Messenger Virus Be Ware!

posted on March 23rd, 2010, 10:04 pm

From my experience, Norton is more akin to a virus itself than a piece of software designed to stop virus'.

Think about it... Norton infects your pc deep into the registry. If you uninstall it, it has been known to leave behind components which disrupt the function of other anti-virus software. If you leave it on your pc, it hogs resources, reduces your control and invades your use of your own pc. I've seen it fling popups in my face disrupting other programme, it's cut me off the net and crashed games in the past. Even on a clean pc, it ruins the pc's performance. In fact, the only thing that I can see which differentiates Norton from other virus', is that you don't normally have to pay £40 for the privilege of having a virus!

The only two AV programmes which have caught my eye are Comodo and Avast. Comodo happens to be a pretty good firewall/antivirus which is free. However, I have had the odd occasion where the Comodo service, cmdagent, goes nuts and hogs my pc, which is a mild irritant. Avast, is a no frills antivirus, which is practicall invisible! Just the way I like it.

posted on March 23rd, 2010, 10:04 pm

nortan is like a tribble.... presently i am using avg but i switch antivirus software pretty often also im supprised to see that no one has mentioned avast. Also the best protection from viruses is to do a full format and os install its great it gets rid of viruses, cleans out a lot of junk programs that you never use, and defrags your hard drive. lol to bad its not really all that practical

posted on March 23rd, 2010, 10:22 pm

Norton isnt a virus but a very demanding, spoiled, child that is hard to get rid of.

posted on March 24th, 2010, 12:08 am

nortan is like a tribble.... presently i am using avg but i switch antivirus software pretty often also im supprised to see that no one has mentioned avast. Also the best protection from viruses is to do a full format and os install its great it gets rid of viruses, cleans out a lot of junk programs that you never use, and defrags your hard drive. lol to bad its not really all that practical

Erm.

Read carefully the post above yours. Oh, the irony...

[Anonymous]

posted on March 24th, 2010, 12:45 am

Last edited by Anonymous on March 24th, 2010, 12:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

I know people who really like bitdefender.  You have to pay for it, but it's supposed to be pretty good.  I might try avast, as I have the tribble antivirus.  It hasn't even made any soft cooing sounds for me, either.  

Edit:  I said I might try Avast twice, because I'm senile. :wheelchair:

posted on March 24th, 2010, 12:54 am

I use a combo of Spybot S+D, Microsoft Security Essentials, and Norton 

posted on March 24th, 2010, 1:06 am

Ive used norton and trend micro and both those uberly suck....norton i will just call malware and trendy micro is junk....
I have used kaspersky for 2 years now and it has performed superbly for me.

On the subject of free anti-virus/malware I have heard many good things about avira. But im a firm beliver in "you get what u pay for".

posted on March 24th, 2010, 2:45 am

I use Spybot S+D, Avira and ZoneAlarm, haven't had any problems of any kind yet.  Well, one problem, ZoneAlarm and Supreme Commander 2 have a bit of a compatability issue, but temporarily ending one of ZoneAlarm's processes to start the game works a charm.

posted on March 24th, 2010, 2:58 am

Honestly, anything I have tried slows my system down a lot and eats too much RAM except for Avira Anitivirus and Microsoft Security Essentials. And I stick to the last one, as Avira has annoying advert popups after each update.

A real software firewall on Windows is useless anyway and if any, the Windows one is more than enough.

posted on March 24th, 2010, 3:39 am

Ok I think I got rid of it thanks to Dominus's help. All give a hand to dominus. 

posted on March 24th, 2010, 3:45 am

there are ways to get rid of aviras pop up adds if you like avira better.

posted on March 24th, 2010, 9:00 pm

a software firewall isnt that useful if you have a nat router.

but i use one anyway to block outgoing traffic. vista onwards contains a really configurable firewall out of the box. its the standard firewall, but using the mmc snap-in you can configure it to be amazingly powerful, you will never need to download a firewall. as for antivirus/spyware i use nod 32 by eset, its a paid for software but its hypothetically possible that there may be ways to not pay for it but still use it by some people engaged in extra legal activites, some people who are not me, and who i do not know or endorse :p

posted on March 24th, 2010, 9:14 pm

you should go into politics.

posted on March 24th, 2010, 9:49 pm

Why?

posted on March 24th, 2010, 10:38 pm

I was just joking about this part

its a paid for software but its hypothetically possible that there may be ways to not pay for it but still use it by some people engaged in extra legal activites, some people who are not me, and who i do not know or endorse :p