I'm thinking NOD32, mainly because it supposedly has a low impact on performance and you get 4 licenses for the price of two. Most others don't seem to have a multi-machine discount.

I've got 4 computers, one of which is a fairly underpowered ultra-portable. Hence the performance worries.

or you could get a free one?
will be just as good. [edit: it will probably be better imo]

i used to use AVG which was great, and then i was having memory issues to moved to something a bit less demanding as reccomended by STW, but cant remember what it was (also dont remember it being any better or worse)

went to linux shortly after so dont have an Anti Virus

wouldnt touch norton with a 38ft sh*tty stick.

Probably Avira – that's what I've switched to from AVG.

AVG free doesn't have as many features.

And I am shopping around because I want to uninstall Norton and McAfee.

Avast is good and free for home use. You have to register yearly to keep getting updates but it only takes 2 mins.

What features do you need?

I use avast! home edition (free) and find it has everything I need.

Avast here too and you can put it on as many machines as you like for free.

Avast free seems to have a great set of features for a free jobbie – more than AVG free. However some folk seem to think it's slower than the others.

The ultra portable needs all the help it can get with performance, so slowness is a worry.

Never found Avast slow at all even on my old laptop which was hardly a power house.

Quite old summary of virus scanner impact on performance but worth a read.

Got avast running on a PII 300 laptop with XP, seems fine. Slight slowing, but hardly a worry.

If there was a choice between a slow one and a not-so-slow one, I know what I'd choose, given that I don't mind paying.

From that article:
With Norton Internet Security 2006 disk access is 2369% slower.
With Nod32 v2.5 it is 177% slower.
And with avast! it is only 115% slower.

Right – I'm gonna trial Avast, AVG, Norton (the trial that's currently on this PC) and the NOD32 trial.

What benchmark should I use?

try the free ones first. you'll probably get bored worrying about it because its not that big a deal and be glad the cash is still in your pocket. 🙂

It is gonna make a different on the portable, for sure. That's why I'm shopping and testing. I hate the sh*T that these thigns come bundled with.

AVG isn't free as my AVG has 54 days left for it's 2 free yearse, so I (and you) will need to pay up after 2 years.

Unless you know different.

I'm not sure as to how much the AVG will cost but the Avast will be in use in 50 days time I guess.

i must be the only mad one then lol i use norton and find it spot on i used to use spybot, adaware and avg but now its all covered under my norton i like it as its all in one package

Norton will destroy your system. Steer clear, very hard to remove after the fact as well.

AVG isn't free as my AVG has 54 days left

AVG Free is free forever as far as I know.
Are you sure it isn't just "recommending" you upgrade to full AVG?

Edit: And are you on the latest version (8.5)?

It's version 8.5.409 and it's not free after 2 years.

Norton will destroy your system

Yes. It's very slow indeed – meaning it slows your system down a lot.

Yeah, I've had Norton for a few years now, and it is making things worse.

The only time my machine caught a cold, Norton Missed it all together !!!.

I had to get help from here, and now run the remainder of my Norton Sub, and MalwareBytes.

Good thread, as I am now thinking of ditching Norton. However, I like to be able to individually select which *.exe can be blocked from accessing the web.

Do you get that kind of feature in Avast ?.

Anyway, just adding to the majority here, when suggesting that Norton isn't very pleasant to own/use.

Solo.

However, I like to be able to individually select which *.exe can be blocked from accessing the web.

That is the job of a firewall, not an antivirus. ZoneAlarm will handle that for you, and it is also free.

GrahamS.

Oh, Ok, thanks for pointing that out and the suggestion, will look into that.

Cheers

🙂

Solo.

No prob: things like Norton (deliberately) confuse the issue by offering an "Internet Security Suite", which is really just an anti-virus, a software firewall, and anti-ad/malware. All of which are available free.

I have used Zone Alarm for years. The last version completely cacked up my system and really tied it up in knots ( using vista on new pc ). In the end I removed ZA. Taking advice from people here and other IT friends, the concensus of opinion was that as I'm using a Router then a combination of this and Windows firewall was sufficient.
Just my expereince……

Q

And two of those come with Vista – the firewall and the malware. And they are both apparently good. Windows firewall is somewhat crude but ideal for people who don't want to be bothered with technical details. I think it allows everything outbound by default and blocks everything in by default – but not exactly sure.

Coming back to the original question – if you could legitimately get Norton AV free ( as I can ) would you still go over to a free AV?
I get the feeling it's a 'yes' but I still can't get my head around the fact that a free one is as realiable…..
Q

I'm now running Avast! after not using anything for about a year (no real reason for starting to use it, just thought it was a good idea when I installed it), seems pretty good to me.

as I'm using a Router then a combination of this and Windows firewall was sufficient.

Depends on the router setup really, but generally yes. However Solo said he specifically wanted to block certain outgoing programs which means he'd need ZoneAlarm or similar.

Is Avast free for the 2nd, 3rd years ect?

has been for me

i use mcafee – and got it free as i bank with hsbc – so far so good

im due for my norton renewal now and dont know if i should bother or not lol might be nice to save £55 and get something just as good.

if i do i have vista so i enable my firewall i then need avg/avast or something like that and then do i still need spybot/adaware or something ?

also how do i get rid of norton if its such a pain to do . it came on my laptop as standard

thanks mick