Alternatives to Norton 360

Jacey53

Can anyone please recommend an alternative to Norton 360 for computer protection.

I have an old HP desktop, running Windows XP.

I have always used Norton but I am sure there must be others on the market and my renewal is due at the end of the month

Also do i need anything else?

Thank you

sassi

Eset gives a 30 day trial, and is a LOT better than Norton in my opinion, it is fast, and is what i would use if i used a pay for subscription anti-virus.

however there are free alternatives, microsofts own, avast or avg.

i use avast on my desktop, and avg on my laptop, and both seem to do the job (until my partner decides to go on some dodgy site and get me a million popups saying antivirus 2010 and allsorts and i have to clean it up again....but thats another story :rotfl:

have a look at the sticky here too, it may help

sassi

just to add, as you asked if you needed anything else, it never hurts to have malwarebytes, spybot etc on your system.

someone else will be along i am sure, with more detailed info

all the best
x

GunJack

For a full, free security and maintenance suite, go with the folowing:-

1. avira anti-virus
2. malwarebytes anti malware
3. CCleaner
4. Glary Utilities
5. defraggler

Works well and regular use keeps things clean and sweet. Also, for a system optimiser/tweaker, try AutoMZ Ultimate tweaker.

1,2,3,and 5 are all available from www.filehippo.com google for the other two

p.s. if you go with this setup, I have a handy guide for use of them...well-used, just ask and I can PM it over to you.

macman

Kaspersky is free if you have Barclays online banking.

Jorell00

I've always used free programs for PC security , since getting Kapersky free from Barclays, I wouldn't go back to free programs , even if I had to pay for Kapersky

CPJames19

IMHO best AV app is Avira

gonzo127

the general programs you should look into in my mind are

Anti virus one of the following -
Avira
Avast
Microsoft Security Essentials

Firewall one of the following -
Windows firewall
Comodo
Zone Alarm

and then Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for a on demand malware scanner

the above should give you much better security than Norton and make you system faster as they will take a lot less system resources

JasX

Can people stop advising posters like this they need a long list of stuff thats far in excess of their original requirements, it just serves to confuse them.

OP basically you need.

Anti Virus (pick one of the good free ones Avast, Avira or Microsoft Security essentials, all 3 are much more reliable than Norton do NOT use AVG -that is a junk AV as illustrated by the virus suffered in post#2 )

Windows needs set to automatically download and install critical updates

Use an up to date browser, latest version of Internet Explorer at minimum, better still Firefox or one of the others.

Worth a quick check windows firewall is turned on

Thats it.

malwarebytes anti malware - not real time protection, not 'needed' to keep your PC secure, use it if you think you already have a virus or once a month if you are particularly paranoid

spybot - will help guaard against annoying/less than useful programs you explicitly install yourself, not related to anti virus or security

CCleaner - not related to anti virus or security, will to some extend help undo registry clutter if you install/uninstall junk programs frequently

Glary Utilities - also not related to virus protection or security

defraggler - same

AutoMZ Ultimate tweaker - same, often these things can do more damage than good

posters in this thread providing a long list of unexplained 'pet' programs unrelated to the original request to someone clearly not very technical (still using norton for starters) isn't ever going to help.

I'm also nearly convinced sassi owns Eset shares given the frequency with which he/she pops up to plug it when there are perfectly good free offerings around that are no less reliable.

GunJack

JasX. I for one was not seeking to confuse, only advise based on experience...often getting set with a complete suite is t6he best way to go.

nikaso

If you are wanting a 'does it all' type suite then I have had quite good experiences with Bullguard, I have several clients use it and only one has ever had any problem but I suspect that was some Norton remnants interfering with Bullguard.