Dump Norton 2001 for AVG 7.0 free?

My parents have an older computer that has very bad specs, (700 MHz, 64 Mb ram) it currently has Norton 2001 installed (it came with the computer) but the defintions will no longer update unless you purchase it and they have not been updated since 2003! I want to uninstall it and put AVG free on instead but had a few questions first, is Norton 2001 a pain to remove? Is AVG lighter on resources than Norton 2001 (I know newer versions or Norton are bloated)? I used to have AVG Free on my computer (which has much better specs) and it did not seem to slow it down at all, but this computer is much slower and cannot afford slowdown. Thanks for any input.

 

I use AVG 7.0 on a Celeron 600MHz (with 256MB memory) with no significant slowdown at all. But it uses about 40MB with the email scanner. I also just started using avast! 4.5 on another PC, and that is very nice too (and free for home use). It uses 27MB. Both are on WinXP SP2 machines. I don't know how that compares with Norton, but buy some more memory; it is cheap.

The last time I removed Norton 2001, I think I had to use at least one registry cleaner to get things right again. Try RegSeeker (free) or RegSupreme (not free, but low cost and worth it). But once you get rid of Norton, you won't look back.

 

Hi Matt, here is a link directly from symantecs website instructing you how to uninstall norton antivirus 2001. http://search.symantec.com/custom/us/query.html I also think you need to add more memory..just my opinion.

 

That wasn't the link I was wanting to put here. Just click on the above link. Type "uninstall norton antivirus 2001" in the search box. You will be there.

 

I would dump Norton for either AVG or Avast.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, yes I agree that 64 Mb of ram is grossly inadequate, it should have at the very least 128. I think I may throw a stick of 128 or 256 in there for my parents which will hopefully speed things up and I am going to get rid of Norton.

 

In my experience, Norton seems to miss threats on my PC and so I am now using a replacement. On a side note, I think you should be able to download the updates so that they can be placed on a disk and moved to another PC.

Jimbob

 

I got rid of Norton today, it seemed to un-install ok but I have not checked the registy yet. AVG 7 seems to be lighter on resources and it found 10 Trojans and was able to clean most of them. The computer seems to be running a bit better now, I am sure that those Trojans where slowing it down a bit. There are still two left in system restore that AVG cannot get rid of, does anyone know how to disable it or wipe out all the restore points on Windows ME?

 

Hi Matt. Hre's how to disable system restore in "windows me"
1- Right click "my computer"

2- Click "properties"

3- Click "performance"

4- Click "file system"

5- Click "troubleshooting"

6- check the box "disable system restore"

7- click "apply", then "ok"

your computer will then restart. To restore system restore, just go back following the above instructions. Uncheck the box "disable system restore.

 

Thanks Mr2cents,

I will run another scan later but the system should be clean now, unless of course there are viruses that AVG cannot detect on here. I also ordered a stick of ram (128 Mb's) for it today, hopefully that will speed things up.

 

I'd say either AVG7 or the new AVAST which seems to be relatively lighter on resources than the older versions. Either would probably be fine for your parents computer.

Adding more RAM is an ideal way to speed up an older machine. It's amazing what doubling or tripling RAM can do to an old box.

 

Matt, If your not sure whether your system is clean. You can do a free online virus scan here. http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ and here http://www.pandasoftware.com . On pandas home page, look on the left side of the page toward the bottom. You're looking for "panda Activescan". You can also get a free virus scan here.

Housecall seems to be the faster of the 2. You didn't mention if you are on dialup, or highspeed internet access. If your on dialup definately go to housecall. It will take a while,but I used to do online scans with housecall while I was on dialup. Glad to see your purchasing a 128 mb stick of ram. 64 mb is not enough to run windows me. 128 mb is the minimum you should run with windows me. With the 128 stick, and the 64 mb stick of ram. You will have 192 mb. That's exactly what I'm running. I also have a 700 mhz processor. I bet the computer has been doing a lot of freeze ups with 64 mb.

I'm getting off topic here Hope your system turns up clean

 

I actually ran house call before installing AVG and it only found one of the several Trojans on there. I will try the Panda scan though. And yes this system locks up quite a bit and is very frustrating to use, I feel bad that my parents have to use it on a day to day basis so I am trying to make it run better for them.