How many of you use Norton?

[kohlrak]

I am doing a poll on this to see how safe you are on the internet.

May I remind you, the norton virus can only be compleatly uninstalled through a reformat of the hard drive.

I personally have come accross many issues with norton virus. Including loss of internet connection. (But it wasn't the uninstall glitch which kills the internet all together.)

BE HONEST

[Panda Man]

i have it... i like it, my only real complaint is that it is easy to fuck up.... ive had it completely screw up the boot process to where i had to format. that was about 2 years ago

[Howie]

Used to have it (got it for free with my ISP), but I uninstalled as it was crap. Didn't find all of my viruses, but AVG did. All hail AVG.

[Panda Man]

AVG? wtf is that... if it is better, im gonna switch to it as i don't think my copy of nortan antivirus is doing the best job

[kohlrak]

Amen to AVG. I had a problem once where i couldn't use direct play test host. Norton was the most probable suspect. I told norton do exclude a certain program from deletion, it erase the rule i made. I couldn't turn on auto protect. (even thouhg it was on anyway it said it was off and i could not turn it off or make it say it was on.) Thank heavin's a system file didn't get the same signature as a virus norton dosn't like. (Such occurences have happened before with teampeak's keypress.dll file.) Never tested the uninstall file glitch about loosing internet that everyone talks about though. So many people have norton and don't relize that half their problems are related to norton. All kinds of stuff, and it points to somthing messing with the system files more than needed. (Obviously, norton embeds itself in system files.)

BUT. NO ANTI VIRUS CAN REPLACE AD-AWARE. (and ad-aware can't replace anti viruses.)

Did anyone hear of the "Jpeg of death"? quite amusing, i wish i knew how they did that. I'd love to harass people with jpegs.

AVG is a very good anti virus, and it (unlike norton) gives you a choice to ignor deleting a file automatically or not.

[magsec]

I also support AVG. Every time i do a clean install on my computers or a friend's or a family member's, i install AVG. Its a simple, _free_, no bullshit anti-virus. Ive never had any problems with it.

[GODJonez]

I have Norton Anti-virus 2003 and I have been satisfied with it. And you CAN uninstall it completely without formatting your drive, there is an utility from Symantec just for that (yes, separate program to remove another program...), and you can manually delete the installation date file that holds the information on how long you can use the LiveUpdate.

Currently my NAV takes 17 MB of RAM, not too much since it can drop to under 5 MB when needed (using Cacheman XP). And if you don't have a problem clicking with your mouse through the settings, you can make the program work the way you want, not to delete files automatically and such.

But this I tell you: never get Norman Anti-Virus or Internet security suite.

[Panda Man]

i gave AVG a try, and i had about 15 viruses.... i think this little program will be around on my PC for a while... thnx for letting me know it existed...

by the way, does AVG have a form of auto-protect like norton has? if so, screw norton

[magsec]

AVG does have an auto-protect feature. Its called the Resident Shield. It's enabled by default. Norton uses something called Bloodhound technology (last i checked). GODJonez says norton takes 17MB of RAM; currently my AVG is taking up 5MB of RAM (this can fluxuate, especially after downloading updates). Note that when i cofigure AVG, i disable email scanning, disable auto-update, and set the update service to manual. This keeps AVG quiet and transparent.

Just to smear $h!t all over norton, observe: http://www.computergripes.com/NortonAntiVirus2003.html

[Mikey_]

i use norton 2005. i've had no issues with it at all.

[Strongbad]

Same here i use it and as long as i update it i don't have any problems. It came with my bros computer and he didn't use it so i did.

[Soeru]

Norton Antivirus? Fuck no, it's a good piece of software, but it's too greedy on your computer's resources, slowing you down quite a bit. All AV software will produce some slowdown, but I think that Norton's is just too much, and every new version seems to get slower and takes up more memory. So I use the old antivirus called Symantec AV, which is basically like the oldschool Norton, and you still get the Live Updates.

It runs pretty fast, I notice almost no slowdown when I have autoprotect on. It doesn't have a fancy GUI like the newer Norton AV's, but who needs a good-looking GUI for an antivirus.

Symantec and Norton are like the same company, btw, I just like Symantec's AV client better.

GodJonez already said it, you don't need to format your comp to uninstall Norton, unless you uninstall it improperly, then you might have to get some "Uninstall Software" or zap some stuff in your Windows registry, or simply format if you're too lazy.

To uninstall Norton correctly, you have to select the "Change" button instead of "Remove" in your Add/Remove Programs menu, then you'll get a Norton-esque window that will ask you to proceed with the uninstall. In the latest version Windows XP(don't know about SP2), it won't let you uninstall with the "Remove" button, it will tell you to use the "Change" button. Do this on any other Windows OS/old WinXP and I think it will allow you, hence why it will still leave some registry keys, program files, and background services behind.

Since I've used Norton several times and installed it/uninstalled it on several comps, I'll just select "No".

[Norgus]

Hah I lied on the poll now its irrelevant as a scientific test, take that!
Just kidding Ive never used Norton and I voted no.

AVG all the way (I never knew it was so popular)

[micral]

i use Symantec Anti Virus not NAV but since its the same company i chose Yes...
Symantec AV is completely silence and reliable.

[Mikey_]

Norton Antivirus? Fuck no, it's a good piece of software, but it's too greedy on your computer's resources

my brother's pc and nephew's pc are fairly new and have standard specs and they don't slow down one bit and both run nav2005 so i suppose if your system slows down because of nav usage then your system simply isn't good enough or powerful enough to handle it.