Anti virus

[Tim Lamb]

Norton are kindly offering me an upgrade claimed to be compatible with
Windows 8!

As I am still on XP service pack 3 are there any gotchas?
--
Tim Lamb

[John Williamson]

Yes, it's Norton. Get rid of it and install something, anything, else
except McAfee.

Microsoft Security Essentials is free, as are AVG, Avast! and many
others, all of which work better than Norton and use a fraction of the
resources. I use Kaspersky, but only because it's the one supplied and
recommended by my bank, so if it all goes horribly wrong on the banking
front, I've got my due diligence sorted out.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

[Ivan Dobsky]

"John Williamson" <johnwil...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:b2da4r...@mid.individual.net...

I've been using Avast! for a couple of weeks now, and all seems good. I had
been using AVG, but I was getting annoyed at the frequency with which it
wanted me to reboot. I'll soon find out if Avast! is any better in this
respect.

But as a network admin years ago, I was amazed how popular McAfee was. I
found it to be terrible. Never tried Norton, but having tried a few Symantec
things, I was never tempted to go near it. Which was a shame because I
thought Norton made a few really good utilities in the old days.

[Brian Gaff]

Who knows but its bound to be slow on older hardware and may not even work
properly in xp.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________


"Tim Lamb" <t...@marfordfarm.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:bH1WUtFh...@marfordfarm.demon.co.uk...

[Martin Brown]

Norton utilities in the very distant old days was good. Not so its
modern offerings unless you are fond of resource hungry bloatware.

McAfee seems to combine the worst of all worlds. I marvel at the fact
that so many corporate IT types inflict it upon their end users!

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

[Mentalguy2k8]

"John Williamson" <johnwil...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:b2da4r...@mid.individual.net...

> Tim Lamb wrote:
>> Norton are kindly offering me an upgrade claimed to be compatible with
>> Windows 8!
>>
>> As I am still on XP service pack 3 are there any gotchas?
>
> Yes, it's Norton. Get rid of it and install something, anything, else
> except McAfee.
>
> Microsoft Security Essentials is free, as are AVG, Avast! and many others,
> all of which work better than Norton and use a fraction of the resources.

+1

I haven't used an installed antivirus for a long time, a combination of good
firewall (Online Armor Free in my case), common sense and a regular
Malwarebytes scan keeps everything just fine at a fraction of the
resource-cost of Norton. With perhaps an occasional "root kit" scan.

I do a thorough online virus scan once in a blue moon and it never finds
anything except a few "false flag" files inside RAR archives that I knew
about anyway.

I like Online Armor because it's set up to ask me about every new program
that's trying to open, install, modify other programs, connect online etc,
so I can see exactly what's going on. Probably not the best idea for
complete beginners (like my father in law) who tick every box and click
"yes" to everything, but in my experience it's caught everything dubious and
given me the option to proceed or cancel. And revoke permissions
retrospectively.

[Davey]

On Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:14:48 +0100
Martin Brown <|||newspam|||@nezumi.demon.co.uk> wrote:

> On 19/06/2013 10:08, Ivan Dobsky wrote:
> > "John Williamson" <johnwil...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
> > news:b2da4r...@mid.individual.net...
> >> Tim Lamb wrote:
> >>> Norton are kindly offering me an upgrade claimed to be compatible
> >>> with Windows 8!
> >>>
> >>> As I am still on XP service pack 3 are there any gotchas?
> >>
> >> Yes, it's Norton. Get rid of it and install something, anything,
> >> else except McAfee.
> >>

snip

>
> Norton utilities in the very distant old days was good. Not so its
> modern offerings unless you are fond of resource hungry bloatware.
>
> McAfee seems to combine the worst of all worlds.

Agreed on all counts. Norton started to delay the booting of my PC to
the point where it was more than just stupid, so I dumped it, and have
no regrets.

--
Davey.

[Mentalguy2k8]

"Martin Brown" <|||newspam|||@nezumi.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:eEewt.39990$1O3....@newsfe22.iad...

>
> Norton utilities in the very distant old days was good. Not so its modern
> offerings unless you are fond of resource hungry bloatware.
>
> McAfee seems to combine the worst of all worlds. I marvel at the fact that
> so many corporate IT types inflict it upon their end users!

I'd be wary of any software maker that has deals in place to have their
bloated stuff pre-installed on new PCs. Their paid "updates" are no
different to Epson giving away printers but charging the earth for ink. "If
you uninstall this software or refill your ink cartridges, bad things will
happen to you & your family"

I had an uninvited copy of Norton on a new PC that I bought a few years ago,
and you had to actually download *another* Norton program (not advertised
but found via Google) to uninstall it properly, the preinstalled uninstall
option left bits of it everywhere and crashed the OS. And even then you had
to answer questions like "Hey, you do know you will die horribly if you
uninstall this? Yes or No?". And of course, the Windows recovery disk that
came with the PC wasn't actually a vanilla copy of Windows, it was the PC
manufacturer's buggered-about-with copy of Windows so the unwary would
re-install Windows after a major issue, and end up with all the crap again.

It's the same thing nowadays with Smartphones that come with crap like
Spotify and cloud storage already loaded and can't be removed (unless you
void your warranty and root the device). At least on a PC you can eventually
get rid of this rubbish, it may take a few days but you'll get there.

[Peter Percival]

Ivan Dobsky wrote:
>

> [...] Which was a shame because I

> thought Norton made a few really good utilities in the old days.

In the days of DOS they did. (So, 20 years or more ago.)

--
I think I am an Elephant,
Behind another Elephant
Behind /another/ Elephant who isn't really there....
A.A. Milne

[Adrian]

On Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:58:01 +0100, John Williamson wrote:

> Yes, it's Norton. Get rid of it and install something, anything, else
> except McAfee.

^ THIS. He speaks the truth. Norton AV is a pile of steaming turd. It's
not even a particularly _good_ pile of steaming turd at doing the basic
job of an AV.

[polygonum]

On 19/06/2013 10:08, Ivan Dobsky wrote:

> I was amazed how popular McAfee was

"Popular" isn't a word that springs to mind re _any_ AV product! (Unless
preceded by "un".)

Afraid I stick with MSE which seems to be undersold by MS (possibly to
avoid war with other AV companies). Least intrusive. Have tried many
over the years and each one has seen fit to piss me off. Was it AVG kept
saying I had to start paying, but the next release freebie was already
available?

I might have bought one or another but every single one has been
hell-bent on proving that I should not spend any money on them.

--
Rod

[Peter Percival]

Mentalguy2k8 wrote:

>
> I like Online Armor because [...]

IRTA online amour!

[Whenever I see the word "martial" I thinks it's "marital".]

[Peter Percival]

Davey wrote:

>
> Agreed on all counts. Norton started to delay the booting of my PC to
> the point where it was more than just stupid, so I dumped it, and have
> no regrets.

And dumping Norton is a major task. MS uninstall leaves bits of Norton
everywhere. I assume this is (for once) not MS's fault but rather due
Norton's malice or stupidity.

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

"Mentalguy2k8" <Mental...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I like Online Armor because ...

Yes, and Emsisoft provide an exceptionally good level of support, unlike any
other a/v / firewall company I've ever dealt with.

I changed from Eset NOD32 & ZoneAlarm Pro to Emsisoft's Online Armor &
Anti-malware products a few months ago, and am very happy. Neither are
perfect, but the company are listening.

--
Jeremy C B Nicoll - my opinions are my own.

Email sent to my from-address will be deleted. Instead, please reply
to newsre...@wingsandbeaks.org.uk replacing "aaa" by "284".

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article <svKdnedMbYVg6VzM...@eclipse.net.uk>, Ivan Dobsky

<iv...@dobsky.com> wrote:
> I had been using AVG, but I was getting annoyed at the frequency with
> which it wanted me to reboot.

I'm using AVG free on several machines and haven't had that problem.
Except when the main software is upgraded, but this isn't often.

--
*If a mute swears, does his mother wash his hands with soap?

Dave Plowman da...@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

[Davey]

On Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:48:27 +0100
Peter Percival <peterxp...@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Davey wrote:
>
> >
> > Agreed on all counts. Norton started to delay the booting of my PC
> > to the point where it was more than just stupid, so I dumped it,
> > and have no regrets.
>
> And dumping Norton is a major task. MS uninstall leaves bits of
> Norton everywhere. I assume this is (for once) not MS's fault but
> rather due Norton's malice or stupidity.
>

Agreed. Even after it was supposedly gone, I would occasionally get
messages saying that it had detected something, rather like a zombie
re-appearing from the grave.
I finally killed it when I replaced the HDD and did a fresh install.
--
Davey.

[Scion]

John Williamson put finger to keyboard:

Kaspersky is a fiver at 7 day shop
http://www.7dayshop.com/special/under-a-tenner/kaspersky-internet-
security-2012-1pc-1-year-licence-retail-boxed-includes-free-upgrade-to-
latest-2013-version
although showing out of stock at the moment.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Davey wrote :

http://www.pchell.com/virus/uninstallnorton.shtml

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

[Bod]

I know several guys who haven't used anti virus for years and never had
a problem on Windows machines. I wouldn't risk it myself though.

[John Williamson]

Peter Percival wrote:
> Ivan Dobsky wrote:
>>
>
>> [...] Which was a shame because I
>> thought Norton made a few really good utilities in the old days.
>
> In the days of DOS they did. (So, 20 years or more ago.)
>

Still got the floppy rescue set as well as the CD.

[Bill]

In message <b2dcs6...@mid.individual.net>, polygonum
<rmoud...@vrod.co.uk> writes

>Afraid I stick with MSE which seems to be undersold by MS (possibly to
>avoid war with other AV companies). Least intrusive. Have tried many
>over the years and each one has seen fit to piss me off. Was it AVG
>kept saying I had to start paying, but the next release freebie was
>already available?

Hmmm, I have to turn MSE off to get reliable audio performance with
recording and editing software.

I get peaks of kernel timer latency and hard page fault resolution time
(whatever they are). To get these down to sensible levels on a Thinkpad,
I have to disable wifi and MSE. Only then can it be trusted to record
reliably.
--
Bill

[F Murtz]

Norton IS a virus.Try and get rid of it.

[c...@isbd.net]

Bod <bodr...@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
> >> Norton utilities in the very distant old days was good. Not so its
> >> modern offerings unless you are fond of resource hungry bloatware.
> >>
> >> McAfee seems to combine the worst of all worlds.
> >
> > Agreed on all counts. Norton started to delay the booting of my PC to
> > the point where it was more than just stupid, so I dumped it, and have
> > no regrets.
> >
> I know several guys who haven't used anti virus for years and never had
> a problem on Windows machines. I wouldn't risk it myself though.

Well I'm one. Just don't read E-Mails on your Windows machine and don't
go to dodgy websites. I've got some pretty old XP installations and
they're all uninfected to the best of my knowledge. All my E-Mail and
web browsing is done on Linux, I just have the XP installs for the odd
MS Office file that isn't displayed right in LibreOffice and for HMRC
and for my Epson scanner drivers.

--
Chris Green
·

[Bod]

Aye.
The guys I'm talking about are IT savvy, so I assume that they practise
more or less what you do.

[Mr Pounder]

"Bod" <bodr...@tiscali.co.uk> wrote in message
news:b2dr4k...@mid.individual.net...

A well known Internet God uses AVG.
The 11th Commandment is that Norton is a pile of shit.

[Brian Gaff]

It is better than it used to be, but the fact remains that its mega overkill
and in no way will work any better than other products, free or otherwise.
In all cases you could just be one of the very first to encounter a bit of
malware that nobody else has seen yet and get infected. Anti virus software
is reactionary, so it can only be by having reports of problems that new
scanning and removal systems come into the products. In the meantime find a
product that is system lite and has a lot of users and you should be fine

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"F Murtz" <hag...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:kpsa66$dfg$3...@dont-email.me...

[mark]

"Tim Lamb" <t...@marfordfarm.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:bH1WUtFh...@marfordfarm.demon.co.uk...

> Norton are kindly offering me an upgrade claimed to be compatible with
> Windows 8!
>
> As I am still on XP service pack 3 are there any gotchas?

> --
> Tim Lamb


Norton...had it...never again! Very hard to get rid of.
McAfee...had it...never again! Wasn't content to run quietly in the
background, always wanting to big itself up.

AVG Good
Malwarebytes... Very good.


mark

[Mike Barnes]

Bod <bodr...@tiscali.co.uk>:

I do as well. I've never had a virus. I still run MSE, though, because
it's no trouble and it's free.

--
Mike Barnes

[c...@isbd.net]

Huge <Hu...@nowhere.much.invalid> wrote:

> On 2013-06-19, c...@isbd.net <c...@isbd.net> wrote:
>
> > I just have the XP installs for the odd
> > MS Office file that isn't displayed right in LibreOffice and for HMRC
> > and for my Epson scanner drivers.
>

> FWIW, my Epson scanner (V300 photo) works just fine under Ubuntu.
>
My V700 does too but the windows software for it has some nice
auto-correction of scanned slide colours which is very useful when
scanning old slides.

--
Chris Green
·

[The Natural Philosopher]

run em through the Gimp.


--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc’-ra-cy) – a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

[Mr Pounder]

"Peter Percival" <peterxp...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:kpruf7$k3v$2...@news.albasani.net...

> Ivan Dobsky wrote:
>>
>
>> [...] Which was a shame because I
>> thought Norton made a few really good utilities in the old days.
>
> In the days of DOS they did. (So, 20 years or more ago.)
>

>In 1995 they did.
Peter Norton was Peter Norton.

[polygonum]

On 19/06/2013 17:24, Mr Pounder wrote:
> Peter Norton was Peter Norton.

So far as I know, Peter Norton still is Peter Norton.

--
Rod

[Mike Barnes]

Mr Pounder <MrPo...@RationalThought.com>:

It's difficult to argue with that.

I can still picture that photo on the cover of _Programmer's Guide to
the IBM PC_: pink shirt, sleeves rolled half way up forearms, arms
folded, tie loosened, smug expression on face. Damned useful book,
though.

--
Mike Barnes

[Mr Pounder]

"polygonum" <rmoud...@vrod.co.uk> wrote in message
news:b2e4tk...@mid.individual.net...

> On 19/06/2013 17:24, Mr Pounder wrote:
>> Peter Norton was Peter Norton.
>
> So far as I know, Peter Norton still is Peter Norton.

In 1995 he really was Peter Norton.

>
> --
> Rod

[alan]

On 19/06/2013 10:08, Ivan Dobsky wrote:

> Which was a shame because I
> thought Norton made a few really good utilities in the old days.

Peter Norton sold his PC software business to Symantec Corporation in 1990.


--
mailto:news{at}admac(dot}myzen{dot}co{dot}uk

[Tim Lamb]

In message <51c1f267$0$1140$5b6a...@news.zen.co.uk>, alan
<ju...@admac.myzen.co.uk> writes

>On 19/06/2013 10:08, Ivan Dobsky wrote:
>> Which was a shame because I
>> thought Norton made a few really good utilities in the old days.
>
>
>Peter Norton sold his PC software business to Symantec Corporation in 1990.

Wow!

That certainly woke everyone up:-)

I leave this desk top running so start up delay is not an issue. I also
don't let Norton do auto updates.

On a Google search, I like the green *safe site* button.

The business pays the annual fee so not hugely painful.

I may encourage my wife to use the Microsoft offering for her currently
unguarded laptop though.

As no one has actively vetoed the upgrade I may try it next time it pops
up.

--
Tim Lamb

[Mr Pounder]

"Mike Barnes" <mikeba...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:N1sAcnIG...@g52lk5g23lkgk3lk345g.invalid...

Grey hair.

I once had DOS For Dummies. Some yank.
I read it twice.
It still did not explain why the h/d on my Amstrad 1640 was fucked.

[John Williamson]

The "Sticky Head" problem, nothing to do with DOS. Amscrap used cheap
HDs with a lubricant inside the unit that used to stick the heads to the
platter. After a while, the HD wouldn't spin up. The quick cure was to
tap the drive to shock the heads free, copy everything off it, and
replace it with a decent one.

[Toby]

On 19/06/2013 14:12, c...@isbd.net wrote:

> Bod <bodr...@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
>>>> Norton utilities in the very distant old days was good. Not so its
>>>> modern offerings unless you are fond of resource hungry bloatware.
>>>>
>>>> McAfee seems to combine the worst of all worlds.
>>>
>>> Agreed on all counts. Norton started to delay the booting of my PC to
>>> the point where it was more than just stupid, so I dumped it, and have
>>> no regrets.
>>>
>> I know several guys who haven't used anti virus for years and never had
>> a problem on Windows machines. I wouldn't risk it myself though.
>

> Well I'm one. Just don't read E-Mails on your Windows machine and don't
> go to dodgy websites. I've got some pretty old XP installations and
> they're all uninfected
>

> ***to the best of my knowledge***

This is the problem, even the non-dodgy websites could get infected with
something, and without AV, you wouldn't know if the payload was some
kind of bot!

--
Toby...
Remove pants to reply

[c...@isbd.net]

Toby <ne...@altpantsphuk.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > Well I'm one. Just don't read E-Mails on your Windows machine and don't
> > go to dodgy websites. I've got some pretty old XP installations and
> > they're all uninfected
> >
> > ***to the best of my knowledge***
>
> This is the problem, even the non-dodgy websites could get infected with
> something, and without AV, you wouldn't know if the payload was some
> kind of bot!
>

I would notice symptoms though as I do check what's going in and out of
my LAN to the outside. Something using the internet when nothing is
supposed to be using the internet would ring alarm bells very quickly.

Other than that serious performance degradation would get me
investigating. I have occasionally run malware scans over the years and
not found anything of note except in the occasional zipped file.

--
Chris Green
·

[AnthonyL]

On Sun, 23 Jun 2013 08:20:04 +0100, Chris Hogg <m...@privacy.net> wrote:

>On Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:09:19 +0100, Chris Hogg <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>> Meanwhile I'm using free AVG anti-virus and Zone Alarm
>>firewall, but not had them for long enough to make any sensible
>>comment, although that combo was recommended by one of the magazines,
>>if that means anything.
>
>Just to follow up on the free firewalls: I found that the Zone Alarm
>security system wasn't compatible with Firefox, although I'm not sure
>whether that was the whole system including the AV component, or
>whether it also meant the firewall on its own. I then tried Windows 7
>Firewall Control from Sphinx Software, but couldn't get on with it;
>the alert sound was alarming (but probably switch-offable; I never got
>that far!), and I found it a pain to use. I then tried Tinywall, and
>it's a dream. Easy to use and does all I want. It isn't for WinXP
>though, so not for the OP, and does require Windows .net installed.
>See tinywall.pados.hu/features.php and tinywall.pados.hu/faq.php
>Much recommended, see
>http://www.davescomputertips.com/2012/06/tinywall-the-best-thing-since-sliced-bread/
>

I've used Netvada's SafetyNet on Windows XP for years.

See
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/freepersonalfirewalls/Free_Firewall_Download_Personal_Free_Firewall_Software.htm

--
AnthonyL