I've had no problems (yet) that I'm aware of with NAV, but all the IT pros here have almost convinced me to dump it. In it's place, I'm planning on the following protection:

- Spybot Search & Destroy with the new Resident Tea Timer feature activated . It stops any bad process from launching, has frequent updates, and is part of v. 1.3. Free.

- Spyware Blaster to stop download of spyware in the first place. Free.

- AdAware SE with frequent updates and scans. Free.

- Weekly anti-virus scans with Trend Micro Housecall. Free.

It isn't that everything is free, it's good stuff and should speed up the computer from what everyone is saying. Is this enough protection, or should I always have something running in the background real time to detect inbound viruses from email? It looks like that might be the Achilles Heel of the Tea Timer, but I might be looking at it the wrong way and it'll work just fine. Will AVG slow the computer down as much as NAV? If so, I might as well keep NAV if everything's OK.

I'm running XP Pro, SP2. Thanks in advance...

 

If you know how a virus works, then you should know how to avoid it, and an anti-virus program isn't really necessary. A weekly scan should be all you need. Try AVG if you want a scanning prog that resides on your computer. It's so small, you can't even tell it's running. I posted a link for the free edition in the PC Tips sticky.

I like all those programs, especially Spybot with Tea Timer. It keeps other programs from modifying your registry without your permission. Very handy in keeping your startup folder maintained the way you like.

 

CHRIS! ECHO... Echo... Echo... Echo... Echo... echo... echo...


(i.e. What Chris said)

 

Thanks Chris. You too, Mark, and I know you've written at length about NAV and alternatives. I cut the Norton cord tonight, uninstalled everything, cleaned up and rebooted. Boot was a couple seconds faster, everything is working normally, but I don't know yet if it's faster because I have a pretty speedy computer with plenty of memory. Web surfing seems about the same, but Comcast runs 3Mbps in my neighborhood...good! I'll probably see the difference when running Photoshop and other apps together. I have the AVG .exe on the desktop ready to go, maybe install tomorrow if at all.

 

I've been very pleased with this AV program...
AnitVir
...seems a lot "lighter" than AVG.


Jim

 

Greetings,
No AV software is suicide. There are so many types of nasty code you cannot keep on top of it yourself. something should be running in the backround watching your stuff.
Free stuff is good, but don't go without a software program that watches your Kernel.

 

Don't forget the oft overlooked necessity of Windows Updates if you run Windows. I'm sure that yours is current, but many people I know don't keep theirs current. I just reformatted a friend's computer because there were so many infected files that the computer was basically worthless online.

 

A good anti-trojan prog would be nice. I can link you to a couple webpage that will load a trojan on your machine without your knowledge unless you have it running in the background. I dunno how it works, but I'll be surfing the web and my NAV will pop up and give me the name of the webpage and say it contains a trojan, which it cant repair.

Just something to keep in mind, virus and worms are much or complicated today then they were 5 years ago. You dont have to download and execute a file anymore, if it was that easy everyone would be writing virii....

 

I would seriously reconsider about the anti virus program as mycrash stated.

I use to be a fan of Mcafee, but since then have seen the light
It is a memory hog, and Windows would take awhile to boot, and for me to get into the Explorer.

I now run version 7 of AVG, and it hardly uses any recourses.
You can get version 6 for free, which I tried out before version 7.
Version 6 will protect you just fine.

I too run Spybot a few times a week along with a paid version of SpySweeper.
Those two programs and my AVG keep me safe.

A lot of people say not to use Internet Exploder, but I love that browser, and I get zero spyware or malicious code running it and my other programs.
SpySweeper can keep a lot of stuff off of your PC.

As far as Norton, I have never ran it, nor will I.
I hear it is twice the system hog that Mcafee is.
People have lots of snafus with it too.

 

wow... very scary advice...

as someone who takes care of crap like this... ANY anti virus s/w running in the background IS NECESSARY these days...

if you will wanna do someothing like this, run your account as a LIMITED USER at least...

FWIW, i use the enterprise version of mcafee...

 

My opinion is highly bias considering I've been using NAV since 2002. But its not a memory hog imo. After you do a full system scan everything is a little slow, like after a reboot. Other then that seems to work wonders, good incoming and outgoing email protection and with it running in the background I can tell which websites not to visit if they contain trojans.

Bad thing about NAV is once its installed its really tough to uninstall and I find it easier to reformat. I wanted to try AVG once but NAV files wouldnt let it, and it didnt want me to uninstall it. I was trying to uninstall NAV because my virus defination subscription had expired, and I thought maybe if I reinstalled it, I'd get another year for free. It didnt like that idea and didnt want to uninstall, and after deleting it manually it still would let AVG run. So I reformated and through a fresh copy of NAV back on, which gave me another free year ...

 

It's programs like that which don't give you complete control that piss me off.

That's my biggest problem with Norton badged products... they just assume your PC is better off in their hands.

 

I've found that same glitch. At one point NAV complained my license file was corrupt and I should re-install. Yup...re-installed and got another year (without reformatting).

I wish I knew where they hid there little trigger file / code, then I would just run NAV year after year.

Just a pain to upgrade each year. Sure at $20/year I could keep my subscription going...but at the same time they are upgrading the A/V engine. I wish they would have a minor charge like $15/year for all definitions and the engine/software. Instead, I jumped ship and now I'm running a completely free A/V prog.

Jim

 

Member Drew just pulled NAV off of a neighbors PC tonight, as it was making the PC run real slow.

Drew use to run NAV at one time, but he had a lot of problems with it.
He runs Mcafee 8 now, and hates the security screen that comes on when you boot into Windows.

I really like how AVG does not slow down my PC at all.
I can see a big diff between it and Mcafee.
I had used Mcafee for 10 years, and even tried version 8.

I am sold on AVG.
I have the software that Microsoft employees are required to run while at work, but I have not yet installed it on my old PC to test it out yet.
It is suppose to be really good, and is called Etrust.

 

eTrust isn't too bad, we run that at my law firm. I think the main thing with them is that it is very cheap ($$$-wise, not quality) and very light on the PC. Anywho, be careful as there are different versions of eTrust. There is one called eShield or something...and that is very limited in what it can do. The true "eTrust" software is the thing to run.

Jim

 

Now that I've been running the latest version of AVG v.7.0 for a week, I can say that the computer is faster from boot to shutdown, and this v. of AVG seems to have all of the features of NAV and then some. The main difference I see is on a full system scan. NAV scans 305,000 files while AVG scans 75,000. I don't know what the difference is there, but all other features look identical, including email in/out scans.

I had no problem uninstalling NAV in the order prescribed in Control Panel. One of the features, Auto Update I think, must be uninstalled before the rest of the program. It wasn't immediately obvious, but when I clicked on uninstall of the separate NAV apps within the program, a notation appeared about which to uninstall first.

 

Greetings,
I have a really dumb question. Why buy AVG when there is a free verision? What does the free verision not do that the paid version does? When McAfee was free, a long long long time ago, there was only one version. When it went paid, you had to pay.
I checked the AVG website and noticed that 6.0 is no lnoger supported after 12/31/04. But there is still a free version available.

This always has puzzled me.......

Thanks

 

They're just updating the free version. They're simply stating that after they release the next free version (7.0 i'm assuming), 6.0 won't be supported anymore.

As to what the paid version does over the free version, the answer's found on their website. Basically, the paid version has a different scan engine and more features.

 

That means once is scanning more files on your computer, and the other isnt scanning the entire system.....its not even scanning a 3rd of the files. You just unsold me on AVG heheheh....

 

Now now now...
Lets get some facts first.

Bob, I think NAV is lying to you.
305K files?
Go into your Explorer and highlight all of your files and do a right click on them to add them all up.
Also make sure you run the full test of AVG, and not the quick scan.
http://www.pnw4runners.com/temp2/avg.jpg

As you can see in the next photo, AVG scanned 64,324 files.
http://www.pnw4runners.com/temp2/avg2.jpg

I did a props on my C drive, and I have a total of 66,451 files.
That leaves 2,127 files that AVG did not touch, and that could be files in the trash, and files in the System Restore.

I would add up all of your files again in Explorer, then run your full test, then subtract how many AVG left alone.

I am willing to bet that NAV is not being truthful with you.
You could not pay me to put any Norton software on my PC, as I have personally seen it fubar up many a PC.

I am curious to your total files on your PC verses what the full scan with AVG is.
Let us know.