Anti-virus

Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:04 am Post subject: Anti-virus

Currently my laptop is using McAfee, and my subscription lasts for 2 years.

Should I continue to use McAfee, or delete it and use AVG/aVast?
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Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:08 am Post subject: Re: Anti-virus

Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:24 am Post subject:

Agreed. I have tried about every anti-virus out there and always had the best luck with the free ones.

I currently use Avast although I don't like how slow it is scanning.

AVG is good as well, and Antivir one I had issues with and didn't like how sloppy it was.

Norton gets so far in your system it is hard to fully remove plus it may corrupt things and a format could be needed.

If I were to pay for one, I would purchase Trend Micros PCcillin.. I however like that antivirus.
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Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 1:26 pm Post subject:

That's what I thought.

Updating is a real hassle on mcafee, but i haven't tried to scan with it yet. It's been so long since I've had to use one of these pay to use anti-virus softwares.

So what's the best way to go about uninstalling and deleting it without having a need to reformat? Revo Uninstaller?
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Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 1:55 pm Post subject:

symantec corporate

rock solid, no more drain on resources than anything else probably much less so , updates silently, and it's cheap oh did I mention it was rock solid?

http://www.symantec.com/business/antivirus-corporate-edition

Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 2:32 pm Post subject:

Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 2:33 pm Post subject:

I should have been more clear. I meant Norton, which is owned by Symantec. The Norton Internet Security 2008 package (the one lots of folks get pre-installed on new computers with a one-year subscription) is just heinous. Symantec Corporate Edition seems to rate better.

From www.computersearch.com ("Review of Security Suites")

In recent years, Norton has been heavily criticized by users for its significant drain on computer performance. It also reportedly conflicts with other security software. The aforementioned favorable reviews of Norton disingenuously ignore those issues. CNet.com's review addresses the former issue and one not raised elsewhere. Robert Vamosi says, "The Norton Internet Security 2008 interface is ghastly, [and] the suite itself can slow your computer to a crawl." Some testers experienced very fast scan times, while others say they were slow. All reviewers concur that the program's spam filter is ineffective.

The slowing problem isn't raised as often in user reviews as it was with past versions of Norton Internet Security. However, installation and system issues abound. Several users say it's incompatible with other unrelated Norton programs. Other common complaints include installation woes and unresponsive tech support.

Adding the impressions of reviewers and users, we conclude that Norton Internet Security 2008 is a very effective program when it works. If you have a new computer, if you already have had a good experience with Norton Internet Security 2007, or if you have no other free or commercial security programs installed on your computer, Norton 2008 is likely to work and work well for you. People with mature computers with lots of software are most at risk for problems. Although nearly half of Amazon.com buyers give it a bottom rating, they couldn't represent all users or Symantec couldn't maintain such a high market share.
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 2:15 am Post subject:

I think the only reason Symantec has a high market share on personal PC's (non-corporate) is because they have agreements with almost every PC maker out there to include their software on new computers... Any time I buy a PC from say Best Buy, one of the first things I do is uninstall all of the Norton and Symantec programs, then spend a few hours editing the registry and .ini files to finish getting rid of it... In my opinion, Symantec products just plain suck...

I used to prefer McAfee on my systems, just because it was reasonably priced, and used considerably less resources than Norton... Up until a couple of years ago, I could buy a 6-user licensed version for about $50... Then they changed it to a 3-user license, which does me no good... According to the nice lady at McAfee, I was more than welcome to purchase their "Enterprise Edition", for a mere $125 per license... GET REAL PEOPLE!!!

Now I use Avast... It's free no matter how many computers I install it on (My primary PC, my secondary PC, my Proliant server, my laptop, wife's PC, stepdaughter's PC, stepdaughter's laptop, and my daughter's PC)... That would equate to about $150 of the 3-user license McAfee (not countin trying to juggle 3 seperate licenses), $320 for Norton AV 2008 (complete with much slower computers), or $1,000 with the McAfee Enterprise Edition (As if I would be willing to blow that kind of cash)... It uses very little in the resource department, and I have yet to have anything get by it... Sor for me, Avast is about as good as it gets...
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Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out!

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 9:58 am Post subject:

I uninstalled McAfee and deleted all the registries that showed up on Revo Uninstaller. I installed avast and everything is up and running.

However, it takes .5-1 min to start up firefox. Usually it takes a second for firefox to come up, but now its taking a significantly longer time to start up. How can I fix that?
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 12:25 pm Post subject:

Just a little off topic but a great program for cleaning up Malware.
Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware! Whoa, this program is good. I have been busy cleaning up this nasty little thing called Antivirus XP 2008, and several other variants of it. Malwarebyte actually cleans this critter up and fixes any registry settings that got clobbered as well. Antivirus XP 2008 removed the Desktop and Screensaver tabs from Display Properties! This little jewel put them back. Eagle you might want to add this one to your thread of useful utilities. Check it out!

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

You can download it from the CNet Download link at left of page.
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 12:27 pm Post subject:

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 2:44 pm Post subject:

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 2:48 pm Post subject:

Not sure Chaos. I don't have any problem with Firefox loading. Do you have a lot of extensions / addons loading in Firefox?
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 2:58 pm Post subject:

Just Adblock plus and McAfee Site Advisor.

It's really weird. After I installed avast, firefox loaded like normal, but then I also installed Comodo Firewall. I uninstalled it cuz I didn't really like it, so I uninstalled it, and that was when the loading problems started. I uninstalled Comodo using Revo and deleted all the registry files.
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:38 pm Post subject:

It seems like the initial load of any web browser (IE7 and firefox) on my laptop takes awhile to load, but once they open, i can open up multiple windows instantly.

If I close the browser, and try to open it up again, it takes almost a minute to open. I checked my task manager and the processes tab. Firefox.exe would only take u\p about 3,000 K, while it was attempting to open, and once it opened, it takes up 43,000 K. It seems like their is a lag issue or something slowing down the process.
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