Kaspersky v Norton

Money_Grabber13579

anro15 wrote: »

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!).

If you want the 2010 version, go here, and choose the link to go to the update centre and follow the instructions to download for free.

Henry61

I dont have any virus software in my vista OS. I guess its highly secure, compared to this Norton is good one for internet users.

patman99

Would you trust a company that installs viruses along with it's AV software?.
Norton did this a couple of years ago, and got caught-out big time.
One of my friends sons has a mate who builds his own PCs. on one of his builds, he installed Windows XP (from a proper MS-supplied CD), then, prior to connecting it to the net, he installed Norton. He was surprised to find that it managed to find 6 viruses on a clean install. A bit of research found he wasn't the only one.

Also, if you install a file comparison program and point it in the direction of Norton's update, you will find that not all the daily updates are updates. Some are the previous days updates with a new name. This may be to do with their AV team only working standard office hours.

I used to use Eset, but it let-through 37 viruses. It was however, very light on system resources.
I now use Kaspersky on my PC, and Avast on my laptop.I also installed the full Avira suite for free on my sons laptop (they may still be running this offer, check their site). None of them seem to be that system-hungry. The only problem with Kaspersky is that you need to up all the settings for detection as it sets them to 'medium' on installation. I did this, and it found 132 viruses that it had missed before.
I also installed 'Imuneit Project' witch is a web-based AV detector, and is designed to work along side your chosen commercial offering.

Nordictat2

Neither. AVG! It's free too

pixwix

No such thing as the absolute best security software, of course - but for me, it's Kaspersky every time. Norton is a resource hog and not even up among the front runners in performance. They cover the market by lots of advertising (guess who pays for that) and putting out trial versions on new PCs and relying on customer inertia to simply pay up when the trial is over. I'd class McAfee in much the same way.

But watch what you're paying for Kaspersky. Their online charges are a joke. Three years ago, I got my first copy from Amazon - a boxed disk at little more than half of what the Kaspersky website was charging for a download. And their renewal charges are getting out of hand - up a third in about 3 years. My Kaspersky is up for renewal this week - the Kaspersky website wants £32 to renew the triple licence. So I have a band new boxed set in transit from Amazon for £24 (P&P free) - no contest.

That all said, it would take a lot to move me from Kaspersky these days, though admittedly it's the kind of software where reading the manual is no end of help. And if like me you're paranoid about security, it doesn't hurt to have 2 or 3 of the freebies (NOT running all the time) for the odd manual scan. For single files you're suspicious about, www.virustotal.com is very useful.

If you just don't like Kaspersky for any reason, then I'd advise a serious look at NOD32.

Open message to Kaspersky... I love your software, but one more swingeing renewal increase, and you're history, people! You're among the best, but there are other games in town...

ratman

DCFC79 wrote: »

lol ok ill bear that in mind, is there a test i could do to test the firewall

There are lots of websites that will check your firewall - such as http://www.securitymetrics.com/portscan.adp

Chipping

pixwix wrote: »

But watch what you're paying for Kaspersky. Their online charges are a joke. Three years ago, I got my first copy from Amazon - a boxed disk at little more than half of what the Kaspersky website was charging for a download. And their renewal charges are getting out of hand - up a third in about 3 years. My Kaspersky is up for renewal this week - the Kaspersky website wants £32 to renew the triple licence. So I have a band new boxed set in transit from Amazon for £24 (P&P free) - no contest.

I would advise all moneysavers to avoid renewing automatically - get the software from amazon, ebuyer, etc cheaper every year than AV companies. AV companies in most cases sell initial software cheap and make money from subscription renewals.

I once bought a 3-user McAfee full suite from eBuyer for £7, when it was being sold in other places for £40-£60 (guess how much mcafee were renewing it for)! I've not found it that cheap since, but now there are ways of getting some free (through your ISP, bank, etc, as already mentioned by others here - but avoid mcafee).

The only hassle with doing this though is that you have to uninstall the version you have and then install the new one (and if its like mcafee register using a new email address too!), and set it up again. But, you could see this as an annual review of your security. )

jhe

i have used norton for years,but no more. my computer was behaving strangely so i contacted norton for online help. after half hour of messages going back and forth, i eventually got a phone call from a person from an overseas call centre, he spent around an hour trying to persuade me to part with £50 for them to sort my computer because it had a virus. i told him i thought this was why i had security in the first place to prevent this. anyway renewals due around now so i have just bought kaspersky. it cant be any worse than norton

aliEnRIK

jhe wrote: »

i have used norton for years,but no more. my computer was behaving strangely so i contacted norton for online help. after half hour of messages going back and forth, i eventually got a phone call from a person from an overseas call centre, he spent around an hour trying to persuade me to part with £50 for them to sort my computer because it had a virus. i told him i thought this was why i had security in the first place to prevent this. anyway renewals due around now so i have just bought kaspersky. it cant be any worse than norton

Make sure you use the NORTON REMOVAL TOOL (Simply uninstalling usually leaves bits behind)

jhe

yes i downloaded it ready for when i install kaspersky. thanks alienrik