It seems that most users HATE Symantec with a PASSION. This hatred is on par with users hatred of the Microsoft Corporation.(I understand why we hate Microsoft)

:confused: Norton is not the best Product, but it is also not the worst. Yet users talk like it is the worst ever.
Is Norton a victim of its own slick false advertising or what? :blackeye: Other AV software may rate lower in how effective they are, but dont cop the same flak that Symantec does.

How come that is?

Just get Zone Alarm that's hard core...

Please share who thinks what is the best antivirus?

The reason I don`t like Symantec/Norton is due to the amount of problems their crap software causes.

You only have to look through these forums to see what I mean.

Regards Howard :)

You just notice the anti-Symantecism, because Norton products are so widespread. I dislike McAee just like I dislike Norton, but there are less people being silly enough to use McAfee (probably because their computer came with Norton preinstalled) and I have no reason to express my dislike..

Oh. And Symantec is the worst. Mainly because they are the biggest and they actually have the means to be bad. They won't go bankrupt no matter how bad products they release and they have the money to acquire and kill any competition and they have the money to push their inferior products to OEMs and users.

You've only got to look at the difference between symantecs corporate and home versions of Norton to see how unscrupulous the company is.

The corporate version is ok, but arguable far from the best, but somehow the home version is a complete pile of proverbial crap. (and yes, it pretty much is the worst of the crap for a large variety of reasons).

Basically, instead of creating a decent product that sells on its own merits, the do as little as they can get away with, perhaps even deliberately making crap for home users to ensure that they have a market. Instead of creating a decent product that sells on it's own merits, they seel a pile of crud with a brand name attached to those gullible, naive, or otherwise unknowing enough to buy it.

Norton for co. is really good, but puke: for home users.

MacAfee firewall acts like it blocking everything even when I scan using its AV I don't find a thing, but when I using other AV I always find something
Don’t get me wrong I do understand that there is no product out there that can completely be aware of all virus, spyware etc but I thing that if little co. can detect the spyware or virus then there is no excerption for MacAfee, Norton

ooh and what do i thing is the best firewall Zonelabs that i paid for
everybody keep saying it's free ... post the actual link not the co. website

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp?dc=12bms&ctry=US&lang=en&lid=dbtopnav_zass

Hope that helps.

Regards Howard :)

I have been hired by friends and family to fix their PCs only to find the PC is fine but their Norton or McAfee or the like has mucked up the whole thing.

Here it is from an long time IT manager, just get the basic anti virus from McAfee or E-Trust or some one. But do not install any thing but the anti virus. That is the hard part to do these days.

Here's why I hate "only certain companies":1. only certain companies add MB after MB of unusable, if not useless, data to my system. 2. only certain companies make claims to be able to "do it all", then fail miserably. 3. Only certain companies take weeks to address client issues, then blame the problem(s) on the client, or his/her system, or "improper use." 4. Only certain companies install scores of files that cannot be uninstalled without special tools only available (maybe) from the provider's website.

I could go on, but I have to find some uninstall tools by Norton. :mad:

I agree on the fact that norton is not a great AV, but i have had worse...
Till now i have been using zonelabs which seems to be working fine, exept that their are two viruses that it detects, howerver can't remove...it tells me that i should not give up hope as they are constantly finding new ways of safley removing viruses.

with norton (and other widespread av/firewall programs), you'd constantly find snippets and snippets of various trojan/virus/malware/spyware/worm/adware taht can disable it or cripple your system.. as viruswriters tend to go for widespread programs first eg ms word/ie/etc as they know that it will spread faster and on more systems as a garentee.. plus knowing how much bugs there is with norton it is possibly quite simple to do i guess.. and the live update is hell for dailup users who can be disconnected at any time and start from scratch for the 15e^infinitieht time

oh yeh.. one more thing to add: norton installer- one of every five installs i did screws up my system to a point of a clean format-break the cd in half (or refund it)-and install avg on it. done. not one cent paid.. ok, maybe the internet bill to download.. but still good. :)

I agree on the fact that norton is not a great AV, but i have had worse...
Till now i have been using zonelabs which seems to be working fine, exept that their are two viruses that it detects, howerver can't remove...it tells me that i should not give up hope as they are constantly finding new ways of safley removing viruses.

In a lot of cases. simply turning off system restore, and rescanning will allow an antivirus programme to remove viruses. No antivirus programme can delete files in the system restore folder. So it just keeps on regenerating.

Regards Howard :)

I have been hired by friends and family to fix their PCs only to find the PC is fine but their Norton or McAfee or the like has mucked up the whole thing.

Here it is from an long time IT manager, just get the basic anti virus from McAfee or E-Trust or some one. But do not install any thing but the anti virus. That is the hard part to do these days.

That's the best info yet. Stick to the basics and leave the rest alone. They're simply bloatware. I've done pretty much the same as Athena with the same results. Can't beat consistency. :)

I had Avast on one of my PCs, it said it did some update and needed to restart windows (most of the time it doesn't need to do that). I reboot, and it won't boot up windows. I changed the drive to my PromiseATA controller and it starts to boot windows then freezes. I'm sure I can get it to work again, but I'm blaming the problem on Avast since I don't do anything with that PC except record tv with SageTV, I shouldn't have even put an AV on it. But Avast won't be going on any of my or my parents PCs in the future.
This just happened last night, I haven't had a chance to see if I can get windows to boot, no need to troubleshoot this for me here, if I can't figure it out I'll make a thread in WindowsOS about it.

I was waiting for one of the 'guru' types here to report on Avast. seems that maybe it's not as great as a few avid supporters have suggested. A bit of a hit and miss program maybe?

(Hope you don't mind being referred to as a guru SNGX!!)

I used Avast just ONCE 3 or 4 years ago. I put ZA on there as well, the two of them fought it out like cats and dogs and screwed up the PC something awful. By experience with Avast started on a bad note, I haven't used them since. But I don't badmouth them, don't "hate" them.

I hate Symantect because 50% of my work is figuring out how to fix/remove/install their garbage. Their bloatware that takes 15 startups and services to run, with inevitably at least 1 or 2 never working anyway. Their GoBack CRAP that screws up the hard drive boot sector.
The ONLY product I care for from them is their DOS based Ghost program. Which comes in handy sometimes. And occasionally I run WinDoctor directly from the CD to fix registry issues and ActiveX problems. Other then that, stay away!

I like AVG and also use it when retail AVs don't work. But I don't think it's as good as some like to think arount here, I just don't think it's very powerful and finds as much. And I've had a lot of issues with their update system.

I currently use Panda products, and Kaspersky Beta. I am happy with both (when they work). But Panda's issues have been increasing. I think Panda is very strong in detection and removal, but not very smooth in the registration, renewal, installing, department. Plus you get no phone tech support.

So I think my AV of choice right now is Kaspersky. It takes far less resources then Panda and far far less then Symantec.

Check out this thread about AVs:
http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic37621.html

Yea i had AVG for a while, ddid regular updates, but then i got a virus which was called oo.exe or something like that, which has something to do with LimeWire too, anyway it suched up 9 gb of disc space with porn files, and i ain't the type of guy who doesn't know where his porn is... anyways i put bull guard on it which detected it and managed to remove it, with the help of some other cleaners. AVG manages what it sees, but that isn't verry much.

Noticed I just ranted on the sad software from the a former anti-virus companies that now make 'we can run you whole PC so you can just go watch TV cause you PC is never going to work again' software packages.

As for why we only hate certain companies, I have out grown that and now just hate all companies!! :angel:

Seriously I think people mostly hate a given company because some one they know hates them, the news hates them, the company they hate has more money that the person hating them or the are just a hateful person and the company name came up.

Rarely have I ever heard of a person hating a company because the company actually wronged them in any way.

Noticed I just ranted on the sad software from the a former anti-virus companies that now make 'we can run you whole PC so you can just go watch TV cause you PC is never going to work again' software packages.

As for why we only hate certain companies, I have out grown that and now just hate all companies!! :angel:

Seriously I think people mostly hate a given company because some one they know hates them, the news hates them, the company they hate has more money that the person hating them or the are just a hateful person and the company name came up.

Rarely have I ever heard of a person hating a company because the company actually wronged them in any way.

Wrong! Norton screwed me on my first system, and caused me more down time than any other item, and, as I was lass than a noob at the time, that was a lot. Panda AV treated me well for 3 mos. or so, then screwed me almost weekly for a year. Plus screwing me out of $34.95 in the process. Tiger Direct screwed me out of $22.00 TWICE on RMA's, and I had to threaten them before they would even LISTEN to my complaint.

I could list others, but those are a few, to show you that I do not "hate" without reason. :angel:

I hate norton because I hate the times I have to fix their mess. I hate symantec because their attitude is blatantly obvious, and it stinks. The attitutes of almost all corporations stink, but symantec, as a supposed security firm, really stands out from the crowd.

I love these hated companies! And hate them too!
They've kept me in biz, fat and happy!
There's always room for more hated companies too
when there are so many software gluton's around.

But I really wonder how long it will take INTEL/AMD/Microsawfty
to start charging yearly subscriptions. OMG! I hope I didn't just give
them the idea :unch:

You see, these companies produce software that barely worth looking at. its not hate, it reality.

I love these hated companies! And hate them too!
They've kept me in biz, fat and happy!
There's always room for more hated companies too
when there are so many software gluton's around.

But I really wonder how long it will take INTEL/AMD/Microsawfty
to start charging yearly subscriptions. OMG! I hope I didn't just give
them the idea :unch:

What kind of kickbacks are ya gettin for dastardly proposals such as that? Somebody might sic their bots on your biz! :hotouch:

What kind of kickbacks are ya gettin for dastardly proposals such as that? Somebody might sic their bots on your biz! :hotouch:
No kick backs, I'm just migrating slowley to alt OS's.... :haha:
As to the "dastardly proposal" well don't look now
but that is already being implemented in many places software wide.

Linspire looks great for this Unix noob...... :haha:

ahh, i haven't been on TS in quite awhile, and missed this thread.

symantec, microsoft, and other comparable companies are disliked for one basic reason. they do whatever is nessesary to stay ahead of the competition, even if that means that consumers are stuck with an inferior product whose superior counterpart was eliminated.

corporations like that have one goal in thier existence - make money, and they will go to questionable lengths to do so.

Gotta keep the stock holders happy.

I'm in favor of small applications with specific jobs, not bottomless pits of functions, 80% unused, sucking up all your resources.

And I second Linspire, check out their web site, watch the flash videos. Download the trial CD. Microsoft has already been after them more then once. And that must be a good sign when MS takes interest in a little guy.

Hey guys, i have Zone Labs as my AV right now, and relizing that it doesn't serve it's purpose i have decided to stop my support and loyalty to them and get instead Kaspersky and was wondering if i need anuything else besides that to keep my computer safe.
With zone labs they have everything, AV spyware and firewall...
If i need to download other programs, please tell me what and if they work together... some AV uninstall others if they are running together.

Please tell me...

Hey guys, i have Zone Labs as my AV right now, and relizing that it doesn't serve it's purpose i have decided to stop my support and loyalty to them and get instead Kaspersky and was wondering if i need anuything else besides that to keep my computer safe.
With zone labs they have everything, AV spyware and firewall...
If i need to download other programs, please tell me what and if they work together... some AV uninstall others if they are running together.

Please tell me...

Very few anti-virus programs will work together, so you'll probly have to uninstall the old one. What I do- I have an AV that includes anti-spyware, then also use three other anti-spyware programs (M$ Beta-free-AdAware SE-free- and Trend Micro-subscription), cuz they all play nice together.

I have, so far, had NO virus problems, and few spyware problems. Those I did encounter are detected by one or the other of the anti's. Just a suggestion- works for me. :D

Thanks!!!
but what about firewall??? should i use the xp firewall? i heard it isn't verry good.

Thanks!!!
but what about firewall??? should i use the xp firewall? i heard it isn't verry good.

On the system where I'm running an anti-virus without a firewall, I'm using Zone Alarm, and it works very well. It's also free- just Google for the download. The Windows firewall is only one-way (incoming), and it's basically crap. Install Zone Alarm, and switch Windows OFF!

Find Zone Alarm at:http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp
:angel:

I have zonelabs securety suit installed on my comp right now, but the last time i installed kaspersy it uninstalled zonelabs, should i get only the firewall???

I have zonelabs securety suit installed on my comp right now, but the last time i installed kaspersy it uninstalled zonelabs, should i get only the firewall???

Yeah, just get the free personal firewall. I used it (firewall only) in conjunction with Panda Platinum and Titanium when I was having trouble with their onboard ones with no problems. I just switched off the AV onboard firewall, and installed ZA. Worked fine for me.

BTW- we're really discussing this in the wrong thread- since I don't know how to move it, maybe the mod will. Though I'm not so sure he would want a wider audience listenin to my advice!! tee-hee :D

Hi guys
I am wondering, now that i have downloaded kaspersky 5.20 and relized that as soon as i update it, then restart my computer it can't start kaspersky anymore, becouse it says that the my pass has expired, and when i try put a new one it says something about not possible beocue of the blacklist... then i researched and they said in other forums that there is no way around it, it's the newset crack protection.
But i have two questions,
who has a working cracked kaspersky? from when onwards does that error uccur
and is ther any way around it? patch or anything?

Hi guys
I am wondering, now that i have downloaded kaspersky 5.20 and relized that as soon as i update it, then restart my computer it can't start kaspersky anymore, becouse it says that the my pass has expired, and when i try put a new one it says something about not possible beocue of the blacklist... then i researched and they said in other forums that there is no way around it, it's the newset crack protection.
But i have two questions,
who has a working cracked kaspersky? from when onwards does that error uccur
and is ther any way around it? patch or anything?


Members of this forum do not use, and do not condone "cracked" anything. You will find no help in that regard.

Hi guys
I am wondering, now that i have downloaded kaspersky 5.20 and relized that as soon as i update it, then restart my computer it can't start kaspersky anymore, becouse it says that the my pass has expired, and when i try put a new one it says something about not possible beocue of the blacklist... then i researched and they said in other forums that there is no way around it, it's the newset crack protection.
But i have two questions,
who has a working cracked kaspersky? from when onwards does that error uccur
and is ther any way around it? patch or anything?


Techspot does not condone the use of pirated software.

If you continue to ask for help with this issue, you will likely find yourself in hot water with the mods.

Go and buy the programme. That way you will be entiltled to full support for the product.

then how can one kneo if it is a good av or not?

then how can one kneo if it is a good av or not?

Almost every anti-virus program I can think of will allow you to download a trial version for free. Simply go to their website, enter the required info, and download it. The trial will be for a limited time, and MAY be a limited (not all features active) version. You use it for the allotted time period, then either purchase the full version, or uninstall it and try another.

They will make no money if they allow people to continue "renewing" the trial version. If you can't make up your mind in 30 days (the usual period), then something is wrong.

One last suggestion- if you have Windows XP, Micro$oft used to have an agreement with Computer Associates that Windows owners could use the CA ezTrust anti-virus free for one year. I do not know if that is still in effect. Otherwise, there are som FREE but legal AV's ot there; AVG, AVAST, and others. Another company-Novatix- has a free Beta version of their "Cyberhawk" AV. Check with them. There are many solutions, but if you have your heart set on just one-- dig in your pocketbook and pony up the funds! :wave:

For Kaspersky, if you want to try it out, go to this page:
http://usa.kaspersky.com/downloads/trial-versions.php

These are the 30 day trials.

Or, you can also download (free), the beta versions of their next version. Here:
http://www.kaspersky.com/beta

I am currently using the beta versions on 2 PCs, it has been very good so far.

is the beta version free too? also for 30 days?
there is bullguard 60 days trial, it also isn't bad.

Noticed I just ranted on the sad software from the a former anti-virus companies that now make 'we can run you whole PC so you can just go watch TV cause you PC is never going to work again' software packages.

As for why we only hate certain companies, I have out grown that and now just hate all companies!! :angel:

Seriously I think people mostly hate a given company because some one they know hates them, the news hates them, the company they hate has more money that the person hating them or the are just a hateful person and the company name came up.

Rarely have I ever heard of a person hating a company because the company actually wronged them in any way.

I have to agree with Athena, most peoples opinions are swayed what they hear or read from somewhere, and most people have a fundamental distrust of Big Companies to begin with. :suspiciou

When your a :evil: "NORTON" (A brand everyone has heard of) we expect a exceptional product better that its rivals, and get even more angry when it doesn't deliver the goods as well as some lesser-known ones do. :haha: (BIG DEAL, Welcome to REALITY) We put our trust in big Name-Brands we all know but we should'nt, companies small or large only care about one thing - DOLLARS$$$
Besides that, Male or Female just pick the right topic and most people just love a good bitching session to vent their frustration and anger :angel:TO CLEANSE THE SOUL

Thanks Athena, its nice to see someone understands how others viewpoints can alter our own opinion. Truth, is only what you believe. If your given biased or misleading information and believe it, then it becomes your truth even if it is false.
:eek:I know, i bought a Sony DVD player because "Its a Sony".
WHAT A PIECE OF CRAP!!! My fault i believed in the name "Sony" instead of doing a bit of research first,(oops) but I dont hate Sony and all their products. I blame myself for buying the DVD player and just called it "a lesson learned" - end of story.

I know others feel the need to vent thats fine, GO FOR IT but just try and keep it in perspective and stick to the actual facts for others who read your posts.

Cheers All.

One should keep in mind that hardware companies have different product lines. One can make devices with more or less features using better (expensive) or worse (cheaper) material and processes.

The cheaper products are some no-name chinese crap with a new paint job and a shiny logo. Then there's the middle range that is products ordered from more famous OEM manuafcturers (NEC or Philips or whatever) with a new paintjob and a shiny logo. And then there's the high end products that may be in-house designs, but may as well be in-house designs from some other company with a new paint job and a shiny logo..

When you buy a Sony, don't go for the cheapest crappy Sony, buy something that is above the middle point. (And do compare with similar products from competition).


A software company doesn't need product lines. Their "product", once finished, costs virtually nothing and they can put arbitrary price tags on their stuff.. Make the toolbar a different colour, add a new menu and quadruple the price. Disable a feature and add a time limit (ten minutes of programmer time) and give the thing away for free as shareware. And actually it is one and the same product!

Ive used Kaspersky for years now. I would never look back.

:eek:I know, i bought a Sony DVD player because "Its a Sony".
WHAT A PIECE OF CRAP!!! My fault i believed in the name "Sony" instead of doing a bit of research first,(oops) but I dont hate Sony and all their products. I blame myself for buying the DVD player and just called it "a lesson learned" - end of story.

LOL - I did the same thing. Bought myself a Sony DVD player thinking it would be good (paid $460 US for a single disc player), but I think it's the biggest piece of crap. I should've just gone with a Pioneer Elite DVD player or something. I can't wait to replace it but that won't happen till I finish my HTPC. I too chalk it up as a lesson learned.

BTW:
I love Microsoft (they make my job much easier and I love AD)
I like McAfee Enterprise products
I like Symantec Ghost

- just wanted to name a few things I like that everyone else seems to hate.

well there are some companies that arn't all too bad, and worth the $$$ you pay for, provided you do research beforehand.. and with mcafee some of us dont have much of an issue with, just blameing everything on norton is habit :D jks..

i'd reckon and most of the guys here would agree to is that norton Ghost was the best thing that happened in the whole computer universe (from being a norton, they were once a great company) as it did all these crazy and USEFULL things, and it was absolutely perfect.

Keyword there being "usefull", although that phrase unfortunately ended in 2003 when Sysmantec Corp bought over Disk imager (or some company with names along that line) and thought "gee, i think consumers will like this.." and started to think and tehn in their usual style add more and more crap ontop (but version 10 hasnt reached that level of crap as their AV brothers).

sorry for that outburst.. but it must be stated, that Ghost is slowly heading towards consumer death (dont know how ghosts can die but hey.. norton?) and the function of purely copying a hdd image from one place to another is not the priority of Ghost anymore, like it was first designed to do, and did well... therefore i'm taking the extreme and making sure i never loose my norton ghost 2003 cd.. as the numeric versions after it wont be backwards-os compatible (v9, v10) and dont have PCDOS anymore, just a windows elements stripped down..

and to keep with the current conversation, my house is Sony free, exception for the bin outside which has a broken headphone in it with the word 'sony' running on the side of the earpiece =)

N30

Symantec had really good products in the 90s, mainly because they bought the right companies and did not cripple the software acquired.

Norton Commander, Norton Utilities (must be hundreds of times when Norton Disk Doctor saved my ****), Norton Ghost, Norton Guides (I didn't have any assembly books) were all great stuff.

Ghost and Utilities still live on as horrible giant parodies of the sleek utilities they one were :( And Partition Magic shows that Symantec is unable to make good use of purchases either.

If you are very fastidious, there is no need to have an anti-virus program on your computer at all. I've been without one for the last year. Every couple months, I do a scan with trend micro (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/), and it always comes up with nothing but a few cookies. Not using Internet Explorer is probably a wise decision, too.