Kaspersky v Norton

HTML200

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKHLOo1WgDQ&feature=related

Chipping

sharkfin wrote: »

What about McAfee. Any thoughts

Maybe going a bit off topic (as its not about Kaspersky/Norton):o, but at least not as off-topic as Linux:rolleyes:.

My own (subjective) opinion based on experience:
Steer clear of McAfee. I've been a McAfee user a long time, starting with corporate version. Used to like it but the home version has turned into bloatware and wasted a great deal of my time needlessly many times (and I work in IT). The quality of the software is poor/unfinished and support, although recently greatly improved is still rubbish, the human part of which is in a foreign country and missing a certain level of knowledge/helpfulness.

Sadly, McAfee is being offered for free now by many companies from banks to ISPs (as is Norton). I will be avoiding those free versions because they will cost me a lot in time and frustration. It takes about 30secs for its config screen to appear!

I mention this because a) others I know have had the same problems with Norton, and on Internet forums there are people who have had problems with Kaspersky and ESET too and with all others, and b) to compare with my experience below.

My Win2000 laptop is old and small (only 192MB RAM) but I still use it often for office work (MS Office - works fine). I got rid of McAfee from it as it started taking 5mins to start-up and shut-down, and I loaded the FREE Online Armor firewall and FREE Avast! anti-virus. The installations were easy (once I located the Win2K version of OA) and the results have been excellent in terms of speed, and after about 2 months there's no sign of trouble.

Note: In case it applies to you there are no parental controls with the free version of Online Armor. However, you can always use OpenDNS for this (see previous posts).
Note: There are paid for versions of both free ones available giving more functionality (some bloatware).

bmiah

I've been using Norton Internet Security 2009 for a year now and it's been brilliant. It's very light on resources, much lighter than Kaspersky, Zone Alarm etc I think the issue is most people on here (and actually the general public) have very outdated information when it comes to things like technology. Things moves fast!

I stopped using Norton in 2006 initially, after it started to get very bloated and slowing my computer severely. It was also a nightmare to uninstall. The whole experience was terrible and I vowed not to buy their products again. However, after stumbling upon some good reviews, I thought i'd give it another go. Symantec's products for the past year or so have been excellent-- just look at the same online magazine reviews that were slating their products, now heaping praise on them.

I updated to 2010 a couple of days ago too and it seems even better-- it's available for free to 2006 and newer users. Free software from Norton was unheard of before so they're clearly getting their act together! Additionally, you can actually buy the old 2009 (therefore cheaper! as little as £25 for Norton Internet Security Premier) version and use this to activate the newer 2010-- another major plus!

Anyway, I think people shouldn't comment based on what they 'heard' or experienced a few years ago. Technology moves very fast indeed and Norton have certainly taken the right steps to regain their reputation. I would highly recommend their latest offerings.

Money_Grabber13579

bmiah wrote: »

I've been using Norton Internet Security 2009 for a year now and it's been brilliant. It's very light on resources, much lighter than Kaspersky, Zone Alarm etc I think the issue is most people on here (and actually the general public) have very outdated information when it comes to things like technology. Things moves fast!

I stopped using Norton in 2006 initially, after it started to get very bloated and slowing my computer severely. It was also a nightmare to uninstall. The whole experience was terrible and I vowed not to buy their products again. However, after stumbling upon some good reviews, I thought i'd give it another go. Symantec's products for the past year or so have been excellent-- just look at the same online magazine reviews that were slating their products, now heaping praise on them.

I updated to 2010 a couple of days ago too and it seems even better-- it's available for free to 2006 and newer users. Free software from Norton was unheard of before so they're clearly getting their act together! Additionally, you can actually buy the old 2009 (therefore cheaper! as little as £25 for Norton Internet Security Premier) version and use this to activate the newer 2010-- another major plus!

Anyway, I think people shouldn't comment based on what they 'heard' or experienced a few years ago. Technology moves very fast indeed and Norton have certainly taken the right steps to regain their reputation. I would highly recommend their latest offerings.

That's exactly what I've been saying for the last year now!:D

Georgia57

I tried both, Kaspersky is good to use but Norton will reduce system performance.

Chipping

bmiah wrote: »

I've been using Norton Internet Security 2009 for a year now and it's been brilliant. It's very light on resources, much lighter than Kaspersky, Zone Alarm etc I think the issue is most people on here (and actually the general public) have very outdated information when it comes to things like technology. Things moves fast!

I stopped using Norton in 2006 initially, after it started to get very bloated and slowing my computer severely. It was also a nightmare to uninstall. The whole experience was terrible and I vowed not to buy their products again. However, after stumbling upon some good reviews, I thought i'd give it another go. Symantec's products for the past year or so have been excellent-- just look at the same online magazine reviews that were slating their products, now heaping praise on them.

I updated to 2010 a couple of days ago too and it seems even better-- it's available for free to 2006 and newer users. Free software from Norton was unheard of before so they're clearly getting their act together! Additionally, you can actually buy the old 2009 (therefore cheaper! as little as £25 for Norton Internet Security Premier) version and use this to activate the newer 2010-- another major plus!

Anyway, I think people shouldn't comment based on what they 'heard' or experienced a few years ago. Technology moves very fast indeed and Norton have certainly taken the right steps to regain their reputation. I would highly recommend their latest offerings.

This looks like another advert for Norton (apologies if it isn't). We've already had one attempt at selling Norton on this thread. Don't know about their latest products but their marketing has certainly gone into overdrive! :cool:

The info about free upgrade for existing customers would have been good - EXCEPT - I could find no mention of this on Norton UK or US sites. Do you have a link/s for the free upgrade (from both 2006 version and 2009 version)?

"people shouldn't comment based on what they 'heard' or experienced a few years ago" are you sure you're not at risk of this too?

Agreed, technology does move fast, however, the reputation of a company does not. If they supply you junk once you would be right to expect they will supply you junk again. If they have management who provide poor support, poor software design/quality, etc, it is not likely to change overnight, if it ever does, no matter what their marketing says. Fortunately, we have a good variety of products to choose from in this market.:j

sei1925

At the risk of people jumping down my throat i have over the past few years tried quite a frw paid for and free security suites and my personal favourites are Nod 32 but as my subscription ran out recently i had to buy a paid for suite. And i choose Norton Internet security 2010 and i find it rather good i dont see it hogging my resources it does what i want it to do. I know there are a lot of people who hate norton i personally dont have any interests in norton or anything like that but as an end user it works for me i have found in the past it depends on your computer setup but this is just an opinion.

supermonkey

michaelro wrote: »

You can get Kaspersky for free with a On-line Barclays account. :cool:
.

Just started using Kaspersky because of this. Was previously using Avast free AV & Zone Alarm free firewall. Still testing it really, pc certainly isnt any worse, but i am as yet unsure of how good the firewall is compared.

I've found that on my old pc the pc grinds to a halt during virus database updates...becomes a problem when you're right in the middle of something and you can guess what happens if i choose manual updates.

donnajunkie

supermonkey wrote: »

I've found that on my old pc the pc grinds to a halt during virus database updates...becomes a problem when you're right in the middle of something and you can guess what happens if i choose manual updates.

i presume you have checked that your pc fits the required spec?
i have only had a pc for 2 years for the first year i had norton 360. it was ok but got a bit iffy when it updated to version 2.0. for the last year i have had kaspersky 2009 and it is better in everyway except it isnt as user friendly. you need a degree to work it out. i have just bought the 2010 version. the choice was easy £20 for kaspersky or £50 for norton.

anro15

I notice alot of the comments here centre around Norton's poor performance. I used it up to 2003 and then it did go down hill rapidly. However, I was tempted back after some good reviews for the 2009 version and bad experiences with both ESET and Kaspersky 2009 (the first could not see my annoying malware advert and the second did not like my config).

I have to say that the 2009 was alot different to previous and should be tried before assuming it is just the same monster as previous versions. Not sure about the free upgrade, I have already paid for the 2010 version for when windows 7 arrives.

To be honest, the protection rates look good for all of them in the current main review round ups. If my confidence had not been knocked with the above, I would probably still be with ESET (I was good when it worked!).