I've bought myself a new notepad computer that has come with a bundled package of Symantec Norton protection software. It is the 90 day free trial version but in the passed I have had problems with Norton interfering too much and have always un-installed it at the end of the free period and installed Spybot, Registry Mechanic and Grisoft AVG.
Have any of you iT guys out there any advise/ suggestions for other options that I should consider.
Would it be just as good to pay up to Symantec after the 90 days seeing as Grisoft are no longer doing their Free AVG and you have to pay £45 for 2 years subscription?
The new 'puter is a Sony Vaio TX3, the tiny one with the carbonfibre body that weighs in at a tiny 1.2kgs and has 8 hours battery life which makes it great for travelling.It isn't the most powerful beast in the world but it does everyrthing that I need of an ultra portable. 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

My advise, after doing this for 17 years is....

Definitely don't use Norton. I see at least one infected Norton machine every fortnight, and that is just from my small customer base. Use Avast antivirus software. It's the best and soooo much cheaper. Go to http://www.avast.com . You can also buy a 3 year license for with a larger discount. Or just use the free to use home version (buy the Pro version though).

For AntiSpyware, Spybot is very good. If you want to keep it free of charge, then use both Spybot and Ad-Aware. You can download them both at http://www.download.com
If you want to buy something for a little better protection (and it is only 'little') then use Spyware Doctor, which costs something like £20 for the year.

With these products and a good firewall, your PC will be very well protected. Matt
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RRS ownership for 1 yr, then D3 for 2 yrs. Then cut back to old bangers and working my way back up through two Peugeots in 6 months. Now got Saab 9-5 2.3t and enjoying the performance!

re: Norton - I used to use it on the office pc's - it did its job and never failed as a piece of anti-virus software, however made everything run soooooooo slow

now run AVG, Ad-Aware, Spybot and currently trialing the Microsoft Defender software - all run smoothly and much much faster than Norton

I downloaded Norton from Google for free my pc is a bit on the slow side as it is Norton didn't help! RRS TDV6 Gone but still around
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I have noticed that in the last 24 hours, downloading various other things that I like to run on my computers, that running Norton reallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly slooooooooooooooooooooooooows doooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooown my downloading. Thanks for the tips guys 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Have uninstalled Norton in it's various guises and installed:
Spybot S&D, Grisoft AVG, PC Tools Registry Cleaner and WinPatrol
With regard to the Fire Wall, I have the MS one wthat came with XP, but I see there is another that I can utilise also built in by Sony...... 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Worth giving MS Defender a bash for spy & malware detection too... have been running this for a long time myself and good at interception in my experience... Surprised about the impact NAV has on your machines, I've deployed it several times to some very large environments with not a single issue - still, it's horses for courses  

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As a general rule, don't use Microsoft products for protecting your PC. They are always more prone to attack than others. Same goes for Norton as it as one of the world's most common antivirus programs.

If you want to protect your PC, without spending any money, then the best way is to use:

Antivirus: Avast Home Edition (much much better than AVG) from http://www.avast.com
AntiSpyware: Both Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware from http://www.download.com
Firewall: ZoneAlarm Free from http://www.zonealarm.com

However, I would add while ZoneAlarm is very good and very easy to use, you need to understand what a firewall does to use it and what your programs are doing on your PC, otherwise the messages could confuse you. If you have no computer skills, stick with the XP SP2 firewall.

Also, don't use a USB broadband modem - use a router instead. Any router about £40 or more will offer some protection (i.e. firewall). Generally, the more money the better. The best are Draytek Vigors. If you can't afford one, buy a second hand one on eBay. They have excellent firewalls. The Vigor2800 range is ideal if you have kids and want to protect multiple PCs from various nasties on the web or want to stop staff visiting certain categories of website at work! Matt
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RRS ownership for 1 yr, then D3 for 2 yrs. Then cut back to old bangers and working my way back up through two Peugeots in 6 months. Now got Saab 9-5 2.3t and enjoying the performance!

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Yes, as VA nearly got right......if you want better protection use Linux.
 Matt
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RRS ownership for 1 yr, then D3 for 2 yrs. Then cut back to old bangers and working my way back up through two Peugeots in 6 months. Now got Saab 9-5 2.3t and enjoying the performance!

I'd second the Draytek Vigor routers - they are expensive but very well featured. Again, if you're not much of a techie it's arguable whether you need all the functions they can provide.

Personally, I still think the best "ADSL Router for Dummies" is the Netgear DG834G. Deployed this several times to small places (and those pesky friends and neighbours who ask for your help). I think a couple of folks have happily used them to with new broadband installations. 

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shmoogle wrote:

he Netgear DG834G. Deployed this several times to small places (and those pesky friends and neighbours who ask for your help).

That's what I've got.

Shmoogley can you help me set it up!  2005 Zambezi TDV6 - Gone but not forgotten
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Shmoogley can help! 2005 Zambezi TDV6 - Gone but not forgotten
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