Spyware, viruses, & security : Renew My Norton AV for $$ or Other AV's etc for Free?
Renew My Norton AV for $$ or Other AV's etc for Free?
by ladytrickster - 12/28/08 1:13 PMHellllo! And Happy New Year! I'm Stillll a Dummie... Should I renew my Norton AV, which I'ved used with success for years (how to measure "success?") - or let it slide, and replace it's Great "Blocking Incoming Beast" capability, with a whole group of other, Free downloads of Anti-Virus, Spyware, Adware, Malware (which must have) live protection & deletion programs? Be honest pleeze, but Merciful - I have a Dinosaur Dial-Up; Program Downloads take about 3 weeks (just kidding); some don't make it at all (AdAware-why?), and I'm O'Leary of giving up the Big Name Product. I have to decide right away as the "prescription" is just about to expire (or is that the patient?). Thanks in advance to all of you who'll give me tons of advice - I need it, and it can't be very difficult even for a dummie. -ginni P.S. Win XP Pro, older ver 5.something, nothing fancy. MS Office Pro - Norton frequently finds and live-blocks Trojans knocking right up on the door every time I use WORD - why'z that??? - So - The Big Question - What Security Programs should I have? Please Be Specific, and advise re: Norton. thanks again.
Well...
by CascaLonginus - 12/28/08 4:07 PM In reply to: Renew My Norton AV for $$ or Other AV's etc for Free? by ladytricksterIn the end, it's all up to preference.
Below is a link to a guide of your operating system,(chose correct) and in the security section (see index)it will explain security in plain English, I follow his advice, and I don't have active security running in my background at all, and I don't suffer major virus attacks, and whatnot. Of coarse in the end, it will be your choice. It shouldn't take long, even with your connection to download, its just a simple PDF file, but you will need Adobe reader to read it. Kope this helps you make a wise choice for your purposes.
http://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html
What Service Pack Level on XP?
by tobeach - 12/28/08 10:36 PM In reply to: Renew My Norton AV for $$ or Other AV's etc for Free? by ladytricksterThis will currently severely limit your choices for active protection.
IF you do not have SP2 or higher, you CAN NOT use current Adaware or AVG 8 & several others. These newer programs are also MUCH larger than the former versions.
Note: IF you DO decide to leave Norton/Symantec...You WILL NEED
to use their "un-install tool" to get completely rid of it!!
Normal un-install via CP leaves stuff back which can prevent sucessfull install of others' security products.
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039?Open&src=&docid=2001092114452606&nsf=nav.nsf&view=docid&dtype=&prod=&ver=&osv=&osv_lvl=
Norton will try everything short of sending Guido to your house to hold your family hostage at gun point to keep you from jumping ship! LOL! 
You could try COMODO BOClean 4.27 (they also offer a personal firewall,
Both have free versions for home use) Read about them & Download at:
http://www.comodo.com/boclean/CBO_download.html?
http://support.comodo.com/
& can work well with:
http://www.free-av.com/ (aka AVIRA free, highly rated av)
http://www.avast.com/eng/free_virus_protectio.html (User Friendly)
All MS office products are famous for people constantly finding new holes in those various components and virtually every MS patch Tuesday
(2nd Tuesday every month) has more patches for it.
Many people have switched over to or are using also Open Office (free)
and generally make comments like "Where have you been all my life??!!". MS, here's our divorce papers!! Google search for it.
Good Luck & Enjoy!! 
Frankly, if you are
by Tarq57 - 12/29/08 3:18 AM In reply to: Renew My Norton AV for $$ or Other AV's etc for Free? by ladytricksterhappy with how the Norton program has worked for you, and are confident in using it, keep using it. (Better still, with the renewal get NAV or NIS 2009. User reports indicate it works well without slowdowns, and is much improved on earlier versions.)
If you are not really a dummy and are happy to learn the pros and cons of different programs, spend some time learning what it is you need to guard and how best to achieve that. The firewall is the basic gatekeeper, the AV the guard at the door, a behaviour blocker will allow something in, but will ask your permission any time that something tries to do anything (if it's an unknown program, or a known program doing something unusual), backups and/or imaging are real important, last but not least, disallow active scripting in the browser, consider operating in a limited user account (or applying that limited permission to browsers) and learn the signs of phishing, how addresses should look in the status bar, and what not to click on, and read EULA's. Bit of learning. There are tutorials/info for all and each of those subjects all over the web. Worth learning about even if sticking with the "Big Gun" (Norton.)
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