Virus software

[Joel B.]

I need to get some virus software for my new computer, what do you people recommend? Would you go with Norton, McAfee, or are there others I should consider?

Thanks for any advice,

Joel B.

[SLIPKNOT]

I have norton and like it. Easy use and has good features.

[TBO/MN]

Norton and McAfee are the same company, Symantec. The software you choose is important, but the really important thing is how you set it up. I have the Norton 2002 Pro, suppost to be the best one on the market, and it maybe is, but I didn't have it set up correctly and yesterday I paid for it. I didn't have it set to scan boot records, and floppy disks, and I got a "Big Bad Bug" somewhere. It got so infected that to save the hardware, I had to do a complete hard drive format and reinstall everything. I lost everything.

So the moral of the story: Set it up to scan everything. Call the manufacturer of whatever you buy and have them help you set it up for your computer.

Good Luck, and most of all Good Fishin'
TBO/MN

[Boatnut]

Like TBO said...both Norton and McCafee are one in the same company.

i just recently bought the norton "systemworks" which includes a great anti virus program as well as other "tools". they have it on sale from time to time and had a $30 "upgrade" rebate with proof of purchase from previous version of either norton or mcafee. It scans all downloads, outgoing and incoming email and can be set to update itself automatically. It's caught at least 4 viruses in just the last 3 weeks alone. I highly recommend the Norton.
my 2 cents

[Hutch]

My vote goes for Norton too. Saved my ?utt many times. Hutch Like the other guys said too, INSTALLATION is everything!!!

[Abe]

I had McAfee & it let a virus through so I switched to PC-cillin at http://trendmicro.com they have a thirty day free trial and it works great. This was recomended by two people that had trouble with both the others and I am very happy with it.:)

[Dodge1]

Norton, McAfee, PC-cillin and the like do a good job but most people encounter problems by not following these procedures:

1. Enable the antivirus program to scan everything on you’re computer and run those scans on a regular basis. An excellent idea is to schedule the antivirus program to run while you’re sleeping.

2. Get updates from the manufactures website, on a regular basis. Most programs offer a feature that allows the antivirus program to do this automatically, whenever you’ve signed on to the internet. This is an excellent feature, due to the proliferation of new viruses.

I run Norton 2002 and I have included a link to some of the features that program offers.

http://www.symantec.com/nav/nav_9xnt/features.html

[Pitts]

I have Nortons but on some machines it it has trouble running.
I have a high end video gaming card and nortons does not like it at all.
I also must have caught a bug that affected the ability to surf the most visited web sights there went WC can't look at any page starting with www.walleyecentral.com but I can get to all of them them that have only a an IP address on this sight.
I need to format and reload everything to get back in business but I have to find a day I don't want to go fishing.
The anti virus system you choose is only as good as how often you update the virus info.


Pitts

[DaCoder]

I work for a software development company and we use McAfee with regular updates. I also run the same at home. My neighbor's use McAfee as well, but got nailed last week because they weren't dong updates! I spent the evening cleaning up their pc. My mother's pc uses Norton, and she had the same problem: no updates, no protection. After I updated both my neighbor's and mother's pc with the most recent DAT files, viruses were detected. In other words, both Norton and McAfee will work, but only if you keep the DAT files updated!

[Dodge1]

That's the very reason you want to enable the automatic update feature on you're virus protection program.

[DarrenB]

Just want to add to TBO's post about setting it up to scan everything.
Along with scanning the boot record and a: drive, you should also go into the file types to scan and add extensions like .DAT, .TMP, .INI, .ZIP etc... as Norton Antivirus does'nt scan those by default. Also make sure that you have it set up to scan the contents of compressed or zip files. It doesn't do that by default either.

[KevinA]

I built my last two computers within the last 12-15 months...new everything, premium motherboard(Abit BE6-II), HDD, memory, video card, sound card, Win98se..........I installed Norton Systemworks 2000. My experience with it is that in some areas it's more trouble than its worth & I'm not alone in this view. For those with limited RAM (no problem here, I've got 384MB) it sucks up alot of memory due to the many programs it starts running on bootup(you can turn this off). (I my experience) If you use it's system optimization (defrag) program I'll eventually bring your system down(I use the MS Win utility now). A Windows expert (allexperts.com) told me to shut it off & this cured the problem. The crash monitor program is of questionable worth. The clean sweep option seems to work fine, the anti-virus is fine. Your mileage may vary, but keep an eye on how your systems acts...Norton might be the root cause.

One thing that isn't mentioned here is a firewall. I'd strongly suggest folks install one. It prevents any unauthorized transfer of information into or out of your computer. It's amazing how many times your computer is contacted while you're on line...& you never know about it. In addition a program like Pest Patrol is very useful if you'd rather not have the marketeers monitor your moves as you wander around the web. I'd bet $50 that anyone reading this has spyware on their system and, unless they're actively detecting & removing it, they won't even know it. You are being watched & profiled... just not by the typical big brother.

Check out Zone Alarm http://www.zonealarm.com it's free & is considered the best program around. Pest Patrol is also offered here.

[rock2me]

KevinA is right. You absolutely need a firewall of some sort. Zone Alarm is good and has a GREAT price. However, I would recommend Black Ice Defender as being superior for less experienced users.

I installed Zone Alarm on my fathers computer and he became flustered with the warnings and messages. I installed Black Ice and I haven't had to be his tech support in a while. It is more of a set-it-and forget-it product (or is that a Popiel product? :)).

Note: I am not tied to either product but I am in the computer industry.

Good Luck!

[Tom B]

Or get a mac. I have NEVER had a virus problem, just annoying emails from people "helping" by informing me about viruses that are being spread. I have to deal with pc files all the time and never have any probs opening what I need to work with, plus, none of the pc hassles.

Tom B

[Cangl]

Norton for their programing and support, a good ISP possibly most important, with a personal firewall we have 2. The ability to be warned when your computer is being accessed or programmed for that matter is a plus, block that IP and say good bye to the "creep"

"Black Ice" documents them also. We have emailed peoples bosses within minutes of a hack with IP , address, phone number, act, date and time. Interesting concept this "anonymous" do not beleive it.

Wackerhacker promises to reprogram most any damage, with scans and fixes, with documentation and free scans for 3 months for $30-40 also yearly fee. Their about the best for anything thats already happened.

The FBI still uses their services, PC World states as "don't worry they got it" or something like that. Our first scan they downloaded 42 fixes, let us know what ports had been compromised. Closed one and help straighten out the printer. Older systems them or Microsofts 35$ dollar an incident.

Wife and kids have a thing buggy software :(

[Phil T.]

Check out McAfee On-Line. It costs less than buying software on a disc, and the updates are anounced via e-mail automatically. PC-Cillin has a free (to home users) virus scan/repair service that seems to work with less hassles than McAfee. For more advice, check out PCWorld's website. They will have links to the cheap/free virus software.
I once downloaded some virus detecting/cleaning software from a company called Command Central (or Central Command) that was recommended by my ISP. One of the programs contained a newer virus. McAfee online found it and cleaned it.

[Cangl]

With the "ICE" Mac machines give up their, number worknode and groups on the first screen, with automatic block left click. Just takes one Easier to block and document a Mac with this software, block several at once no "wolfies" here. Even blocks and documents the system they have proxied to "conceal" them selves. Law enforcement recommends this program and others like this should you have to prosecute.

Save freedom without responsibility for the next dictatorship, Hitler loved it, and needed it. Look what happened.

[Leo Kam]

You can test you computer security at:

http://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

If it doesn't test out as "Stealth" or "Closed", you can download the basic "Zone Alarm" for free. I personally have both Norton's firewall and antivirus on my machine and tested out "Stealth" on all my ports 3 monthsa ago when I visited the above URL. Keeping my fingers crossed and knocking on wood, but I have never been hacked or received a virus. Just be sure to program your firewall not to give out any personel information without your OK and have your virus software to scan all files, and enable the automatic update feature and e-mail scanning.

[pdfalada]

In a related note, if you upgrade your system to Windows XP, the only Norton that will work is 2002. I went from ME to XP yesterday and discovered that my anti-virus no longer worked. Went to Norton and after the process of checking problems, it became evident especially after seeing the answer in black-and-white. The solution is to uninstall any other version and load on 2002. I just renewed my subscription two monthes ago.

If someone has a better solution, please let me know.