Should I renew with Norton AV?

Hello Wayne- could be it's because you're an advanced user, don't use OE or IE, and know how to take the proper security measures. I, even though I consider myself a reasonably knowledgable PC user, still take certain risks- i.e. using the preview pane in OE, and occasionally use IE (Mozilla just wont do certain things I want it to, like show animation on some sites).

I'll always contend that the vast amount of pc users simply don't know the complexities of not only what makes Windows, whatever version, work or not work, they also don't take the time or effort to educate themselves on things as "simple" as updating their virus definitions. I'm not arguing with you and your choice, as I know you have a high level of pc proficiency. The learning curve using a Windows OS is fairly high (look at all the different forums for PCs here!) Your point is well taken, but, personally speaking, I think the average pc user is pretty clueless. [end rant]

Hey Brandon,

In fact, I do use IE and OE. And I use the preview pane. But I have Mozilla installed and use it occasionally.

But I am aware of all the crap that's out there, and I do take precautions like keeping my AV up to date and run the Spyware Suite (AdAware, Spybot,and SpywareBlaster). And I'm behind a router and run ZoneAlarm. I also have IE set to alert for cookie requests and block most of them.

Agreed on what people don't know. A friend at work was complaining last week about her PC running slow and "stuff" popping up. She's running W98SE and using Juno for her ISP. I commented that I would be glad to look at her machine. She brought it to work and I took it home. On boot up I dropped my teeth!! It was so infected it was sad. The first thing I installed was NAV (no AV protection was on the PC). In less than one minute it alerted on three viruses. I stopped the scan. I then installed AdAware and Spybot and ran them. They found 398 instances of spyware. All during this time an uncounted amount of programs tried to install or access the Net. This machine was so hosed up I had to do a full format and reinstall of W98SE.

After a reinstall I connected it to my router/cable connection and installed all the W98SE updates, and installed the suite, ZoneAlarm, and NAV 2003. I chastised her greatly about what I found, and charged her a case of Miller Light.

I hate to say it, but most people get what they deserve. The media, TV, radio, newspapers, are all full of information and warnings about Internet dangers. And these people just continue to surf in complete oblivion. I think it's the old adage, "It won't happen to me". Thankfully these people will keep me supplied with beer.

Wayne,

I chastised her greatly about what I found, and charged her a case of Miller Light.

Either that's a real good friend, or you were feeling real charitable that day, or you just work real, REAL cheap.

three days to get it working (after work). I was up untill midnight twice, trying to uninstall all the crap on her machine. I lost count of how many times I tried to get it to work in safe mode. After one program wanted me to copy the uninstall key before it would uninstall, and another wanted to access the net to uninstall, I said "screw it". Format time. It was so hosed up I barely got her email addresses saved. And then I had to get them on screen and do a PrtScrn and save the picture.

Yeah, I work cheap. I figure a shop would have charged her at least a hundred.

There is a setting in Norton that will have it handle the infected file in the background. You'll never know it happened unless you look at the log. All you will see is a message telling you the virus was removed. A while back I was just looking around and looked at the log file. Norton had found, stopped, and quarantined three viruses. I didn't even know it happened.

I still don't feel comfortable trusting my machine to a freebie AV program. As I've said before, I'm afraid you get what you pay for. I'm concerned with the programmer's stability and dedication. And how long will it be supported? And how long before it's gone altogether?

IMHO

Hi to the both of you jmho but I d use norton's also I guess it's like choosing between a ford and a chevy> Both are worthless if not used and keeped tuned rocky

But which car would you take, Rockman. the $10K one, or the free one?

LOL does the free one work I agree with free and also know one works good and two Better?? I guess for my own peace of mind and the $6 to upate for one year??

I thought it was something like $28. Well, good to see you Rockman. I don't post nearly as much as in the past. But when I heard there was a software change in CNet, thought I'd take a look. Prefer the old ZDNet, but nuthin' we can do about that. In was fun in CH when everyone knew everyone. Well, good to see you. Hope all is well with you and yours.

I'm aware of the activitylog, whatever it's called. I'M tired of the "no action taken" message. This is only with emails (I've never gotten a virus any other way, thankfully.) Normally they're relatively 'harmless' trojans- according to the Norton website when I look them up. What I don't understand, if the virus is known, been around for yrs, listed on the Norton website,get a pop-up that there's a virus in an emil, why doesn't my Norton 2003 Pro disinfect or quarantine it? Getting back to the casual user, what would they do? Probably ignore it, thinking, "well, if Norton didn't clean it, it's probably ok". A slightly more advanced user may google "manually removing xyz virus"- which is what I used to do until I discovered pandasoftware's online scan. I also recall a thread in the XP forum, I think about the problems with NAV 2004; can't remember the details though.

I know many online people that use AVG and swear by it. And should they no longer offer support, well,people will just have to go back to a pay AV program.

Well, in fairness to Norton, I've never gotten a virus so bad that it totally hosed my system. And I have to amend my previous statement, "I'll never pay for Norton again", since I didn't pay for this, as it came with my motherboard driver's disk, or bundled seperatly as a "bonus". So I shouldn't protest too much. Still, I'm more than willing to try the free AVG; I use the free ZoneAlarm and trust that it will offer me some safety (I'm behind a router also). [] [] [] <--beers on me, Wayne!

Brandon, the bundled versions of any software are introductory "neutered" versions to try to get you to buy them. Not necessarily bad. I've used Norton for years and its good, if you learn to use it. That being said, I'll
go to something else(probably AVG) when it expires. chuck