Antivirus

Which one appears to be the best, for home 3 computers?

You'll get a wide range of responses - I like Norton :)

I would go do a little research - Norton seems to get the highest ratings overall. It has had an awful reputation in the past for being a resource hog, but as I understand it, they've vastly improved that aspect of it.

PC magazine has some ratings here... Best antivurus 2012

You'll find lots of other anti-virus reviews out there.

I used to buy Norton but I changed to McAffe a few years ago, I am not happy with it anymore and have to buy a new one starting the year.

I have seen the report of PC magazine, I was worried about Norton because it allowed some virus in when I had it. If now it is better I'll probably go back to it. Does the boxed version allow 3 PCs?

I use Microsoft Security Essentials because the price is within my budget (it's free).

If I was going to pay for an antivirus I'd consider Kaspersky or ESET or possibly eEye, depending on whether the computer was going to have games on it or not.

I also use Microsoft Security Essentials and have had no problems at all with it. I have several computers I work on for some elderly friends that are also running it along with Malwarebytes Pro which runs in real time and the combination seems to work extremely well for them. I know my visits have gone down to practically zero!

None of them is going to be perfect - I'm a firm believer in the user being first in the line of defense.

I just remembered that having Comcast, that I have, one is supposed to be able to have Norton free. I had forgotten this

This is only my opinion , however , there are several quality free antivirus solutions available , which perform just as well , or in some cases , better that some paid solutions . Avast , Avira , FortiClient and AVG are just a couple that come to mind (I use Avast myself , along with Online Armor free firewall , & the free Malwarebytes) . Zone Alarm has released a new security suite (antivirus & firewall) . The firewall has been proven to be effective time and again , & the antivirus component is licensed from Kaspersky . Like Draclvr , if I were to break down and pay for an antivirus , it would be either Kaspersky , Eset , GData , or Bit Defender (to name a couple different programs) .

Norton for me every time

Thanks to everybody, I'll try Norton from Comcast

I installed Norton through Comcast, after that I lost the gadgets in the Windows gadget bar. For what I found I am not the only one. The fixes proposed by Microsoft and other have not worked. It is not a big problem since there are very few and mainly useless gadgets for W7 but it should not happen.

I agree - that's the anti-virus taking away your choices. I know gadgets can be a problem, but if I want to take the chance, that's up to me. I hate when software tries to dictate to me. I love my weather gadget!

This is the reason I stopped using Norton years ago.

And one of the reasons I also stopped using it years ago.

I'll try for a little bit longer, I stopped using it too, McAffe was good for a while but it started to make decisions for me also. Now I needed a new antivirus and Norton is free for Comcast users. If it creates more problems I'll try something else. I don't take risk but I want to have the freedom of taking them without having to disconnect the antivirus.

I had Norton on our first computer, and until renewal time it was good. And when renewal time came all I wanted was the same version of Norton I had been using. But no matter where I looked internet security was the only version available, not something I wanted. So I went with that. Bad move. Instead of telling me when it encountered a problem, or thought something might be a problem, it flat said nope, you aren't going to download that or go there.

At the time this same subject was being discussed, and AVG was touted as a good replacement. Especially since it was free. Like Norton, it started out good, and went down hill after that.

Don't remember where I heard about it, but Avast! was mention as a real good program that would sit in the background and do its thing. And, didn't try to be the boss. I gave it a try, and not long afterwards bought the full version. And haven't looked back. It does what as advertised, sits in the background monitoring what you tell it to monitor, and nothing more.

You folk must be doing things I don't because I've used Norton since my very first computer (which was way before the Internet, of course) and never had a virus - or any other security problem, come to that.

The only slight nuisance thing I've experienced has been when I've downloaded the odd game and Norton has immediately quarantined the files as "unsafe".
This has easily been rectified and I prefer that happening to being allowed to download files that truly ARE unsafe !!

I have temporarily tried other security programmes - AVG and McAfee are two I can remember - but found them all "wanting" so now I just get the latest Norton as it comes out

Which version of Norton do you have, Mad?
Do you have the "Security Suite" that people are complaining about?

Hi Jenny100

Currently I have "Norton 360" installed on the two machines with internet contact.

Before that I was using "Norton Internet Security".

Are either of these the one that's being complained about ??

Cheers.

Mad

Comcast seems to be supplying "Norton Security Suite," which is what mcc didn't like. The current version is probably different from what you used in the past.

Homer6 didn't like "Internet Security" and wasn't able to find his old version of Norton being offered.

The problem seems to be related to a lack of configurability -- or at least an easy way to configure it to let you access things you believe are safe.

Is there a smilie which lays its finger along side its nose, Jenny. Your last sentence hits the nail on the head.

Home use security programs should never come believing the programmer knows better than the home user. Those type programs ought to come as blank slates, fully adjustable by the home user. Or, a complete guide to help those who are a bit leery making adjustments. And, when user manuals are written they shouldn't be written by the programmer. Maybe then more wouldn't feel leery trying to customize their copy of a program.

I've never heard of "Norton Security Suite" !!
[Best go and have a look.]

As to configuring my Norton stuff ?? With any Norton product I've bought (being a technically challenged person) I've always just plumped for the default settings and, as I said, only ever experienced the one glitch, which was very easily sorted.

I suppose having been kept "safe" all these years - by dint of common sense as well, of course, not just a good security set up - I'm happy to stay with Norton and recommend it

AVG forever.

Mad, I had just Norton antivirus on a computer and it did fine. Watched for bugs and warned if it thought one had arrived, or stopped it before, I can't remember which.

My subscription was up so when I went online to renew the only thing I could find, and I looked all over their site, was Norton antivirus combined with Internet Security. I wanted the antivirus so I took both. It soon got to the point I was being told by the Internet Security portion where I could and could not go. What I could and could not do. And had to, on several occasions, turn the whole thing off just to download some things I never had trouble downloading. The Internet Security portion simply took over.

Got tired of that and decided to try AVG, which was mentioned here. The free version worked great, but as updates and after I got the full version, it started doing the same thing Norton Internet Security had been doing.

Again, got tired of not being able to control what I wanted to do and decided to try Avast!, which if I remember was another discussed on here. I eventually bought the full version and have yet to regret it. And coupled with Malwarebytes I don't have any complants. Those two were the best purchases I've yet made for my computer.

Very similar experience for me with both Norton and McAfee. Also tried AVG and they started getting bossy plus my hard drive was spinning constantly until I uninstalled it. Granted that was about 3 years ago, but between Avast on my XP computer and Microsoft Security Essentials on my Windows 7, I'm back to being a happy camper. I also agree that coupled with Malwarebytes, I've been as secure as I've ever been.

I've have had many PCs come in that were acting strange or were very slow. Many had virus infections and spyware and the users would tell me "but I have virus programs".

In many cases I've seen multiple programs running at the same time. A big no-no!

I have also noted that McAfee and Norton Security software greatly slowing down a PC and see the CPU being chewed up in Task Manager. Now add 2 or 3 of these programs and run them on one PC and you get a very slow responding PC.

OK - first thing I do is UNinstall ALL of them, reboot the PC ( maybe have to do that a couple times ) then download a decent antispyware program ( I like Superantispyware - Portable ) run that - and then Uninstall that too.

Finally - we like AVAST - Free - used to like AVG but they have gotten "bloated" lately.

Anyway - AVAST has served us well and we have had very little complaints.

Avast is what the computer repair shop my son used to work at uses too. They also swear by it.

Great minds think alike -

This is why I keep talking up Avast! whenever this subject comes up. Very little complaints.

Hi Homer6 .... and others

Each to their own, as is always the case !!

I can only repeat that my experiences with Norton have all been good