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Norton or McAfee - Which is better antivirus program?

T

TUGfan

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I would appreciate opinions from those who know.....

Which is considered the better antivirus program - Norton or McAfee????
Or will they provide the same degree of safety for our PC and laptop???

We have recently changed to DSL from dial-up and need to decide which antivirus program to download.

Thanks for your thoughts!!!
 
Or you could buy either the Eset Nod32 antivirus or their comprehensive Smart Security product
http://www.eset.com/
 
Norton isn't very good anymore

TUGfan said:
I would appreciate opinions from those who know.....

Which is considered the better antivirus program - Norton or McAfee????
Or will they provide the same degree of safety for our PC and laptop???

We have recently changed to DSL from dial-up and need to decide which antivirus program to download.

Thanks for your thoughts!!!
Click to expand...

Neither! They are both living off old reputations of better days and are practically ineffective now for a number of reasons.

If you want to use a paid program look at Trend Micro Internet Security or Bitdefender. For free ones, that don't have as many add ons for spyware / malware as the paid versions, Avast!, AVG and Avira all have good reputations.
 
I use Avast, another anti-virus freebie when used at home. No issues with the program.
 
Neither - they are both bloated and troublesome in my past experience.

I now use Kaspersky. Not free, but frequently available at a good discount on line. I just got the 2010 Internet Security 3 user pack from costco online for about $20.
 
Thanks so much for all the info!

TUG Lounge is GREAT!!!!
 
dougef said:
Neither - they are both bloated and troublesome in my past experience.

I now use Kaspersky. Not free, but frequently available at a good discount on line. I just got the 2010 Internet Security 3 user pack from costco online for about $20.
Click to expand...

My husband downloaded Kaspersky on my computer for me, to run as my virus program. After about 3 weeks I removed it. It slowed my already old, slow system down to a snails pace. I also found it to be very cumbersome in managing incoming mail. In short I hated it (though it might be a superior program if you have a fast enough processor to handle it).

I don't have an antivirus program now. Macs don't need them. :D (sorry, couldn't resist!)
 
I use Microsoft Security Essentials. It is free and is rated the BEST from some magazines and other sources. IMO what is best can change quickly no matter what brand you use. Free and good = Great as far as I am concerned. Their Virus library is updated all the time.
 
You need to check the current reviews for anti-virus software. Opinions based on past performance don't mean much as they change all the time. Norton 2009 has received excellent reviews on several sites. BitDefiender has been downgraded. I was an avid supporter and user of BitDefender that topped the reviews for a few years. Now it has slipped. Norton, which used to be terrible is now highly rated because they have stripped out the bad things about it.

Do a search for "Antivirus Software reviews" and check then out. Also do a search for "Antivirus Software prices" as the prices can vary a great deal.
 
I've been using Vipre from sunbeltsoftware.com on some computers at home, as well as our company network. I must say, I'm pretty impressed. You may want to check it out.

Dave
 
I dumped Norton 360 a year or more back because it was causing more problems than it was solving. I don't remember all of the issues but I received a refund for the purchase price after lodging a number of complaints about the program. I tried McAfee since Comcast was offering it free to their customers. I dumped it too, mainly because ti slowed the system down so much that it was very annoying. I had been using the free AVG antivirus program until I bought a new computer last month. AVG didn't have the slowdown issues but it let through at least one virus that infected the computer to the point that I had to use some special virus removal software to clear things up.

The new computer came with a 60 day free trial of Norton Internet Security suite. So far it seems to work fine and I haven't noticed any speed issues. Of course the new computer is much more responsive than the 6 year old one that it replaced. I probably wouldn't know if it was running slower than it would without Norton since I don't have any equivalent comparison.

I received a notice from Comcast this week that they are switching from McAfee to Norton. Since I have a Comcast account and can get it free I will probably stick with Norton for now. If it becomes problematic then I'll look at switching to something else.
 
I like Norton. I have used McAfee in the past. They are equally as good.

Word of advice to freeware virus programs. Not many large enterprises (government or private sector) use free products. It's because there are too many risks with freeware. You can get away with it on your home PC, but when you manage a network of thousands, risk mitigation is everything. They may not charge you a fee, but they are making money off you, usually with some kind of directed advertising or collecting and selling your personal information that is stored on your PC, e.g., cookies of web sites you visit.

These are the good ones. The bad ones spread adware, viruses, spybots, keyboard loggers, etc. Not all freeware is bad, but I personally would not go near it.
 
rosebud5 said:
I like Norton. I have used McAfee in the past. They are equally as good...
Click to expand...

Many will say they are equally as bad. Both are living on their reputations from the last decade.

Try to remove Norton. It's impossible!
 
If you know what makes a computer tick, and how viruses are spread, no virus software is necessary.

Most people don't seem to know the difference between a virus, a trojan and spyware, anyway. People are also more likely to sabotage their own computer by inadvertently messing with the registry or installing buggy software that messes with the registry. (Or my favorite way to ruin a computer -- install 500 programs, all of which place applets in the system tray which load on start-up.)

People who install anti-virus software tend to be lulled into a false sense of security. Then comes the inevitable, "A virus!!!!! How did this happen?!?!!? I have McAfee, Norton AND Kaspersky all running simultaneously!!!!!!"

There's no substitute for knowing how to avoid malicious software in the first place. I'm probably the only person here who feels this way. But as the saying goes. "Give a man A/V software, and he's protected for a few minutes. Teach a man why online porn/gambling/piracy sites are bad, and he's protected for the rest of his life."


 
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ScoopLV said:
If you know what makes a computer tick, and how viruses are spread, no virus software is necessary.

Most people don't seem to know the difference between a virus, a trojan and spyware, anyway. People are also more likely to sabotage their own computer by inadvertently messing with the registry or installing buggy software that messes with the registry. (Or my favorite way to ruin a computer -- install 500 programs, all of which place applets in the system tray which load on start-up.)

People who install anti-virus software tend to be lulled into a false sense of security. Then comes the inevitable, "A virus!!!!! How did this happen?!?!!? I have McAfee, Norton AND Kaspersky all running simultaneously!!!!!!"

There's no substitute for knowing how to avoid malicious software in the first place. I'm probably the only person here who feels this way. But as the saying goes. "Give a man A/V software, and he's protected for a few minutes. Teach a man why online porn/gambling/piracy sites are bad, and he's protected for the rest of his life."
Click to expand...

I not only know what makes a computer tick, but I designed computer hardware and Operating systems.

Much of what you say is true. However, one should have a good Security suite because no matter how good you are, you cannot protect against all invasions.
 
It's better than nothing

John Cummings said:
I not only know what makes a computer tick, but I designed computer hardware and Operating systems.

Much of what you say is true. However, one should have a good Security suite because no matter how good you are, you cannot protect against all invasions.
Click to expand...

Agree 100% with the need for an anti-virus as, at the very least, a back up to your best efforts. Still disagree with the Norton recommendation as I see too many of the latest (2010) versions coming in with infections & overall slow response that I don't see on PC's not running Norton or McAfee. While (hopefully) Norton has improved over the seriously flawed vesions of 2007-2009 it would still not be one I'd recommend over others today. YMMV.
 
timeos2 said:
Agree 100% with the need for an anti-virus as, at the very least, a back up to your best efforts. Still disagree with the Norton recommendation as I see too many of the latest (2010) versions coming in with infections & overall slow response that I don't see on PC's not running Norton or McAfee. While (hopefully) Norton has improved over the seriously flawed vesions of 2007-2009 it would still not be one I'd recommend over others today. YMMV.
Click to expand...

I am NOT recommending Norton. I was only saying that it apparently has addressed many of the previous complaints and now gets pretty good reviews. I had Norton a few years ago and got rid of it. I will only recommend products that I have personal experience with.
 
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