Question About Antivirus Software For 2015

Norton changed the name, nothing else. The PC Mag testing puts it in the top 5, see link attached.

Here are some ways to save money on AV programs:

1. Many internet providers supply customers with AV for free. Check to see if yours does.

2. There are multiuser packages. Share the cost with a few friends and it gets cheap. For instance, Newegg shows a 3 user, 2 year license for Bit Defender (also Top 5) is $50. That's just over $8 per user per year. The Norton 3 user package is $70, or just over $20 per year.

Or, you can use one of the free versions. See the article for recommendations.

edit to correct typo

Here is a link that might be useful: PC Mag Test results AV sytems

This post was edited by snidely on Sat, Oct 25, 14 at 17:43

Thank you Snidely for your information I really appreciate it.

I still have Norton AV on all of my computers until January and that is why I am asking now, so that when that time comes I will know what I want. Again Thank you! "Smiles"

Vipre has been around seemingly forever but never really gained celebrity status.

No idea why that should be so, perhaps because there is no free version?

I just put Norton Security (for 5 devices) on. Got it for $59 download on their site. Now see it for $49. There will be reduced prices, check Staples, etc. I've always had Norton of some form on my computers, with no complaints. My subscription was up, so continued with their product.

And an article rating the Free antivirus programs, by the same site, PCMag, is here :
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2c2817%2c2400355%2c00.asp

Actually the go-to site for independent tests of antivirus products is av-comparatives.org

http://www.av-comparatives.org/summary-reports/

For some odd reason, out of 22 products tested, Symantec Norton is not included in the summary report.

But if you look on pg. 6 of the latest summary report, you can see that some of the free versions rate about as well as the pay ones, specifically Avast & Avira.

Keep in mind that a lot of the latest and most sophisticated viri and malware are not picked up by antivirus programs, so the best practice is to be smart about what you click on.

This post was edited by kbarb on Sun, Oct 26, 14 at 2:37

Hi owbist,

When I started doing a search on the Antiviruses that was the first one that popped up (Vipre). I had never heard of them before now. Vipre was rated higher than all of the other Antivirus programs (Pay) out there. I noticed that they didn't offer a free version but the price of it was $39.99 on sale for $29.99. That sends a red flag for me as to how can they maintain it for that cheap of a price when the others are charging more. That's not to say that it is a bad product because of that but like you said it "never really gained celebrity status." It leaves a big ??? in my mind.

Hi del5,

How was the set up for Norton that you just installed? Any Problems? I saw the prices online for that one too.

Hi kbarb,

" the best practice is to be smart about what you click on."

You are absolutely right about that, and I try to make a point of staying away from those sites that are questionable.
I have Malware Bytes and Spybot Search and Destroy for the Malware etc. I've heard of AVG and AVAST but haven't heard of Avira. Is Avira a new one?

Avira has also been around for years, I have used it for the best part of a tidy while now and seem to have no infections. This is the one with the bright red umbrella. Install was very easy. The only down side (if you consider them trying to encourage you to buy) is a small pop up in the lower right corner perhaps every second day or so, not really any kind of threat to my peace of mind.

How do you decide that a site is questionable. I go where I want to go and the only problem I have had is with download sites like softonic and that only happened once.

I pay for nothing I can get better for FREE on all 4 of my PC's and have only used Free software for about 15 yrs. now and no probs. I use AVG Free Basic, Malewarebytes Free and they are both awesome! and I also get my downloads at CNET for many yrs. again no problems. Always Decline any add on's with any downloads you are doing and all will be okay! and P.S. always uninstall any paid for versions like Norton before downloading a Free one, especially Norton (it will give you big problems if you don't) it likes to take over your PC.

This post was edited by Aputernut on Sun, Oct 26, 14 at 11:21

Avira's a German company and they've been around for years.
They usually do pretty well in the ratings.
The historical downside is that once a day (usually) the AV program would popup a window to entice you to buy the Pay product. But they discontinued that annoyance last year.
I used to use it, but then switched to Avast.

In picking an AV product, it's not just about detection but also about use of resources (memory and cpu use) and speed in scanning - so you have to turn to the test results for that.
And other things . . . . does it scan your email, and do you need that feature, etc.

For safe surfing on the internet, a popular solution is the crowd sourced (i.e. user based) "Web of Trust" (WOT) which you install as a browser add-on, and then it will warn you if a site is considered by users to be unsafe.
Probably it works well enough, but I've noticed that users have sometimes marked down sites because they *sound* sketchy, not because they actually are. In general though, for most users it probably does the job.

https://www.mywot.com/

Some AV products, Google, and others will attempt to block access to unsafe sites.

There are other things to be careful about . . . . e.g., opening attachments that come in emails apparently sent from friends, when what's really happened is that someone hacked their acct., harvested all their contacts, and is now sending out malware as an innocuous looking attachment.

Using torrent and file sharing sites is very risky as well.

This post was edited by kbarb on Sun, Oct 26, 14 at 11:29

if you run a number of computers and your regular technical support is some inconvenient distance away, you might find this Fixmestick antivirus scanning deal on Amazon helpful. You still require something like Windows Defender or some other free AV protection day to day.
It runs Vipre as one of its detection tools.
Their technical support is reported to be very much on the patient and friendly side as well, which is what I require!

Here is a link that might be useful: Fixmestick 5 computer 2 year term.

A'nut, you've used only free programs for 15 years. Yet you're ready to comment about Norton?

I've used Norton on my primary PCs for maybe the past 7-8 years, but I've used and been exposed to most all the others, including the popular free alternatives. Norton has probably the lightest touch of all I've experienced, it waits until the PC is idle before performing any tasks. It stops if a user session begins, and never does anything to delay boot-up. It blocks potentially harmful website connections or downloads and also holds up downloadable executable files until it's checked against its reputation database. All in all, it's very comprehensive, but other products are too.

kbarb, I'm wondering if the omission of Norton from that article was the result of Symantec's request, if the test results were unfavorable in some way. That happens sometimes.

Hmm, FixMeStick - never heard of that one before.

Of note :
"Not a replacement for anti-virus software which protects PCs from infections, the FixMeStick is for removing infections that got past the anti-virus."

About Norton . . . . there are various mentions on av-comparatives.org that Symantec had elected not to participate, although it's not stated as the general reason it's not included so it's a bit of a mystery.

I think Aputernut's main point there was to remove any existing AV program before installing another.

However, despite that it may work well for some users, it has a reputation in the IT fixit world as being (historically) heavy on resources, and very difficult to remove. It even requires a separate special tool to remove it completely.
On the other hand, since a lot of people use it, it probably generates more complaints just by the raw numbers.
Your mileage may vary.

The problem is, once a program gets a reputation, many people may move away from it and continue to stick with their last impression of it. It's hard to keep up with every iteration of a program.
Case in point . . . Internet Explorer, which really lagged for a very long time, but now has somewhat caught up with the competition. Nevertheless, it's left such a bad impression a lot of people won't touch it, myself included.

This post was edited by kbarb on Sun, Oct 26, 14 at 11:55

Norton does have a Uninstaller tool. I've used it many times without issue when transferring a license from an old machine to its new replacement. I've found that all trace of Norton gets successfully removed, and another AV could be installed.

There's nothing sinister about it. Many software packages (perhaps most?) come with uninstall executables. You probably know that when doing an uninstall from the Control Panel, Windows will often call the provider supplied tool to do the work.

>>" You probably know that when doing an uninstall from the Control Panel, Windows will often call the provider supplied tool to do the work"

Well, it's not quite like that.
The Norton Uninstall tool was made available because the regular uninstaller created with the original install - didn't always work.

This post was edited by kbarb on Sun, Oct 26, 14 at 15:32

I used Symantec for years and then Norton. Every year I would hunt around for the best discounted deal or rebate. Finally I just got tired of it all and decided to try a free antivirus. I've been using the basic free version of Avast for at least 4 years, and I'll never go back to paying for antivirus. I find Avast to be superior to my experience with the paid antivirus, and several computers that once had Norton on them immediately began to run much faster after I uninstalled Norton (with the uninstaller tool) and replaced it with Avast. I once thought I needed to pay for antivirus because it was so important and, after all, how good could something be that was free? Now I know...very good.

In response when asked I promote the use of a dedicated removal tool regardless of brand.

Just yesterday I removed Symantec 360 from a local governmental HP W7 laptop as 360 was found not to be compatible with mandatory state downloads and installations. (Don't have a clue why and it was not my business to ask.) As usual the use of the removal tool was quick and easy.

As a protocol I ran CCLeaner's registry tool as a follow-up. It found two orphaned registry entries which were removed. One or two findings seem to be the norm.

DA

thirdfrt - it installed just fine and it automatically removed the old Norton Internet Security. I put it on 2 devices so far, followed the instructions they give. I have free AVG on my tablet, and am leaving it on for now, instead of using Norton.

I hate Norton, used it years ago. Slowed down the machines, hogged every process. Got rid of it.

For at least 6+ years, I haven't paid for AV on 5 computers. We had used AVG for years until they started messing with their installs. We now use Avast with no problems. I can't remember the last time I got a virus...a very long time ago. I don't understand why anyone would pay for one especially when you have multiple computers.

Jane

From my earlier post, "As a protocol I ran CCLeaner's registry tool as a follow-up. It found two orphaned registry entries which were removed. One or two findings seem to be the norm."

Well, the norm has changed.

Last night I had an owner of a newer desktop wanting 2014 AVG Free removed, and replaced with 2015 AVG Free. He didn't want to wait for the upgrade to come through the program update utility.

I used the current AVG removal tool and things went as expected. As previously reported, I ran CCleaner's registry tool as a follow up protocol. The tool located 102 orphaned AVG entries. I saved them in a backup, and installed 2015 AVG free from download. Everything is working fine, and the backup will be deleted in a week.

DA

Have used Norton security since windows 98 and never had a problem. Pay one price and use it on 3 computers here. Have never had it let anything in and a few times saved me from getting on legit websites I visit that got hacked with spyware so I stick with it. Mary