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My experience with Norton Antivirus

post #1 of 35
10/30/05 at 6:50pm
Thread Starter 
I know its already a pretty widely known fact that Norton Antivirus is probably the most bloated antivirus software ever created, but I thought I would shed some light on just how bloated it actually is. Ive had Norton for over a year now and I always thought it was a pretty decent antivirus program. Ive heard numerous people tell me how much resources it uses to run but I always just ignored them because my computer has always run just fine. Just recently my subscription expired and being that I am a poor college student I decided to try a free antivirus program (avast!) because ive heard good things about it. After uninstalling Norton and installing avast! (great program by the way!) I restarted my computer and imediately opened the task manager upon getting to the desktop. My processes dropped from an average of 42 down to about 35. This really didnt suprise me because I knew that Norton uses a lot of processes to run. What did suprise me however is that my time to calculate pi to 2M using SuperPi dropped from 2m12s to 1m53s (specs in sig). Thats Huge! Not only that I noticed that the computer feels quite a bit snappier when opening files and programs and there is now no longer a delay when opening webpages. Just thought I would give my 2 cents on Norton for those who dont know about it being a system hog because I know this program comes loaded on a lot of dells.
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post #2 of 35
10/30/05 at 7:11pm
Comes loaded on mine as well! Uninstalled it and put on Avast! as well!
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post #3 of 35
10/30/05 at 7:52pm
me too but it was McAfee that hit the bricks
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post #4 of 35
10/30/05 at 10:03pm
I hate Norton. Internet Security was a free 90 day trial from my router, so i installed it. My girlfriend used AIM on my computer, and clicked one of those virus ridden messages or something, norton internet security completely missed it to begin with, and then the virus brought its buddies in and completely ransacked my computer. Norton scanned and found all of the virii, and made no attempt to delete or quarantine them. It said you have 27 virii, and the button at the bottom said finished. It wouldnt delete or even tell me where they where to try to eliminate them myself. After a reformat, I've installed AVG and zonealarm firewall. Computer is rock solid now with less processes and more open resources
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post #5 of 35
10/30/05 at 10:07pm
Cheers to Avast!
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post #6 of 35
10/31/05 at 1:30am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by gmnstrunr37
Cheers to Avast!
Im actually really impressed by this program so far. It is very light compared to Norton and seems to be doing a great job. Best of all its free! It also doesnt try to integrate itself into every program on my computer.
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post #7 of 35
10/31/05 at 4:33pm
Is Avast a complete system, at present I use Norton Internet Security, seems to have a lot beside just anti virus????? I have only ever run Norton so not sure about the different speed if I deleted and ran something else, I know with Norton I have never had a virus (touch wood), I keep it up to date and run a couple of other programs like Spybot, Ad-aware, Microsoft Antispyware and Mailwash.
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post #8 of 35
10/31/05 at 4:41pm
I liked all the gook from mcafee too but if you are going to run lean and mean you have to dump Norton.
Beware of uninstalling it incorrectly or suffer in pain and anguish forever(or until clean reinstall).
I run avast/microsoft antispyware/windows firewall.
I think the weakest point in the chain is windows firewall.
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post #9 of 35
10/31/05 at 5:50pm
[quote=watchtower7]I liked all the gook from mcafee too but if you are going to run lean and mean you have to dump Norton.
Beware of uninstalling it incorrectly or suffer in pain and anguish forever(or until clean reinstall).


How difficult is a complete uninstall???
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post #10 of 35
10/31/05 at 6:35pm
Uninstalling Norton AV can mess up MS Office (at least it did for me). Plus, it never seems to completely uninstall - it leaves stuff behind sometimes :P

Regarding Avast - does it have a plugin for MS Office? I see there's a plugin for Outlook - what about Excel/Word/etc. ?

Also, is it highly configurable? Right now I'm using Norton AV 2005. I always deactivate the perpetual system autoscan (to me autoscan is overkill imo). I just use the Outlook/MSOffice scanning, and run scheduled manual system scans.
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post #11 of 35
11/1/05 at 2:00pm
I've been using AVASt for a month now... I love it. I like the screen saver feature, checking the computer everytime the screensaver pops on.
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post #12 of 35
11/1/05 at 10:09pm
The very first thing I do after booting my new Dell computers is to uninstall the bundled NIS 2005 and install AVG.
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post #13 of 35
11/2/05 at 3:39pm
Norton is "heavy", but trust me in the future more and more computing power WILL be used to secure your computer against any imaginable threat.

Current estimation >50% and we can all thank those young boys in their garages wanting to show off....

Except the used power - the biggest lack with Norton is it's "long" once a week automatic upgrade period. F-Secure for example get is virus definitions upgraded much more constantly - it's actually the fastest/most accurate but not too light either.
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post #14 of 35
11/2/05 at 4:28pm
I use Sophos because I can get that for free. I have used Norton before, but had the same conclusions. I also can get McAfee for free thru school, but I like the Sophos just runs in the background. I did leave McAfee firewall running as it came installed just for extra security i guess.
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post #15 of 35
11/3/05 at 3:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Pedro
Norton is "heavy", but trust me in the future more and more computing power WILL be used to secure your computer against any imaginable threat.

Current estimation >50% and we can all thank those young boys in their garages wanting to show off....

Except the used power - the biggest lack with Norton is it's "long" once a week automatic upgrade period. F-Secure for example get is virus definitions upgraded much more constantly - it's actually the fastest/most accurate but not too light either.
Just an update (excuse the pun) to the "long" once-a-week service. NAV 2006 and NIS 2006 (and Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 10) now get automatic daily updates via its LiveUpdate service.

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...05092309590213
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post #16 of 35
11/8/05 at 1:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ASUDevil
I know its already a pretty widely known fact that Norton Antivirus is probably the most bloated antivirus software ever created, but I thought I would shed some light on just how bloated it actually is. Ive had Norton for over a year now and I always thought it was a pretty decent antivirus program. Ive heard numerous people tell me how much resources it uses to run but I always just ignored them because my computer has always run just fine. Just recently my subscription expired and being that I am a poor college student I decided to try a free antivirus program (avast!) because ive heard good things about it. After uninstalling Norton and installing avast! (great program by the way!) I restarted my computer and imediately opened the task manager upon getting to the desktop. My processes dropped from an average of 42 down to about 35. This really didnt suprise me because I knew that Norton uses a lot of processes to run. What did suprise me however is that my time to calculate pi to 2M using SuperPi dropped from 2m12s to 1m53s (specs in sig). Thats Huge! Not only that I noticed that the computer feels quite a bit snappier when opening files and programs and there is now no longer a delay when opening webpages. Just thought I would give my 2 cents on Norton for those who dont know about it being a system hog because I know this program comes loaded on a lot of dells.
If you want to protect your identity and data with a free anti virus software more power. One can buy a computer for 300 dollars, does this mean it can perform better than one bought for a thousand? You get what you pay for....
As other posters have pointed out, security on the computer has and is becoming more demanding and yes that means more active process running.



Norton Antivirus and McAfee are the best anti virus programs out there. Can a free antivirus protect you? sure, can it protect you as well??? NOT

Now if its that important to you to improve your super pi performance more power to you, personally, I prefer to protect my system and add some memory to offset any extra process that may be running.
I have used Norton for years and find it to be a great product, have used McAfee too but updating on McAfee is such a pain that I removed it from my system.
What you are not pointing out about Norton being a "system hog" is that its doing ALOT to protect your system, Im sure Mc Afee also uses alot of resources as it does an equally good job.

There are some out there who concern themselves only with performance, a tweak here, overclock there, turn the fans down god help us if you can actually hear one running which is also amusing since most of the people who obsess about computer noise are the same ones gaming with the speakers up to 120 decibels just as there are some who must squeeze soo much performance out of their computers and overclock them to the brink of frying the dam computer that they tend to lose perspective.......not seeing the forest because a tree is right in their face.
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post #17 of 35
11/8/05 at 2:34am
Thread Starter 
The purpose of this post was not to put down Norton and their antivirus software. It was simply to educate others on my first hand experience with this program so others can make an informed decision of their own. I happen to think that Norton Antivirus offers great protection from viruses and other threats on the internet. After all, I used it for over a year with absolutely no virus problems whatsoever. However, the fact that it bogs down a 3.2 GHz processor with a gig of ram does not exactly appeal to me. If you happen to use your computer for monitoring and storing your financial information a well as mass downloads from unkown sources then it is probably a safe play. For a computer that is used mainly for typing school reports and the occasional trip around the boards, I consider it a bit overkill.

In my opinion the best protection from viruses and other crap on the internet is simply practicing a little common sense. I am usually pretty careful which sites I choose to visit. However, a little reassurance never hurts. I myself found that Norton does not exactly fit my needs or my budget, but if it works for you then "more power" as you say.

As for the SuperPi reference this was simply used as an illustration to get my point across. I do not consider myself a power user like some on this board. Benchmark scores do not really make that big of a difference to me. If they did I would be typing this on something other than a 5150. I do however like my computer to be able to do its job in the most efficient manner possible and this meant trading Norton for something a little less resource hungry.
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post #18 of 35
11/8/05 at 5:56am
I really like Norton. That's what I have on my 600m & I like it. I haven't gotten a single virus.
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post #19 of 35
11/9/05 at 4:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ASUDevil
The purpose of this post was not to put down Norton and their antivirus software. It was simply to educate others on my first hand experience with this program so others can make an informed decision of their own. I happen to think that Norton Antivirus offers great protection from viruses and other threats on the internet. After all, I used it for over a year with absolutely no virus problems whatsoever. However, the fact that it bogs down a 3.2 GHz processor with a gig of ram does not exactly appeal to me. If you happen to use your computer for monitoring and storing your financial information a well as mass downloads from unkown sources then it is probably a safe play. For a computer that is used mainly for typing school reports and the occasional trip around the boards, I consider it a bit overkill.

In my opinion the best protection from viruses and other crap on the internet is simply practicing a little common sense. I am usually pretty careful which sites I choose to visit. However, a little reassurance never hurts. I myself found that Norton does not exactly fit my needs or my budget, but if it works for you then "more power" as you say.

As for the SuperPi reference this was simply used as an illustration to get my point across. I do not consider myself a power user like some on this board. Benchmark scores do not really make that big of a difference to me. If they did I would be typing this on something other than a 5150. I do however like my computer to be able to do its job in the most efficient manner possible and this meant trading Norton for something a little less resource hungry.
In the world of broadband and dsl, it doesnt matter how careful you are about what sites you visit, someone is going to come and visit you...
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post #20 of 35
11/9/05 at 12:02pm
Norton Antivirus is crap. Just something is a commercial product doesn't automagically mean it's better than the freebies. Think about it: McDonald's apple pie vs. grandma's apple pie. All the freebies come from software companies that do provide commercial editions, so it's not like they don't get paid for their work.

Common sense is indeed the best way to keep yourself from having problems. I can use Internet Explorer because I'm smart enough to keep my security settings on reasonable and click "No" when I visit a site that generates a warning from IE saying "Would you like to install "WRECK_UR_PC_HAHA_WTFPWNED by Haxx3l33t? This may cause problems...".
I do not run a full time antivirus. I scan occasionally with freebie online scanners. None of them have ever turned up anything. I'm connected 24/7 to broadband DSL. Whoever is visiting me is evidently not getting very far. I'm not alone in this practice either.
The problem with Norton is not just that it makes a shiny new P-M perform like a 486, it's that it doesn't bother stopping viruses in the interim. Look around these forums, people have posted that complaint. Norton found the virus AFTER it wrecked the system and wouldn't uninstall it.
99% of the time when I get called to a client site and have to clean up a virus, they were running up-to-date (meaning 5 days ago) NAV and it didn't stop it.
You seriously need to get out and try the competition. NAV is junk and there's a huge world of quality AV available.
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