Computer Virus Protection . . . . (DEFINITLY N F)

[bigfish1965]

I've seen conflicts when people used the simple Add/remove with Norton and not the extra removal tool on a few different other apps. I had some old registry issue from Norton messing up my newer Kaspersky (which is my favourite for those who wish to purchase, but conflicts with ZoneAlarm..so its a tradeoff). I used the tool Terry showed..or was it Roy..i forget..anyway it got rid of enough of Norton's crap that everything else worked. This was on XP SP1..I don't know if SP2 had changes that improved this issue or not.

I'll see if I can find some free server bandwidth somewhere and make a ZIP file for some free app's that you may want.

I am now running AVG and Zone Alarm.

[musky_man]

Download Avast - it is free and an excellent A/V software.

 

Go to:

 

http://www.filehippo.com/download_avast_antivirus/

 

I gave up on Norton and I am so glad I did - complete waste of $.

 

Never had a problem with Avast.

 

Mark

[fisherguy]

Guess it's late to chime in, used free version AVG with free version Zonealarm for a couple of years fault free. Thought I was imagining bogging with Norton way back when, thanks for the confirming that.

[Canuck2fan]

I look after about 20 machines for friends and family.... One thing I absolutely do NOT UNDER any circumstances do though is help anyone who uses norton or Mcrappy (which is more insidious in lots of way than norton)

 

All those machines have AVG free and Zonealarm which allows me to spend my spare time fishing not stuggle with computers that are slow bloated and not working worth a crap....

 

This statement while a bit dated is still as true as ever. How to you convert a Pentium III to a 286? answer Install Norton......

Edited January 6, 2008 by Canuck2fan

[douG]

My new pc, built by my daughter's ubergeek friend has Avast installed.

 

Nice machine, btw, with 1.5Mb/s on sympatico, 2 G of ram and a 400 GB hard drive.

[Bernie]

Have 5 computers to maintain. 3 at home, 1 at the cottage and 1 at work. Been running AVG for about 5 years. 3 of them now are switched to Avast anti-virus. I find Avast is easier to look after and you don't need to manually update the spyware portion of it. I also think it runs a little faster. By the way, I haven't had any virus problems since I switched from Norton years ago. I occasionally use Limewire too so it works well. Mcafee sucks, it's as bad as Norton we used to use it at our business.

 

Crapcleaner is a neat little downloadable program too. Run it about once a month to keep things cleaned up. You need to be a little cautious of what you clean but it will run a backup if you clean something off you shouldn't have.

[Paulus]

Download Avast - it is free and an excellent A/V software.

 

Go to:

 

http://www.filehippo.com/download_avast_antivirus/

 

I gave up on Norton and I am so glad I did - complete waste of $.

 

Never had a problem with Avast.

 

Mark

 

Very true. I found Avast at download.com & I have to say that it's the easiest, most effective anti-virus solution I've used so far. I've had lots of different versions of Norton; it always works great at first, but as you install programs over the months and years, it really bogs you down. In fact a few email viruses got past Norton when I had it, which was a real pain. But I've had no such issues with Avast. I also use Spybot for spyware.

 

Using the Windows uninstall feature is generally good enough to get rid of most of the Norton components that start on your system. Even if there are a few megabytes of program left, it is usually inoperative & won't affect the speed of your system, especially if you use Disk Defrag (start-->all programs-->accessories-->system tools) regularly (i.e. min once a month). This is how I've run all my systems that had Norton software, and I've had no problems.

 

Another extremely simple solution, if you don't mind fidgeting with the guts of your computer (or learning how... it's deceptively simple) is to install a new hard drive (or have one installed) without Norton. Generally you can set your existing drive as a slave (or secondary drive) and still have access to all your previous downloads, files, etc... I did this when I ran out of space on my original drive, and I'll do it again when my current drive gets too full. This usually costs less than 100$ for hardware & 0 labour if you do it yourself

 

p.-

[Stoty]

Believe it or not, you DONT need any anti-virus software on your comptuer.

The ONLY way to get a virus is if you (or the user) actually click on something you shouldnt.

If you are a careful user and dont open/click anything that you arent sure of the source, then anti-virus software is a waste of money for you.

I am a Web Developer / Computer Technician, and have NEVER run anti-virus on any of my machines, and have never had a virus.

I hope this will save some people some money in the future.

 

P.S - Norton causes more problems then it fixes! Def get rid of Norton.

[Terry]

Stoty, I hope people don't take your advise

 

most people do not understand computers or viruses

if the see an attachment and it has a friends email address they think it's safe

 

or they just don't know, and if they use chat programs even more problems

and kids how do you tell kids not to open/ look or click on things

there are websites that just going to the site puts a worm in your computer........

 

no people use a antivirus program on your puter unless you are a Web Developer / Computer Technician

[Stoty]

Cant say I have heard of a website that puts a worm on your computer just by visiting it.

Maybe it would put a cookie in there, but not a worm.

 

All I was saying is that unless you actually do something, you wont just get a virus.

So anti-virus isnt "needed", its just an extra measure of security in case someone does something they shouldnt.

[Terry]

Virus experts warn of 'Google poisoning'

Posted: Monday, December 3 at 12:49 pm CT by Bob Sullivan

 

You might want to take an extra half-second the next time you click on search engine results to make sure you know where you're going. Computer criminals have refined a sinister technique for tricking Web surfers into clicking on infected Web pages, turning search engines like Google into unwitting partners.

 

It's known as “Google poisoning,” because Google is the biggest target, but it can impact any search engine. Criminals construct booby-trapped Web pages, then dupe search engines into giving them high rankings.

[BITEME]

BUY AN APPLE

[Stoty]

Infected - as in cookies with spyware on them. Not worms.

 

But this is getting off topic. I am not here to argue over surfing habits.

Again, all I am saying is that you dont HAVE to have anti-virus software. Just be careful as to what you are opening.

[ch312]

people still pay for programs?

 

i have owned a computer with the internet for around 8 years. i have never used anti virus crap that slows down performance and i have had 1 virus in those 8 years a few years ago. but then again i like my computer super fast and cant stand anything that slows it down...

Edited January 7, 2008 by ch312

[Canuck2fan]

Cant say I have heard of a website that puts a worm on your computer just by visiting it.

Maybe it would put a cookie in there, but not a worm.

 

All I was saying is that unless you actually do something, you wont just get a virus.

So anti-virus isnt "needed", its just an extra measure of security in case someone does something they shouldnt.

 

WRONG you can get a virus or worm without any action on your part.... If you doubt that just do a fresh install of Windows XP without SP1 or a firewall hook up ANY high speed connection. YOU WILL get the sauber worm or a variation in under 20 seconds without clicking on anything.... It was only the SP1 patch that prevented that from happening or having a firewall installed with XP.... We did some extensive testing and the longest it took for the worm to infect a machine was 15 seconds EVERYTIME.

 

If it could happen once like it did in that case what is to stop some cretin from coming up with another worm like that one?

 

Also if you don't run anti virus how do you know you don't have a virus.......?

 

Don't bother replying as it is obvious you march to your own drummer.

Edited January 7, 2008 by Canuck2fan

[Canuck2fan]

ch312- I wish most people who did pay for Norton didn't but the hype they put out to the people not in the know seems to convince many to use it.

Edited January 7, 2008 by Canuck2fan

[Stoty]

The standard for the past couple years is an SP2 recovery disc comes with your new machine.

Also, XP's firewall is turned on by default.

But I am sure you already knew that, by the way your talking.

 

I know a thing or two about computers. so I think I would know if my machines are infected or not.

 

March to my own drummer? LOL

I was simply trying to save people some money who think they HAVE to have anti-virus software installed.

 

Thanks for the 2 cents though.

[daisy_girl58]

As some of you know my husband owns his own computer business, when we wipe the hard drive and put fresh installation we use AVG free version....Suppliers send us test trials for virus protection, to see how they work, the only other one comparable is Anti-Vir, but we always go back to AVG (grisoft)....

 

Lorissa

[cork soaker]

You want anti virus protection, heres a hint. Don't look at internet pornography and you'll be just fine, A/V protection or not.