For Or Against Norton Internet Security 2009

[wonderent]

I will appreciate it so much if someone has time to help me.

I have used Norton security software since the mid 90's, I believe. At this time, I'm running Norton Internet Security 2005 and the subscription has 19 days left. After listening to Leo in recent months, I've decided maybe I should make a change. He seems to be so against Norton -- says it will keep you from doing certain things.

So far, I have never had a problem "doing things" but maybe it's because I'm still running the 2005 version. I also saw on CNET that their editors rated the latest Norton Internet Security 2009 pretty high, saying that it was improved over other recent versions.

Was wondering what the thoughts were on this board these days.

My additional concern ...if everyone thinks Norton is bad... is how will I know for sure that I have completely uninstalled Norton? I know to go to the Add-Remove programs first, but am aware that it is difficult to completely uninstall. If it is out of the Add Remove programs list, does that mean it is completely gone?

I will really be thankful for some advice.

nancy

[TheTerrorist_75]

Seeing as you have had good luck with it in the past and from reading CNET's review I would say go for it. They seemed to have worked out a lot of the past issues except for the lousy support.

[wonderent]

Terrorist, I was so glad to see that you had given me a comment. I assume this means you respect CNET's reviews?

I feel like you are probably guessing correctly about me. If I thought it was okay, I would probably feel the most comfortable just staying with Norton. Thanks.

[sultan_emerr]

Seeing as you have had good luck with it in the past and from reading CNET's review I would say go for it. They seemed to have worked out a lot of the past issues except for the lousy support.

What is your opinion of Panda?

[TheTerrorist_75]

Seeing as you have had good luck with it in the past and from reading CNET's review I would say go for it. They seemed to have worked out a lot of the past issues except for the lousy support.

What is your opinion of Panda?

Panda is still doing great on my PCs. I am getting ready to renew and will go with Panda Internet Security 2009. For my customers that want free programs I have been installing AntiVir and MBAM.

[bar5]

Seeing as you have had good luck with it in the past and from reading CNET's review I would say go for it. They seemed to have worked out a lot of the past issues except for the lousy support.

What is your opinion of Panda?

Panda is still doing great on my PCs. I am getting ready to renew and will go with Panda Internet Security 2009. For my customers that want free programs I have been installing AntiVir and MBAM.

What do you think of ESET Smart Security? Is Panda Internet Security user friendly? Some of these Internet Security Suites are confusing to use, is why I'm asking.

I'm still on Dial-Up (No other choice) and do not need anything that will slow down my computer.

Barb

[TheTerrorist_75]

What do you think of ESET Smart Security? Is Panda Internet Security user friendly? Some of these Internet Security Suites are confusing to use, is why I'm asking.

I'm still on Dial-Up (No other choice) and do not need anything that will slow down my computer.

Barb

I am still running an old system with a 2 GHz, single core CPU and 768 MB of memory. Panda doesn't slow me down. I don't believe many users are in need of a security suite. I think AntiVir and Comodo are adequate for anti-virus and firewall programs. MBAM is great to scan with just to assure yourself that nothing got through.

[bar5]

Thanks TT

[Pete_C]

From what I have heard; Norton totally reworked the engine in AV 2009 and it is not only more effective but far less demanding.

I haven't tried it myself but from what I hear it is a vast improvement in technology.

Not scanning files which have not changed or been accessed since the last scan, not enabling features for software you do not need or use

[wonderent]

Pete, thanks for adding to this thread. You sound fairly positive, so I think I'll go for it. I prefer to have the software off the shelf as opposed to downloading it in case something goes wrong, so this will be good.

[irregularjoe]

Not sure about the latest release, but Norton in the past has always meant BLOATWARE. Huge, fat, cpu intensive, SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW.

Even if they finally did fix it, why reward them? There is so much freeware that is better.

Just my opinion.

[Pete_C]

The new Norton 2009 versions are far superior to previous versions in terms of resource usage and system load.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2330018,00.asp

http://reviews.cnet.com/internet-security-...7-33246586.html

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=2...+internet+secur

http://internet-security-suite-review.toptenreviews.com/

Places Panda tenth out of the ten reviewed

I would put Norton, Kaspersky, and Bit Defender as the top three choices; valuing antivirus , anti trojan , and anti spyware capabilities as most important.

If you are going for just antivirus then panda does not even make the top ten

http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

http://www.pcworld.com/article/118792/inte...s_face_off.html

http://www.firewallguide.com/suites.htm

Lists norton as best with Kaspersky and zone alarm also recommended

And they list several other comparative reviews

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,23334...5079TX1K0000992

Well Panda outperforms Webroot and F-Secure in their tests, but is outperformed by just about everything else

Again Norton is a leader of the pack with Kaspersky, Trend, Bitdefender , and even Zone Alarm outperforming Panda

http://av-test.org/

http://www.virusbtn.com/news/2008/09_02

Breaks things down and lists products you may not even have heard of.

WOW Avast, which is free

Product malware on demand adware / spyware on demand false positives scan speed proactive detection response times malware on demand adware / spyware on demand

Avast! (Alwil) ++ ++ + + o o 99.3% 98.3%

Panda which you recommend

Panda 2009 o + + + ++ + 91.8% 95.6%

So your wonder product is misses almost ten percent of all malware, and five percent of the spyware and adware while free avast gets 99.3% of all malware, and misses a mere 1.7% of the adware .

Norton 2009 (Symantec) ++ + ++ ++ + ++ 98.7% 95.4%

We could go on and on; but the facts are there.

Avast if you want free and Norton, Zone Alarm, or Kaspersky if you want to pay for it.

[TheTerrorist_75]

As I have stated several times in the past many of those reviewers are not involved with actually fighting malware and their testing procedures are lacking. Many get paid well to review certain programs. Panda has worked quite well for me for many years. I laugh when I see McCrapee and Zone Alarm listed as excellent products. I aslo find Panda's support to be superior over most of the products in the top ten.

[Andro1d]

I will never recommend any new Symantec products no matter what the reviews say. I have worked with it in the past, and have worked with their newer programs, and I still strongly dislike their products.

I would highly recommend ESET NOD32 if you are looking to pay for a new subscription. It is very effective, low on resources, and has outstanding proactiv detection. This means it doesn't always rely on a "signature" from the company in order to detect threats. It is what I use and what many people in the malware removal community recommend.

http://www.eset.com/products/nod32.php

[shanenin]

I am not a Norton basher, but it seems to cause major problems to many pcs that come through my shop. I have at least one pc a month or two that it has virtually killed(made useless some how). If a client wants to use it, I recommend the stand alone anti-virus without the firewall