…Useful or Pointless?
IMO I think it’s a waste of space, I’ve had Norton’s and Symantec Corporate Editions and all they did was lag my computer to hell. I uninstalled them off any computer I’ve ever had, and never had I had a virus. I use Ad-Aware and run Disk Cleanup and Defrag every other day, never had a problem.
What’s everyone else got to say?
And btw, this is for personal computers, not servers and/or office computers.
Depends on what you’re doing.
everyday email/surfing…no
Financial stuff,heavy outlook use,porn,…yes.
“You’ve got a virus,not on your computer though.”
Funny…I’ve never met The_Russian before tho. lol
If norton is the only experience you’ve had with av/as software, then yes it’s probably a pointless investment. Norton is POS. Huge resource hog, doesnt protect you, constant nagging, firewall is constantly causing conflicts, and can be a PITA to remove.
I have never received a virus, since i got my first computer in 04… (about 5-6 later…)
However, i do use antivirus software, Windows live onecare ( http://onecare.live.com ) Been using it for 2 years now, and never had a single issue. Doesnt slow the computer down (from an xp laptop w/ a pentium m 1.7ghz w/ 256mb ram to a vista 64 q6700 w/ 8gb of ram) Great software…does automatic backups, ‘tuneups’ (better defrag, disk cleanup, startup manager, and reorganizes startup files, run once a week, plus other stuff), more enhanced firewall, automatically configures routers for WEP (handy for my parents when i wasn’t going home), one click printer sharing, remote management/monitoring of multiple machines, etc, etc…
Yes, before you say the obvious, it is a microsoft product, but dont knock it 'till you try it.
They give you a 90 day free trial…give it a shot. (it also goes on sale a lot of $10 everywhere, so if you like it keep your eye out)
Trend micro and Spy sweeper are 2 other ones that get a lot of good feedback (what we sell a lot of at work), however after having family members use them, they really slow down the computer and warn of a lot of unnecessary activity. But they work. Out of the hundreds of copies i’ve installed on peoples computers, i’ve never had one come back w/ an infection.
Spy sweeper w/ antivirus is another nice program, but again it’s not exactly nice on the resources. They also just added a ‘game’ feature, which disables it completely when you want it to be.
Kapersky is also decent. Installed it on my sisters laptop, she’s never complained about it…almost no user interaction (can be good and bad), and is another one that can be left on and not noticed.
The free ones that you get with verizon/time warner, arent worth shit. Your better off with nothing installed. (if you want to laugh, read there terms of service for their software)
Also, stay away from: Norton (any variation), Mcafee (any variation), CA Antivirus, and AVG (had a lot come in infected w/ their latest updates).
edit as for the poll question, if your not dumb and know the basics then no, i wouldnt say it’s nessecary, but it is nice to have it run in the background just in case (like onecare, where you dont notice it running). However, i would say for over 95% of the computer using population, it is a must have.
I’ve been using ESET Smart Security (has Nod32 antivirus) for awhile and like it. not a resource hog and def lets me know when I gots a problem 
I have seen multiple companies infested with viruses because of dumb end-users doing stuff they shouldn’t be… so, yes, I think antivirus is a pretty good idea!
As for a home computer that someone uses only for e-mail and the same 3 websites day in and day out… I say as long as they don’t open attachments in their e-mail, they can probably live without it.
But, I’m gonna base my answer on my business clients, and say “MUST HAVE”
Nothing worse than having to charge a customer $1000 for 10 hours of work, almost losing their data, all because of one dumb user.
same here… love NOD32… it’s an outstanding AV IMO. Can’t ever tell it’s running.
and :word: to the post saying that norton is a bad choice. It’s almost like malware in itself. Stay away from it.
edit: and AV is a MUST have. Why risk it?
See now I have the opposite philosophy. My computer at home is just an email/web surfing machine so why would a little performance hit from having antivirus running in the background matter?
Just interesting, opposite conclusions from the same though. :shrug:
my computer came with onecare and like mke said theres no lag at all and you cannot even tell its running. but it will alert you of a virus and then actually remove it, and protect you. norton slows down your computer like 40% and it is worthless.
I think he’s taking from the perspective that a business has a lot more to loose than the average home user, upon infection.
ugh all you suck. Prevention thats all that matters. so RT scan (i don’t use it), active quarantine, properly updated OS, as well as third party software, and a firewall.
If you are running a hardware firewall and not acting like an idiot online, then you def do not need any antivirus.
If you are living in an area with a large open network, or without a good firewall, you should have it. At this point though, 90% of the population has wireless routers on their home networks acting as a firewall as well.
quoted for shitty grammar
fag