# Norton Antivirus vs. AVG anti-virus free?



## Yoshi123 (Nov 27, 2007)

Which is better?

I've heard that AVG free is good.
I've heard recently Norton is bad.

I currently have Norton right now.


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## bobbydiaz (Sep 19, 2007)

Norton is a resource hog and AVG used to be pretty decent, not sure how they are now. Read some bad things about them awhile back. If you're looking for a free anti-virus try Avast Home Edition. You register it and they send a serial thats good for 14 months. Once that expires you can re-register for another free serial. They have an awesome anti-virus, doesn't use a lot of resources. The only bad thing is there is not a scheduled scan. But you can use the Avast screen saver to scan your machine when the screen saver comes on.

You can even try Comodo Anti-virus, it is also free. i don't have to much experience with their anti-virus. I have read a few of the reviews and it is worth a shot...it is free!

Hope that helps!


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## GoblinCleaver (Jan 18, 2008)

AVG for the simple fact that Norton releases their own viruses...So they can get more business...

Okay, all conspiracy theories aside, I trust AVG a little more just because it's worked for me for a long time and never seems to slow down my computer's performance with a "security center" or something of the like. AVG just kind of, stays out of the way, I guess, and that's how I like it. I'd use McAfee over Norton even, personally. But I'd use a Linux distro over Windows anyday too, and that's probably the best way to solve this problem: hardening.


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## Yoshi123 (Nov 27, 2007)

But does Norton have a largesr database than AVG? (Meaning it can detect more)


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## AV1611 (May 24, 2007)

Personally I prefer Avast but out of the two, AVG is better.


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## DarqueMist (Jan 16, 2001)

Yoshi123 said:


> But does Norton have a largesr database than AVG? (Meaning it can detect more)


largest data base shouldn't be the deciding factor for you. New and altered viruses, trojans and such are being introduced to fast to rely on data bases for protection. More importantly you want to look at heuristics (the ability of the AV software to detect infections by their actions), this will help protect you against new threats that haven't been included in data bases yet.


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## r3drock3t88 (Jan 13, 2007)

I've always had trouble with norton. Why do you think it usually comes standard on the new Vista based machines?


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## bobbydiaz (Sep 19, 2007)

I am willing to bet the reason Norton is in all of these machines is because they were the highest bidder!

To tell you the truth, Norton used to be a very good AV but they are the perfect example of a company taking on to much! I don't think you can even buy just the AV anymore...you have to get the full blown suite and it takes over the whole damn system. I guess its good for the people who have no idea how to maintain their machines! But not for me.


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## r3drock3t88 (Jan 13, 2007)

I agree, seems like every computer that has Norton now a days is run the Norton way. (if that makes sense haha) ... They were good at one time, but now a days it seems like they've just over done it.


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

Norton costs too much, Slows the computer down, and I was always having to remove it and reinstall it to fix it.
Then I'd have to call Norton and explain why I used up my allotted activations.

I've switched to AVG free, Zone Alarm, CCleaner and WinPatrol .. all free.

Then, With the money I saved, I got Acronis True Image and an external Hard Drive to backup my computer with.
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

Now, I can fix anything in about 20 minutes ... 
Even when Windows gets confused for no good reason.


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## DarklykraD (Jan 22, 2008)

Norton has large database of virus

Million Company use Norton and Mcafee


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## mrss (Jun 13, 2007)

If you were to browse the hijack this threads over in the malware removal forum, you would find the infected PC's were running all kinds of free or paid anti-virus programs, including AVG, Norton, McAfee, CA Network assocates, etc. I don't know what it means, except that we should be careful what we download and what we click.


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## sup2a (Oct 9, 2007)

AV1611 said:


> Personally I prefer Avast but out of the two, AVG is better.


got it in one


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## Tentel11 (Feb 2, 2008)

I've been using Avast for quite a while now and it is fantastic.
They update their database at least once a day, and they offer real time protection, which is quite useful.



i have a question for someone with experience with Mcafee:
I have Comcast, and Mcafee is offered free with it, so would it be worth it to switch over?
I'm not hugely worried about viruses (for all it's faults, Vista's UAC and IE7s protected mode makes it very difficult to aquire viruses), but Mcafee has many more useful features than Avast, and keep in mind that both are free.

I'm not terribly worried about running low on resouces, as it is, i've never been able to push my RAM usage to even 60%, even with my computer being on for days and running multiple programs such as AutoCAD.

Oh, and by the way, after 4 months of running Avast on a clean install of Vista, I ran the Kaspersky free system scan and it came up clean. For a free program, Avast is frantastic.


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## ekim68 (Jul 8, 2003)

IMO, Mcafee is as bloated as Norton...If you have your own security and it's working, why fix it?


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## Tentel11 (Feb 2, 2008)

You make a good point, and I pretty much feel the same way.

Mainly, the only reason I have considered switching over to Mcafee is because it has a feature that significantly cleans up the hard drive.
It does much more than just what Windows clean up does (ie, deleting unused Active X files and such).

I'll browse around for a good clean up utility, but I don't want to get off topic and hijack the thread, so I'll leave off here.

Thanks for the info guys.


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

Tentel11 said:


> ...I'll browse around for a good clean up utility...


http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/


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## jonmcc33 (Jan 26, 2008)

Wow. I certainly didn't want to vote for Norton but for any of you to vote AVG as the better of the two clearly shows that you don't know your AV programs. AVG is unacceptable for AV protection in my book. I had to learn the hard way by spending several hours reformattitng and reinstalling my OS because AVG itself got infected with a virus and it just started going crazy from there.


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

If you'd backed up with ... http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/
You could have pushed a couple of buttons ... taken a ~~15 minute break .. and came back to a restored computer.

Back when I had Norton .. the first clue that I had a problem .. was when Norton quit working.


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## jonmcc33 (Jan 26, 2008)

Noyb said:


> If you'd backed up with ... http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/
> You could have pushed a couple of buttons ... taken a ~~15 minute break .. and came back to a restored computer.
> 
> Back when I had Norton .. the first clue that I had a problem .. was when Norton quit working.


I'm well aware of Acronis. I have the free version from Seagate. I've used it to create an image of my laptop.

I see what you're saying about Norton but it was the same as, if not worse than, AVG. Not only did it stop working but the virus infected it and started infecting every process I had running at the time. :down:


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

I've had to restore many times.
Twice before I figured out the WMP11 update was killing my Sonic recording software.
Once before I figured out the IE7 update was killing my scanner software.
Once when I found out Vista is a Joke.
And about a half dozen other times when Windows got confused for no apparent reason.

My Point .. I have a different definition regarding Viruses  ... Acronis to the rescue :up:


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## jonmcc33 (Jan 26, 2008)

Noyb said:


> My Point .. I have a different definition regarding Viruses  ... Acronis to the rescue :up:


What if you open Acronis and it becomes infected? As I said, every process I had running became infected.


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

jonmcc33 said:


> What if you open Acronis and it becomes infected? As I said, every process I had running became infected.


Acronis can be run from a Boot CD, even if the HD is Blank .. no way to infect that.
The Acronis recovery files are just Data files stored in an External HD .. I have two just in case.
No way they can get infected.

My Acronis recovery files are the original Fresh installs.
Each time I recover .. I do any updating required ... 
(These program install files, Address book, favorites .. etc .. are stored in other data files...)
Then make a new Acronis backup... and keep the first two builds and the last three (or so)
So .. Each time I recover .. It is basically a fresh install.
Nothing tunes up a computer better than a fresh install.


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## jonmcc33 (Jan 26, 2008)

Noyb said:


> Acronis can be run from a Boot CD, even if the HD is Blank .. no way to infect that.
> The Acronis recovery files are just Data files stored in an External HD .. I have two just in case.
> No way they can get infected.


I don't have an external HDD. I put all my spare HDDs into my file server.


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## jbm1991 (Sep 1, 2007)

theyre both pretty rubbish i must be honets. and i personally really like mcafee, it doesnt use anywhere near as much resources and norton, its much less obtrusive than norton, and you get loads of handy little tools that do numerous things. but they arent thrust upon you so that you HAVE to use them. unlike norton and its back up system "YOU MUST BACK UP NOW" every few minutes until you set up their back up, even though i dont want to use their back up. i finally have mcafee total protection 2008 on all my systems and its great. you should change that poll of yours to include mcafee and avast, etc.


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## lbfan (Jan 30, 2008)

AVG is great for our family pc, I personally use Mcafee Virusscan Enterprise which does a great job and doesn't slow down my laptop at all


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## Yoshi123 (Nov 27, 2007)

I have 3 things to say:

1. From mostly everybody's view, Norton is worse.

2. How do you change the poll settings?

3. What about NOD32? I've heard its the best Anti-virus software with heuristics.


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## jonmcc33 (Jan 26, 2008)

NOD32 one of the best IMO. It's only downside is that it's not free.


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## jbm1991 (Sep 1, 2007)

*tentel* i would deffinately go for mcafee if you can get it for free, because of the reasons stated in my post above


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## Gizzy (Aug 2, 2005)

you can get mcafee for free here, http://www.natwest.com/microsites/personal/latest_deals/index.asp?referrer=online


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## sup2a (Oct 9, 2007)

ive had a few people who have had amny problems with mcafee, one of which had smitfraud C and mcafee did nothing didnt even suspect anything... also another person who had to reformat due to an infection, and once again mcafee did nothing! i tried to save but it was too far gone...


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## jonmcc33 (Jan 26, 2008)

sup2a said:


> ive had a few people who have had amny problems with mcafee, one of which had smitfraud C and mcafee did nothing didnt even suspect anything... also another person who had to reformat due to an infection, and once again mcafee did nothing! i tried to save but it was too far gone...


Yeah, my work uses it and it's the worst. The only thing that probably protects from viruses is that we've removed local admin rights across all of our systems. No user has local admin rights.


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