Keep my 2005 Thinkpad's packaged AV?

My Thinkpad T43 is still running the original AV that came with it 3 years ago. I don't really know much about it except that it says 'Symantec Antivirus 10.0.2.2000 Full' in the 'about' screen.

Am I fine just keeping this old one or will I be better off switching to a free AV like Avira?

 

if its 3 years old it will have download the newest signitures but wont have the newest engine so wont be able to detect the lastest malware even thou it has the signitures to. if you open up the interface what does it look like? can you post a screenshot?

there is a few solutions.
if you want to remove the current version you have fully you need to find out which version it is to make sure you get the correct norton removal tool to use after uninstalling in add/remove programs. if you want to try solution one find out what your license key from within the program.

1.you can then always if its a home user product you can try downloading norton 2008 trial from there home page and trying putting in your current licence.
if not and you still want to use nis2008 i can give you my spare nis or nav license.

2.uninstall current version of norton as descriped above then download and install a "decent free av"

i would choose option 2 myself but its up to you.

 

I agree with lodore. A 3-year old av will be obsolete, and probably the heuristic engine will be the one that will suffer the most. And since it is only an antivirus, you should have no problem switching to a good free av.

 

screenshots should work now

 

Curious, was this installed by IBM? Personally I never saw Symantec Corporate Antivirus pre-installed from factory...

 

If it wasn't factory installed, I don't even remember where it came from. It's been on here as long as I can remember.. I remember the university I went to offered school-sponsored McAfee, but for some reason I still have this Symantec.

It's also been starting to act funny lately, giving me random popups saying its auto-protect is disabled even though I haven't touched it and its auto-protect check mark is still there.

 

@ou3
Ahhh, understood. Like advised, go with one of the free av's!

 

My uni gives out SAV too. Check on the Symantec website what engine is the most recent and compare to how old yours is. If SAV actually updates its scan engine, then it should be ok. Otherwise get a free av like everyone else is suggesting.

 

So long as you are able to connect to IT-SAV your "Parent Server" you are fine. Depending on the Server settings you may not be able to uninstall this AV consequently, sometimes managed mode is great others it is a straight pain in the Arse.