Antivurus

[George]

I am currently using Norton Anti Virus and it will be running out in a month, and I am not happy with it. The cost every year is high and I keep getting messages that I am not registered and now I get an internal error.

Has anyone any suggestions on a different anti virus program.

TIA :rolleyes:

[Don in Upstate NY]

I'm happy with AVG

[Eli]

I am currently using Norton Anti Virus and it will be running out in a month, and I am not happy with it. The cost every year is high and I keep getting messages that I am not registered and now I get an internal error.

Has anyone any suggestions on a different anti virus program.

TIA

I use the Free AVG AntiVirus program. It's worked fine for me. http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/

Eli

[Terry D EA]

I have been using Trend Micro for the last four years and no problems reasonable renewal. In my opinion it beats Norton all the way around. You can go to my website www.qptps.com and click on the Trend Micro home page for more information. I just upgraded three machines for 49.95 TOTAL.

Terry D.

[Eli]

I have been using Trend Micro for the last four years and no problems reasonable renewal. In my opinion it beats Norton all the way around. You can go to my website www.qptps.com and click on the Trend Micro home page for more information. I just upgraded three machines for 49.95 TOTAL.

Terry D.

Hey!! Terry

Are we all set to go?? Hope all is well.

Eli

[elfling]

For several years we have used StopSign by eAcceleration on 2 stand alone and one laptop. It works well for us.

[Nicole]

I use the Free AVG AntiVirus program. It's worked fine for me. http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/

Eli

My motto is "You get what you pay for".

I have not had good experiences with AVG in the past.

I have also talked to a lot of customers with serious viruses that were using AVG at the time.

Nothing is going to pick up everything, but I wouldn't use AVG for my own computer.

[Eli]

My motto is "You get what you pay for".

I have not had good experiences with AVG in the past.

I have also talked to a lot of customers with serious viruses that were using AVG at the time.

Nothing is going to pick up everything, but I wouldn't use AVG for my own computer.

I've used it for over 2 years i think without any viruses. Maybe I've been lucky, but sounds pretty good to me.

Eli

[lydia33]

I use McAfee. It is on my lap top and desk top. I really like it. I had Norton before and nothing but problems with it. I can use it on 3 computers for one price.

[TAXBILLY]

If you decide to drop Norton (which I did three years ago and now use the free AVG) be sure to check your credit card statements. They continue to automatically charge my card on the anniversary date even though I never gave them permission to do so and I have to call the credit card company each year to have it removed.

taxbilly

[Dan]

I use McAfee Internet Security Suite and really like it. :)

[MAMalody]

If you decide to drop Norton (which I did three years ago and now use the free AVG) be sure to check your credit card statements. They continue to automatically charge my card on the anniversary date even though I never gave them permission to do so and I have to call the credit card company each year to have it removed.

taxbilly

This is why I don't have any automatic renewals. I set up Outlook to remind me (actually twice to ensure I see it) and with Norton, I update it weekly and when I get within 30 days of expiration, the software asks you if you want to renew. Works for me.

[Jack from Ohio]

I used to be a cheerleader for Norton. In the past year, I have found Norton to be way way too intrusive and controlling, as well as clogging up and slowing down computer activities. I have taken a new approach. For Anti-virus I have been using Computer Associates E-trust. Only the anti-virus. I have also put in a hardware firewall and turned off ALL the software firewall and worm protection items.

A simple 4 port wired router ($39.95 and made by many manufacturers) will provide firewall protection, even if you only have one computer. This eliminates the need for software firewalls, which seem to be the biggest headache with Windows Vista.

CA has been offering some really good price deals ($0 after rebate) for some of their products. The computer I use as my main computer at my home office had CA E-trust on it from the manufacturer, and in over 2 years, I have not hand any issues with viruses, nor any problem with it clogging up the system.

[kcjenkins]

Just for what it may be worth......As many of you know, two of my three sons make their living as computer network engineers. They rank AVG higher than McAffee, which they rank lowest. Norton is somewhat better, but Trend Micro is top of the list with both of them. Since some of their work comes from clearing up problems caused by people who did not bother with security software, or who did not use it properly, they have experience with them all. Last time I asked, they were still rating Trend Micro best.

They do say, if you have good hardware protection, as everyone who uses their computer in their business SHOULD HAVE, AVG is probably all you really need. But frankly, on a business computer, I do not think price should be an issue. Believe me, even ONE DAY of downtime would pay for it many times over.

[GeneInAlabama]

CA has been offering some really good price deals ($0 after rebate) for some of their products.

Can't get much better than that, unless they start paying you to use their product.

[johnmac]

I to used to be a Norton cheerleader, but ever since he sold out to Symantec the product has gone downhil, IMHO. I also agree with Nicole about AVG or any of the other free viral programs. I have been using Trend Micro for two years now with no problems,tho I am paranoid as I check for updates daily and also run daily scans. Jack makes a VERY important point regarding hardware firewall.

johnmac

[Mel in Hawaii]

I personally believe that EVERYONE should have a hardware firewall in place, even if it's just the cheapo 'line sharing' device. They stop the majority of most intrusions off the net. I HATE Norton, espeically combined with their firewall product.

As for the rating of software, I find that every AV software manufacturer out there will miss SOMETHING, the more popular ones are even targeted by the hackers. The problem with the freebie ones is that they don't update frequently and can be slow to respond to outbreaks. But, if you have a hardware firewall in place and do not share files with other people that much, and don't SURF the web, then that freebie may be all you really need. Business desktops should not be randomly surfing the web, just going to a select few trusted sites like the IRS, state agencies and such, and as such won't experience the same problems as a home gaming computer would.

As for McAfee, I think they have too many nagging issues, meaning they 'pop up' too many windows when doing normal everyday activities.

[Terry D EA]

Hey!! Terry

Are we all set to go?? Hope all is well.

Eli

Eli,

All is going pretty good. If ATX can get the W-2 import problems fixed then I will say all is well and then I will be set to go except for those darned checks I am waiting on from HSBC. Have a great tax season and may God Bless you and your family.

Terry D.

[MAMalody]

I personally believe that EVERYONE should have a hardware firewall in place, even if it's just the cheapo 'line sharing' device. They stop the majority of most intrusions off the net.

I am kind of slow in this area, among others. Can you please clarify what you are talking about and how I might go about what you are talking about. My setup is very simple. A wireless received to a wireless router to my laptop. I am not aware that you can install a firewall in my router (Netgear).

Sorry for the "dumb" question.

[Karen Lee]

I use to have Norton and had no problems until I decided not to renew and go with AVG. Norton/Symantec then started really messing with my computer. Had to take it to the shop and when they finally tracked all the Norton and Symantec files and uninstalled/deleted them all quirky stuff stopped. AVG automatically updates daily and starts a scan in the background. I have not realized any "slow downs" when scanning either. Window will pop up that scanning is complete and you can check the test results. Captured a couple viruses or worms or trojan horses over the last few years before any damage was caused.

I am blessed with renting office space from the local "computer store" which is next door. I also do payroll and state taxes for them so I do have some priority with them if they need my services. Blackmail extortion whatever works for me.

Karen Lee

[joanmcq]

This is why I don't have any automatic renewals. I set up Outlook to remind me (actually twice to ensure I see it) and with Norton, I update it weekly and when I get within 30 days of expiration, the software asks you if you want to renew. Works for me.

They 'automatically' signed me up for automatic renewals. I got the email that they were renewing me the day they did it (and I hadnt checked my email that day). I was planning on switching to McAfee because Norton slowed down my system too much last year. When I went in to check, I disarmed the auto renewal on my account. But I didn't put it there. Oh well, will change next year.

[Mel in Hawaii]

I am kind of slow in this area, among others. Can you please clarify what you are talking about and how I might go about what you are talking about. My setup is very simple. A wireless received to a wireless router to my laptop. I am not aware that you can install a firewall in my router (Netgear).

Sorry for the "dumb" question.

'a wireless received to a wireless router to my laptop'.

I will interpet this to mean you have some broadband internet provider (doubting that it's wireless but it could be in some areas of the country) that is connected to a netgear wireless router and your computer gets it's connection wirelessly via that router. If we look at your Netgear wireless router, it most likely (as it's the default) takes a single internet IP address on the public internet and then 'shares' this IP address with up to 253 (not 256 btw) computers in your office via wireless or even wired connections. This 'sharing' is called NAT or Network Address Translation which can further be described as a 'simple' firewall. Simple in that the router isn't really processing any rules or filtering anything intentionally. It just matches requests from inside the network with responses from external sources and routes them correspondingly. If your computer hasn't made a request from XYZ computer on the internet and XYZ attempts to contact your computer, it drops the packet because it doesn't know what computer it is actually trying to contact since the port number the request is coming in on hasn't been set in it's lookup table as coming from any internal computers. So, you have a simple firewall protecting your network, I applaud your intelligent decision considering your statement that you are slow in this area. Maybe you aren't as slow as you say you are and are just being modest. *grin*

Of course, you can do fancier stuff by going into the configuration, making static assignments, special rules, etc, but most users are not doing so as they are taking the unit out of the box and just plugging it in and possibly doing some MINOR setup such as assigning a network name (but most just have networks called NETGEAR or other default names based on their routers). Some models are fancier than others, but what I was recommending was the simple 'Internet Sharing Device'/NAT/router as a minimum. Do you need a Cisco PIX firewall? Not really unless you have a reason for it. I have one, and it's nice to use for things like private tunneling over the internet, loading up VOIP, blocking blacklisted sites and my favorite is blocking those 207net advertising people.

On the other hand, if what you are calling your router is actually just a netgear HUB or SWITCH, the above doesn't apply. But the fact that you have a box at all, leads me to believe it is actually a router/NAT box.

[MAMalody]

No, "dumb" is the right word. Thanks for the input. I appreciate it.