Ditching Norton

noodlebutty

My Norton sub is up for renewal and I've decided not to bother as I suspecty it's slowing my system down. I've been reading the security sticky and have a few ideas but also found it to be be a bit confusing; too much info. I don't mind paying for computer security as long as it's worth it, but if I can get equivalent security free then obviously I'd sooner do that.

I'm not the most technically minded person and would appreciate any advice on what to get and also how to go about getting rid of the old security and replacing it - what order to do things etc

At the moment for an antivirus I'm thinking about AVG, not sure which is the best firewall to get, maybe comodo or zonealarm, after that I'm not sure. I keep hearing about ccleaner, is that necessary with an antivirus and firewall? And what else would I need? I'm in a bit of a rush as I'm away this wknd and my sub runs out in 3 days so I need to get it sorted out.

timestar

I too used to have Norton but found it slow and very resource hungry. Ditched it in favour of ESET Smart Security - much faster and just runs quietly in the background. Norton do have a tool to get rid or use something like Revo Uninstaller - it's a free programme.

isofa

Forgot AVG, it's must poorer than the "good" free ones, which are: Avira AntiVir or Avast. Old Norton versions used to be poor, new ones are much better, but still AntiVir and Avast are free, and both good anti-virus packages.

What OS are you using? Depending on that will depend on whether you need a good additionally firewall, or just use the Windows one.

CCleaner is just used now and then to clean out temporary files, it's not a protection system. Only use it if you need it.

There are good anti-malware scanners you can run now and again, (malwarebytes, spybot, etc) but as long as you are careful, you don't need masses of protection.

Also look at Microsoft Security Essentials, free from MS and pretty good.

Finally, it's much better to start using Firefox with the NoScript Add-on, makes web browsing much more secure.

webnise

Yes, it is nothing new with Norton. It really hurts your computer performance. AVG is good and light but I don't find it much effective though .

penrhyn

OP, NIS 2010 is much lighter on resources than previous editions, if you still have a current subscription you can upgrade to it for free from the Norton website via your account.
NIS 2010 1PC 3 user is on sale at Amazon for £23.50.

REMEMBER. You can't easily uninstall Norton.
It is necessary to download the Norton Uninstall Tool from the website, and run it before installing another antivirus/firewall.

http://service1.symantec.com/Support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039

BTW If your PC is running slowly it would be worth running CCleaner, Defragging the harddrive, and reviwing which programmes are running at start up.
If you have less that 1Gb of RAM that will also impair your performance.

CCleaner gets rid of rubbish from your HDD it is not a malware removal programme.
Microsoft Security Essentials is a free antivirus/anti malware programme.
If you use a router, and are running XP/Vista Win7 then the built in firewall is probably OK.

noodlebutty

Thanks all. Isofa, sorry, what's OS?

penrhyn

OS = Operating System, eg Windows XP, Vista, 7

irishesman

Do you bank with Barclays? If so, you can get a free copy of Kasperski (sp) through the online banking. At least you could a few days ago when I last ckecked

:beer:

noodlebutty

Oh, Windows XP, the computer's about 6 years old and never had any probs until earlier this year when it started getting creaky, which did coincide with a lot of Norton updates.
Thanks for the tip Irishes but I'm not with Barclays.

penrhyn

Which version of Norton are you using?
Have you defragmented your hard drive recently?
The XP firewall should be fine, assuming XP is up to date i.e Service pack 3.

Devalin

pcworld have norton 2010 for £24 at the moment and includes a 3pc license, the 2010 version seems much better at not eating resources on your pc as it runs.