I've been using Norton for years, Please tell me there is something better out there?

Re: I've been using Norton for years, Please tell me there is something better out th

I do not get your point. I think that you are saying that ICSA certification only entails complying with frivolous criteria. Am I correct?

 

Re: I've been using Norton for years, Please tell me there is something better out th

My experience with KAV 6 seems to be in the minority. Why, I don't know. I have a 1.1 Gig processor and 512 RAM, so I don't believe that is the problem. My OS is XP Home/SP2. I have cable HSI connection.

I have installed/unstalled/installed KAV 6 numerous, but always run into the same problems. After the initial install, KAV 6 runs fine, noticed a slight slowdown in browsing speed. After a full day of running the computer, I turn it off at night. Next day, I startup the computer, KAV 6 loads fairly quickly. Browsing speed is slow, but speed picks up after a couple of minutes. Disabling HTTP scanning, has no affect. The real problem comes after a full system scan. My browsing speed slows to a crawl. This lasts for about five minutes. This to me is unacceptable. Like I've said, I've tried numerous times to try to make KAV work on my computer, but it just won't.

I liked BitDefender also. I ran BitDefender 9 Standard. It ran great on my computer, but I had issues with it's e-mail scanner. It wouldn't scan incoming/outgoing e-mails in Outlook Express. I spent some time with BD's live tech support, and their e-mail support, but could never figure out why it wouldn't scan my e-mails. I was told by support to remove SpywareBlaster, and some other software that they claimed was not compatable with BD. I was reluctant to do this, but did so anyway just to see if it would fix the problem. It didn't. I know a lot of people don't use an AV's e-mail scanner, but I figure if it's there, it should work.

I like NOD32 because it doesn't affect my computer's performance, (startup and browsing speed). It's very light. If it wasn't for the NOD icon in the taskbar, I wouldn't know I had an AV on the computer. NOD's detection rate ain't bad either. The reason I wasn't sure at first if I liked NOD, was because I thought I always had to monitor Client Compatibility in IMON's HTTP setting. Blackspear set me straight on that.

 

Graystroke,
Thank you for the added details. It is very helpful. Let me ask you one more question. What did you mean by:

 

FeSecure will scan all webmail on access. P2P or anything else coming into your computer is scanned. and as for updating I will let you see my update log of course this is just the last updates the total log is large. And some testing sites don't like to test products with multiple scan engines. if Kav passed you can rest assured that F-Secure passed also since it uses a Kav scan engine along with three others.

 

Re: I've been using Norton for years, Please tell me there is something better out th

Hi Dallen,

No I have not tried F-Secure, but it seems to have a good reputation.

My compatibility issues with BD were posted here.
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=123203

To summarize my problems, BD folks wanted me to uninstall about all other anti-malware programs. They said that BD would protect in all those areas. I do not agree, and especially in the area of AT. I concluded that from AV Comparatives, and the detection rates of trojans.
Subsequently there have been post regarding the same issues. So as good as it is, I do not want it as a single layer of protection.

Hope this helps.
Jerry

 

JerryM,
In Bit Defender's defense you did have a hellofa lot of security applications, many of which designed for the same purpose. I'm in agreement with your philosophy of a layered approach to computer security, but I also believe in a layered smothering of a system.

That being said, I do use Spybot Search & Destroy. However, I would not be opposed to removing it in favor of an AV that I liked. You see, I am like you in a way, although not to such an extreme. I use SpywareBlaster, Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad-Aware, Spysweeper & Windows Defender. Frankly, I know I do not need Spybot Search & Destroy because it has not found anything in over a year. Ad-aware is very rarely good for anything but cleaning MRUs (they are not concerned about home users any more in favor of businesses). Windows Defender seems promising, but currently Spysweeper takes care of everything. I'm not even sure SpywareBlaster is necessary, although I have some faith in it.

bigc73542,
F-Secure has drawn my attention. Thank you for opening my eyes to it as a candidate. I will say that it is damn expensive. However, my system's security is worth it and it is not much more than Symantec. I have concluded that BitDefender is the best value, but I am not as concerned about value as I am security and performance. What are the advantages and disadvantages with useing multiple engines? What other engines do they use? What is your biggest complaint about F-Secure? Do you use their AV solution only or a suite? Are there any notorious software conflicts between F-Secure and other common security apps? I use First Defense ISR, ZoneAlarm , and Spysweeper (in order from "absolutely will not part with" to "really like").

 

Re: I've been using Norton for years, Please tell me there is something better out th

Dallen,
[In Bit Defender's defense you did have a hellofa lot of security applications, many of which designed for the same purpose. I'm in agreement with your philosophy of a layered approach to computer security, but I also believe in a layered smothering of a system.]

Yes, but most were only on-demand scanners that I wanted to see if they found anything. I fail to see how they, being normally inactive, would interfere or smother the system. There was no other AV other than the on-line scans shortcuts.
I was willing to get rid of those. But when they wanted me to get rid of Ewido, and Spybot, SG, and AdAware I was not willing to do that. Especially Ewido, my AT.

It is strange that only BD has issues with so many other anti-malware applications. NOD, KAV, and Avast do not on my systems, and I would rather use one of those under the circumstances.

Others have had similar problems with the latest BD, but if that is not a problem then BD is an excellent AV. In my case I saw no reason to use it when some others suited me better, and did not have the conflicts.

Jerry

 

Re: I've been using Norton for years, Please tell me there is something better out th

Hi Dallen. I hope you have fun evaluating which of these products work best for you. I have NOD and KAV licenses at the moment and am testing out Bitdefender 9. After trying out just about every antivirus known to man and a few that probably should remain unknown, it looks like I will be sticking with NOD. I am going to give BitDefender a bit more time, but I like the configurability and speed of NOD a bit better.

One of the best things I see in NOD is that it ranks high on my scale of power versus efficiency. I can crank the NOD settings to max with no noticeable effect on my computing experience. Most of the others I tried slowed way down when the settings were tweaked to maximum protection. (Whether or not one really needs maximum protection is another questions altogether.) Each of BitDefender, F-Secure, and AVK had noticeable impact on my computer with the higher settings.

I also like NOD's http scanner the best. It can be set to totally disallow access to pages with infected files. Some of the other programs will allow you to download files to your computer and then detect them with a resident scanner. There has been discussion of why http scanning is a good thing in some other threads on this board.

This http scanning is what Graystoke was referring to when he mentioned the client compatibility setting. This is basically a setting that affects the efficiency and detection capabilities of the http scanner.

Also, you mentioned BitDefender as the best value. If your sig is up-to-date, I see that you are a student. You can get an educational discount on NOD from various resellers. The cost is $19.50 for one year or $29.25 for two years. The two sources for this that I have seen are:

http://www.nod32-av.com/purchase/purchase.htm

http://www.nod32usa.com/anti-virus-software-store/NOD32_Student_Licensing.html

Both of those sites are run by regular posters here at Wilders.

 

I run the F-Secure internet security suite. I have not found any conflicts with F-Secure and any software I run or have heard about. I also run FDISR and it runs just fine with F-Secure. The only complaint I have with F-Secure is that when it scans email it scans each email individually instead as a group and it takes a little bit longer but at least I know it has been scanned. and here are the four scan engines in f-secure Internet security suite. there is a seperate engine for antivirus/spyware/spam/rootkits see screen shot. the AVP engine is Kaspersky

 

Re: I've been using Norton for years, Please tell me there is something better out th

Hi David,
Not quiet correct. A few others have posted conflicts, and advice from BD to eliminate some programs. The BD readme file states that it is not compatible with Spybot, and one other that I do not remember as I do not have it on my machine. Here is one thread.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=127521&highlight=Defender

Here are the programs BD told me MUST be removed.
CCleaner (remove only)
ewido security suite
Kaspersky On-line Scanner
Panda ActiveScan
Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.4 Spybot - Search & Destroy_is1
Spyware Doctor 3.2
SpywareBlaster v3.5.1
X-Cleaner Freeware
Microsoft AntiSpyware
Spy Sweeper

Notice that the two AVs were only on-line scanner shortcuts, and were not installed on my computer. Spyware Doctor was a free version that I only used as an on-demand scanner. MSAS was an unnecessary duplication and it was not active, but BD also wanted me to uninstall SpySweeper. In effect BD did not seem to want any other anti-malware on my computer.

As for whether something is wrong with my machine, I doubt it since it had no problem until the later updates with BD, and with the elimination of BD I have had no problems.

Whether anything is wrong with my computer or not, if a program does not work with it I ditch it, and get one that will. I have tried that with NOD, KAV, and Avast. Each worked flawlessly and without conflict, except KAV did not like Snoopfree if I recall correctly. I ditched Snoopfree.

I have no quarrel with anyone who wants to use BD. It is a very effective program, but I have no time for one that is not compatible with other programs I desire to use. If it works with yours stay with it. It isn’t for me and all I have done is report my experience.

I see no reason to “fool with” and AV that gives me trouble when so many other good ones are around.

Have a good day,
Jerry

 

Re: I've been using Norton for years, Please tell me there is something better out th

Hello dallen.

In IMON>HTTP, there is a Client Compatibility setting. There are two settings, High Compatibility and High Effeciency. High Effeciency offers better protection, and is recommended by Blackspear in his Extra Settings thread.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=37509

I set all apps to High Effeciency except for Windows Media Player. That is the only thing I had problems with in High Effeciency, so I have it set to High Compatibility. High Compatibility is the default setting in NOD.

I thought I had to check those settings frequently to make sure everything was still setup the way I wanted them. Blackspeak assured me I didn't need to constantly check them. I basically don't check any settings in NOD anymore. I just let it run and do it's thing.

Hope the clears things up a little.