Symantec Campaigns Against Free Antivirus

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I would not use Norton if it were free. Avast and Windows firewall is a hassle free way to keep me safe. I get almost zero viruses. The ones i do get are caught by Avast. I check my processes quite regularly with Hijack this and other tools, as I have to tech lots of machines with viruses and spyware.

*Also the vid doesn't seem to be working XD.
 
I used to use norton... but after having to reformat because a virus kinda destroyed my data, free seemed good, because of how effective the paid was...
Now, no antivirus seems to be working out pretty well.
 
Ok listen, who else thinks that Norton is the biggest load of crap out there? Even if Symantec gives me a free copy, I'd still use the free version of AVG.
 
Another big annoyance with NAV: it saw Remote Admin as a threat, and blocked it (quarantine). We used to use RAdmin 2.1 a lot at work. Configuring NAV to let go of RAdmin was nearly impossible.
 
Norton AV is the biggest piece of crap i've ever seen, hogging resources, hanging itself quite a few times, blocking legit processes and traffic, and letting virus have a free camp at your computer.I miss the days where Norton was actually good (basically early '90 😛 )

I've used solutions by Panda, McAfee, Avast, NOD32, Avira...and the worst of all those is Norton.
 
[citation][nom]ssalim[/nom]I thought they didn't bat an eye over this?Norton = bloatware.Bloatware is not good.I think you are catching n.[/citation]

Quoted for truth.
 
I was going to say, "Darn. They removed the video.", but I guess I am lucky.

The AVG and ZoneAlarm freebies are, with one exception, working just fine for me. That one exceptions is that with the free ZoneAlarm, I cannot open individual ports in the firewall.
 
[citation][nom]geoffs[/nom]Does it prompt you to upgrade to the paid version the every time you login (or the first time you login each day)? That's annoyance ware. It takes my time, therefore, it's not free.[/citation]

AVG doesnt do that at all. Only when your using the trial for the paid version, but the free version does not have those prompts.
 
I, regularly, do not use a virus scanner. I never have. On rare occasions, I have used a virus scanner to do a sanity check, and my sanity was assured. LOL. However, I do not have the usage patterns that others do. I do not download very much, I do not visit sites that could be considered questionable, I know what to look for in incoming e-mail that may contain a virus payload, I run a Linux machine as a firewall and router using a hand-configured IPTables as a firewall, ad nauseum. LOL.

IMHO, it is easy to avoid getting a virus, more so now than when I got my first internet account because most ISPs and e-mail services scan all incoming e-mail. I have never seen the value in paying for virus scanning, and I probably never will.

I know someone who installed "Panda Cloud" (http://www.cloudantivirus.com/) and says its great. It is also free. Norton is just making propaganda because their business model is threatened. My suggestion to them is that they find another market area where they would truly serve their customers instead of bleed them to death.
 
I use norton and in my experience it is M U C H faster than McAfee!
I'd never return to McAfee!

In the past there have been some good programs out there, like NOD32 or something... That seemed good stuff! Unfortunately never got the time to fully test it!
 
Video has been delete
ANyways, the problem with Symantec/Norton is that it's the largest used in the world (as for as business goes, which sorry, is more then just plain computer nerds/powerusers). Since it's the largest used, its the most targeted by viruses. Meaning that if someone were to write a virus they will make sure that it gets through the symantec solution. If you want a good (paying) one, I recommend NOD32
 
Suck it up symantec, people are realizing that they have more choice and are using better computer practices than ever before (not that they can't improve a whole lot more). This should be a light bulb for you to re-vamp you services to compete better. Maybe try making a product that is not so much of a resource hog?
 
Personally I'll never let Symantec or Norton anywhere near my system ever again. You think removing a virus from your computer is difficult? Removing Symantec is WORSE. It was the software that just wouldn't go away! I used the uninstall which, one would think, would uninstall Symantec. Nope! My firewall notified me that Norton was still trying to access the internet from my computer. Contacted Symantec and they directed me to a "special" uninstaller on their page. Downloaded and used it. A week later my firewall came up and told me that once more Norton was trying to access the internet. I had to track down and remove the rest manually, including the intrusions it left in my registry.

This is not the mark of an "honest" guardian. This is the mark of a virus or worm or malware.

Why was I trying to remove this pestilent software? It would arbitrarily consume 80 to 90% of my system resources and keep me from using my computer for the things that I wanted to use it for. It consumed vast quantities of RAM. It used up massive amounts of CPU cycles. It left little for me to work with.

I am now using AVG and I have the complete use of my computer the way that I want to be able to use my computer.

Symantec malware will never be on any of my computers again.
 
[citation][nom]montezuma[/nom]Talk about wasting two minutes of my life. That was one of the dumbest goddamn, pieces of shit "commercials" I have ever seen. I will laugh when Microsoft's "free" anti-virus program outperforms Symantec's shit program.Unlike that dogshit commercial tries to tell people, Microsoft's anti-virus program is not free, since you need Windows to run it. I figure that that is the least Microsoft can do since I gave them $300 for the OS.[/citation]

wow - I'm surprised you've gotten so many up-ratings. Guess it goes to show that people don't really read everything before they rate! LOL

"I gave them $300 for the OS" - really? That much? I don't know ANYONE who paid that much - btw, you can get Win7 Home Premium for $30 if you're a student.

"Microsoft's anti-virus program is not free, since you need Windows to run it." One of the most STUPID statements I've EVER read. Linux isn't free either since you have to pay for a computer to run it. Open Office isn't free since you have to pay for a computer to run it and, if you're running OSX, you have to pay for THAT to run it. . .

Wow - I'm honestly amazed.

The product is FREE (just as AVG, Avira are FREE) in that they don't cost anything. You DO have to have a computer (dinero) and an operating system (windows - dinero) in order to run them, but the COST OF THAT PRODUCT IS FREE.

Make sense to you, does that?
 
as someone who cleans infected computers on a daily basis at work, I can honestly say that I would never recommend norton to anyone. Eset (or maybe Kaspersky) or bust.
 
Unfortunately Nortons products are well known for their system issues, poor performance, and incompatibility with nearly everything. As a PC tech one of the first things we do if a system is behaving badly is remove Nortons, or Symantec software as quite often it is these that are causing the issues.
Part of the standard setup for new computers/laptops etc is - remove Nortons software completely. (Generally its only 30 or 90 day demo anyway) and regain that performance hit, and generally we put on Avast AV before dispatch.
 
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