newer Norton crashed my pc on a regular basis, so I uninstalled it completely and run Avast.

All hog memory becasue they sweep your disk at intervals, so find one that seems to work with your setup..

Additional software from internet providers that run through their server will help catch viruses and save your pc from overwork but you will still need firewall protection on your own pc.

This is either a stupid question or a trick to get us to talk! How can anyone but some kind of testor/evaluator person answer this? How many of us have both systems installed side by side to make such an evaluation and produce a meaningful opinion? I think its probably just a stupid question.
Guy

I bought my first computer in January of 1997 and have had two since. My introduction to anti-virus software began at my work place. Our maintenance engineer installed PC-Cillin in our computers. So that was the choice I opted for from the beginning.
In nine years I have only had one virus sneak in under the radar and that after I switched my ISP to Comcast
cable. Comcast, of course is connected any time my computer is running, so there may have been a window of opportunity between the auto updates. Comcast has since started using anti-virus software at the server level but I?m not about to give up my PC-Cillin.
By and large, I have no idea how many viruses were caught and deleted by PC-Cillin that were sent to me by OTHER anti-virus software users.
PC-Cillin seems to be ahead of the curve in detecting and updating against the newest viruses. My second ISP (dial-up) was sending out warnings about new viruses two to three after I had already received the notification from Trend-Micro. So I started sending them the notifications. After several of MY updates, they began to notice a trend and they started stocking Trend-Micro?s PC-Cillin.
I have heard others reference a marked slowing down of their computer after installing Norton. I have not noticed any slow down with mine using PC-Cillin. I am running a AMD Athlon 1.6 Gig processor, 512 Meg of DDR ram and Windows XP SP2 including the newest Windows updates.
I am very happy with Trend Micro?s Internet Security 2006 and don?t intend to change. In addition, I?ll reaffirm the old maintenance adage, ?If it ain?t broke, don?t fix it!?

Over the years, I've used both Norton and McAfee. I bought several of Norton's software programs a few times, and my preference is not to use them again. Norton caused several of my computers to crash, intermittent window freezes, computer slowdowns, and Internet browsing slowdowns. When I installed other software programs, I constantly ran into trouble with Norton. I did contact Norton's tech support, but after spending far to much time with them, I gave up.

McAfee also had conflicts with other software programs, and I stopped using them years ago. However, since joining Comcast recently, and because they offer McAfee for free, I decided to use them again. McAfee works fine on my computer with WinXP.

However, on my wireless networked computer using WinME, I had a great deal of difficulty trying to install it. WinME has always been a major headache, even with some simple software programs. McAfee's tech support could not resolve the difficulty, and consequently, I decided that I didn't want to spend anymore time on it. So, I decided to use two other free software programs which work very well with no major installation problems. I installed AVG Anti-Virus, and Filseclab Firewall. Both work fine, and neither caused any installation problems.

Prior to joining Comcast, I had been using Trend's PC-cillin Internet Security Suite. I can recommend Trend without any reservations. I installed PC-cillin on my two computers without any problems. As with other major Internet Security programs, you have to pay each year for renewals.

I can't provide you with a worthwhile answer in terms of functioning, but I can tell you dealing with McAfee for customer service was one of my worst experiences, and that is an industry where customer service generally is poor. Through a series of missteps (theirs and mine) I was charged twice for downloading one version of their software. After weeks and months of inability to get any real response or acknowledgement It was practically impossible to reach anyone, and when I did they told me no expeitious means existed to resolve the problem. I was forced to go to the Better Business Bureau, who did finally get me my refund. Now I only use Norton.

I do not like or use either one. I am a great fan of the new Microsoft Windows One Care Live. It does a lot more than the others and is not nearly as invasive. It meets all of my needs without hijacking my computer.

Norton, as far as I know was one of the first. It was a Dos Program; the name was Norton Utilities. I quit using it last year. They have gotten too arrogent for me. They charge for tech support & to get it completely off of my computer so that I could install McAfee, I had to format my hard drive. Never again! Besides, last year I got McAfee Virus scan, fire wall and security for free from Comcast. This year I got it for free from MSN. It does a really good job. PC tools is really good too (all of their programs.) As far as the defragger goes on Norton, it is a watered down version of Diskeeper, which I highly recomment.