OEM or Full Retail Antivirus?

MissBailey

Hi,

I hope someone can help please?

I want to buy Symantec Endpoint Antivirus and the OEM version is a lot cheaper than the full retail version. Can someone please explain the difference and advise as to whether the OEM version is ok?

Thanks

closed

should be, but it's intended for system builders, so no support.

but this is free http://www.filehippo.com/download_avast_antivirus/

Mikebellows

Use Microsoft Security Essentials - It's free and brilliant.
I have been using it for years - Looks after my PC's no problem.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security/pc-security/mse.aspx

bod1467

You'll (likely) get several posts advising you to avoid Symantec ... and they'll be right. There'll also be several posts supporting their own choices, and these will likely be ...

Avast (free) (my own choice)
AVG (free)
MSE (free)
NOD32 (paid)
Kapersky (paid)

The bottom line is - you don't need to pay to get a decent AV product. If you DO wish to pay for one, there are MANY that are much better than Symantec (formerly Norton), and McAfee for that matter.

You also probably don't need a full security suite as such. For example, Avast is primarily an anti-virus product, but it doesn't just focus on emails.

baby_frogmella

^^^ Are you still living in 2005? Symantec/Norton is vastly improved these days (ie no longer a resource hog) with excellent detection rates.

bod1467

baby_frogmella wrote: »

^^^ Are you still living in 2005? Symantec/Norton is vastly improved these days (ie no longer a resource hog) with excellent detection rates.

Nope. I'm living in today's world.

Yes, it (Symantec) is much better than it used to be. Would most people still recommend it? Especially when there are equally good (if not better) products available free or lower cost? No.

Mikebellows

I used to swear by AVG - Until I got a virus - I installed MSE - It found the virus and disposed of it almost instantly. Never used AVG since.

MSE has no bearing on PC performance and prompts you when it needs you to do something. The User Interface is really simple and easy to use.

Cannot recommend highly enough.

closed

mse doesn't find everything (usually towards the low end on tests i've seen), none do, and they all have an impact on performance, more noticeable on older machines.

piero_depaoli

Hi -

This is Piero from Symantec. Just to answer your initial question, the OEM versions have Symantec's protection technologies embedded inside. Only real difference is that the OEM may allow/disallow for certain configurations and the support procedures are likely different but the protection technologies are identical.

Thanks!
- Piero

John_Gray

Have a look near the back of this month's copy of PC Pro, just out to subscribers and due in the shops next week, where they do a comparison of about a dozen antivirus programs and internet security suites.

They consider that Avast is the best of the free programs. Symantec also gets high marks (together with several others).

Of course McAfee is panned, as usual in these comparisons.

S0litaire

Also look for "Beta Test" opportunities on these Anti-Virus site.

I've in the past ran a Beta Test for Avira anti-virus Premium version for free. The Beta was very stable and although it was at least 3-4 months before being released for sale I never had a problem. Also I got to give input on how to make it a bit more user friendly ^_^

Only reason I'm not doing the Beta test is that I'm mainly on Linux and only use Windows for Steam games at the moment...