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General discussion

switching antivirus programs

Jun 11, 2004 2:00PM PDT

I'm considering switching from my Norton antivirus 2002, which will expire soon, to the Computer Associates antivirus software program that my cable ISP (Roadrunner)offers for free. BUT, I am VERY nervous about switching, because I once had TERRIBLE problems when I needed to uninstall Norton Antivirus from an older computer. I am almost tempted to pay the $30. to Symantec every year, just to avoid the possibility of having those terrible problems with un-installing an antivirus program happen to me again. I understand it is harder to completely and safely uninstall antivirus software than most other types of software. What re-assurance, if any, and advise can you give me?

OS: Win XP on a Dell computer, about two years old.

Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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Re: switching antivirus programs
Jun 11, 2004 3:04PM PDT

Well, it certainly isn't supposed to cause problem, but yes I've heard Norton products screw things up, either here and other forums. At least backup your important data and registry and play it safe. At the same time, I've un-installed alot of Norton s/w and no problems. However, its a very good idea to visit the Norton support website and get the latest info on your s/w product to see the manual uninstall if the pgms. own uninstall doesn't succeed, *beforehand*. Beware you may still to clean-up abit for a total removal(dir?) but that alone wouldn't causes problem(s) and that's expected from alot of uninstalls.

FYI, I've had Norton in the past and just walked away from them after a SystemWorks Suite caused a problem not NAV alone. Yes, the NAV wanted a renewal and I decided to try other AVs, available free or test. I liked RAV, NOD32 and AVG, they did pretty well, along with Avast, so far no problems.

good luck -----Willy Happy

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Re: switching antivirus programs
Jun 27, 2004 8:32AM PDT

Hello. I actually ended up at this board because of Norton. I recently renewed my subscription, and received a confirmation e-mail without the subscription codes I need to renew and update. Of course I paid for this, and after a week+ of trying to contact Symantec--their customer support e-mail address returns as undeliverable and apparently they do not read their feedback--I guess I need to find a different anti-virus. I recently heard of NOD32. Is is reliable? Thoughts? Thanks in advance. T.

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Re: switching antivirus programs
Jun 27, 2004 11:19PM PDT