I don't know what I experienced, but this afternoon, my computer got Schitzo, so I tried to scan it with Norton, and left for work while it worked. I came home 5 hours later and it was still scanning the same file.
I shut it down and restarted; had to unplug it. When it restarted everything seems normal, Norton says it updated, and I have all green lights.
The odd thing about it was when I earlier today went to the "ZipCar" site to reserve a car, I could not get the reservation to print, and up in the address bar, on the far left, it had the same icon as that on ASSTR. Hmmmmmmm
This is a brand new Quad processor with 6 gig of memory and the best Norton I could get. I guess I will just keep my old dell for slumming and not take this girl there any more. A lesson to the wise.
Gwendolyn
Comments
A Recommendation
Norton is good, but you also should have a specialized Antimalware product. Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and SUPERantispyware are two that are frequently recommended. Both products are free to individuals and are designed to not conflict with your Norton. I'm more familiar with Malwarebytes. Their website is here: http://www.malwarebytes.org/index.php. I recommend you download, install, and scan (only a quick scan is needed) with the Malwarebytes product. If Malwarebytes and your Norton say you are clean (providing both are up to date), you can feel pretty good that you are ok.
Malwarebytes.org has an excellent support forum that will help you resolve an infection if the tools you have aren't effective. The support is free. You have to follow their directions carefully for the solutions to work. The Malwarebytes forums are here: http://www.malwarebytes.org/forums/. Browse the "Malware Removal - HijackThis Logs" forum to get an idea of the kinds of problems they deal with and the sophistication of the solutions.
Good luck.
Hi Gwendolyn, I would say to
Hi Gwendolyn,
I would say to get rid of Norton, in my own experience and also plenty of other IT people I know Norton is not as good as it is made to sound. Infact I have seen systems riddled with viruses whilst Norton sat there in the task bar twiddling its thumbs and humming to itself.
If you want a decent antivirus/complete security package you would be better with Kaspersky Internet Security 2009. There are others that are good as well like Trend but so far I have found Kaspersky to be the best.
http://www.kaspersky.co.uk/homeuser
You can either get a single user license or more, if you have multiple PC's a 3 user licence is only around £9 more which is pretty good.
Anyway just thought I would suggest it.
Megumi :)
Bailey's Angel
The Godmother :p
Norton
while norton itself is a good anti virus I have had instances at previous companies that specialised viruses are not found by the main system, and my ex boss had to pay extra (yes extra money) to download a patch to remove said virus, he was not happy as it was still within the subscription period
like the others said there are other ones out there, and my own preference is mcaffe or avast which both are good, mcaffe you pay for and avast is free
hope this helps
no idea if it will work alongside norton but there is a thing called mcaffe shredder which searches and kills loads of extra stuff but where to get it from is not known, it used to be able to be downloaded from mcafee but wether that is still the case I have no idea
Samantha
Virii
I have to agree w/ Samantha that I prefer Avast and McAffee, but right now, I'm running Avast and Norton side-by-side and they seem to be playing well together on Vista 32 Home Premium.
On my 2K3 Server Boxen here @ the house, I run Clamwin and Norton (Free version of Avast will NOT run on Server OS, which is fair enough), but honestly, I am not ready to fully trust Clamwin by itself on a win box.
I've not tried any of the Programs cBee has recomended for malware, and usually use Lavasoft's AdAware... But I'm always interested in trying something new.
Also, I don't currently have a working license for, but a few years I was using CA's antivirus/firewall/malware suit and it worked quite well for me. If I had had the money to renew the subscription, I would have in a heart beat.
-HuGgLeS-
-P/KAF
A little advice on Norton
I use Norton Corporate Edition and I find it to be a really excellent product. I'm not that hot on the various antimalware, etc apps out there, I find they generate an unacceptable number of false positives.
My personal preference is a combination of Norton Corporate with the use of non-Microsoft browser(Mozilla, Opera, etc...) and media player(Winamp or other).
To some degree, you have to accept the fact that being attached to the web leaves you open to various nasties and no matter how hard you try to protect yourself, something will eventually get through. That is the risk of running any system that is not isolated from external networks.
BTW, Symantec's consumer offerings suck donkey balls. So does everybody else.
You want something that works, go for corporate product every time.
I Wonder What
people here think about ZoneAlarmPro? I'm running the security suite on four computers here at home and so far haven't had any problems with virus's or spyware. That I know about...
Really, some of you here seem to know quite a bit more than I do, so I'd really like to hear what you think.
Thanks.
Brute
Some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue
Anti virus
Norton was too clunky and it slowed my computer down. My ISP started to offer McAfee for free, that worked OK for a few years, but they kept adding features and soon, it too would slow my computer to a crawl, whenever it updated or scanned for viruses. I shitcanned McAfee and I now have AVG Free. It doesn't bog my computer down at all when it is working.
Even with all the anti-virus headaches, I have never had a virus or even a virus warning on any of my computers.
Oh jeeze, now I've jinxed myself and my computer will get the digital equivalent of Ebola! :)
Mr. Ram
Define schitzo?
you might be just looking at a windows issue, rather then a virus.. A good chunk of the time if you have a virus, in all likely hood you would never notice.. Virus aren't really resource hogs by nature there not going to suck up many cpu cycles. Although if the virus has zombied your computer then you might notice bandwidth issues. but even then virus writer are careful to keep things hidden.
but if your worried give this a try for a quick scan of active process http://www.clamwin.com/ << a very good opensource virus scanner ClamAV a shot or AVG, both a good virus scanner.. AVG iirc correctly beat Norton out in a few disinfection tests a few months back [although I can't recall who the source I read this :( ]
Thanks for all the good advice
I too had a problem with Norton once, and finally got through to a "Voice" at Norton. They charged me $100 to straighten that and any future problem out for the subscription period. I only used the fix one time but I got like really instant service. I felt like it was a "Stupidity Tax" but I simply do not care to learn enough about Computers to be a pro. Their inner workings are so boring. Oh, I can change boards, drives, and stuff, but after that it gets too much like Voodoo to me.
Gwendolyn
Hi Gwen
It seems that most responders to your post have had negative experiences with Norton.
I will say that I have used Norton since 1998, have installed it on family PC's and have not had any difficulty that I haven't heard others complainign about in other security programs.
Sure, sometimes an email is slow to load, but the time lost is inconsequential. There are costs (Not financial ones) to everything.
To drive my car I have to buy fuel. I don't have a choice. If I want the inputs to my computer assessed and measured then there will be a cost. Build a bridge and get over it.
Best of luck with your internet experience as live moves on. :)
Robyn B
Sydney
Robyn B
Sydney
"on the far left, it had the
"on the far left, it had the same icon as that on ASSTR"
You use Firefox? cos FF has problems with remembering what Icon goes with what site sometimes. I have a local .htm file that has the Bigcloset icon for some weird reason.