Is Norton Anti-Virus Supposed to Slow You Down?

[jtracking]

Hi, I was just wondering if Norton Anti-Virus has slowed down anyones PC or if you feel a slow down may be a result from the NAV installation.

When I bought my PC it came equipped with Norton's basic package going for $49.00 CAD and when I upgraded it to the $79.00 CAD version my PC works like a turtle. It really bites!

I disabled the Norton Protection Center that comes with the upgraded package ($79.00) and it's a bit quicker but start from scratch or from sleep/hibernation takes weekends!

Do I have to un-install this whole thing and run free or does someone know the best bestes way ; )

Let me know and a hearty thanks to anyone with assistance.

[jawn_tech]

I divorced Norton several years ago for pretty much that reason. Bulky and often times ineffective against newest threats. Since then AVG Free from Grisoft has done a great job for me personally.

[bj]

I ended up reformatting to get Norton totally off my system. Yeah, I know. Drastic. But necessary. They should have named it Kudzu instead of Norton.

I went with Kaspersky. Very good, total integration with my email program (that's IMPORTANT!) and caught a bunch of stuff Norton missed.

[RegDCP]

Same problem.
I went to Avast after getting rid of Norton.

When I put Avast on it found 2 Trojans that Norton missed.

Reg

[RegDCP]

Same problem.
I went to Avast after getting rid of Norton.

When I put Avast on it found 2 Trojans that Norton missed.

Reg

[halfmexi]

Norton is crap.... corrupted my entire system when it lost a fight with an email worm.... took a week to get the computer back to normal. Kaspersky has been keeping my computer clean for 3 years now and I get alot of files from clients, use the torrents, etc. and it has caught every little virus people have thrown at me (so far).

I can't believe Norton is still so popular... of course I have that same question about MS Explorer - bulky, slow and totally unsecure.

[deepsand]

Is it "supposed to?" No. Does it? Yes. That's an unavoidable consequence of its size, complexity & privileged interaction with the OS.

A more relevant question is that of whether or not it provides a benefit whose value is commensurate with the cost of the performance penalty & the risk of system corruption. In my experiences, it does not.

Not only are there suitable alternatives with smaller footprints & lesser performance penalties, but with substantially less risk of corruption of the OS and/or browser as well.

I've witnessed 4 cases in which NAV severely crippled machines when the subscriptions were being renewed and/or had expired. 2 were partially rehabilitated by substituting FireFox as the default browser; 1 required the installation of a new primary HD, with the old one becoming a slave so as to retain & allow access to existing data files. The 4th machine was replaced.

IMHO, use NAV at your own risk.

[gnomeshollow]

I installed computer systems for 15 years, and we refused to support them if they used Norton. It was always flakey and draged down the computers preformance. It was installed on my computer when I bought it, and also had to reformat my hard drive to get rid of all the crap that Norton uninstall left. I now use AVAST (free version) and am very happy with it.

OlGnome

Pender Island B&B - Gnomes Hollow Bed and Breakfast - Pender Island Accommodations - gnomeshollow.com

[johngroup]

I followed jawn_tech path. It's too bad. The company at one time made a good product.

[deepsand]

Originally Posted by johngroup

I followed jawn_tech path. It's too bad. The company at one time made a good product.

The Norton name once was held in the very highest regards; now it's held up for public scorn & ridicule.

Peter Norton should sue Symantec for ruining his good name.

[Manpasand]

I am using NAV last 3 years, since then I have not much problem except taking time when computer start. This take around 1-2 mints, which I don't like.

I used other Anti Viruses also and every software finds Trojans. IMO no anti virus is complete since so many Viruses.

What other guys think?

[ronparrs]

Dittos! Once someone introduced me to Grisoft's AVG, both Free & paid, versions, my family & business has enjoyed virus free living. Switch now & save yourself some aggravation.

[deepsand]

Originally Posted by Manpasand

I<snip>
IMO no anti virus is complete since so many Viruses.

What other guys think?

True; but, that is not an adequate reason for choosing a particular AV product.

The fact remains that no other product has the long unbroken record of having so badly trashed so many machines as does NAV under Symantec.

[wige]

When I started my job a little over a year ago, we had Norton Corporate Edition, fully up to date installed on our internal server. Browsing through some files, I came across about 4GB of German um... movies, in a hidden folder (read as: server got hacked). I managed after about two hours to get Norton uninstalled and put the free version of AVG on the server to test... found over twenty trojans and viruses. We have since moved to a mix of AVG Corporate on our XP systems and Avast on our Vista systems. This gives us some overlap so if one antivirus misses something, the other should catch it.

Also, because viruses are modified quickly to avoid detection, most antivirus products use heuristic scanning to find new viruses, and people who write the viruses test against the most popular programs, in this case, Norton and McAffee. For the same reason Windows has more viruses than Macs (most people use Win, so that is what you attack), more viruses get through the big two AV products than the smaller ones (again, you target what most people have).

Every once in a while, obscurity helps in your security.

[kgun]

Originally Posted by bj

I ended up reformatting to get Norton totally off my system. Yeah, I know. Drastic. But necessary. They should have named it Kudzu instead of Norton.

I went with Kaspersky. Very good, total integration with my email program (that's IMPORTANT!) and caught a bunch of stuff Norton missed.

I think this is already answered in the security sub forum.

In my view, the greatest virus is antivirus programs. My son agree.

I only tried AV some years ago. I did not fintune the options, but I am sure it slowed my efficiency with at least 2 %.

No I do not use an AV at all. If I do not surf known sites, I usually surf as a user and not as administrator. I use restore points, and sometimes scan my computer for malware with online trojan, spyware, adware, antivirus scanners etc.

General reccomendation:

• Don't click on everything you see.
• Learn to judge sites.
• Surf as user.
• Use restore points.
• Take regular backups.
• If the worst thing happens, and you have to install everything, use the backups, format the harddisk and reinstall.
• Do not have company critical information on a computer with connection to the internet.

This was not a reccomendention to delete your AV program. May be it is better to use abtrusion protection Abtrusion Security since it protect against future unknown virus. AV can be false security. In the digital age a virus can spread accross the globe in seconds, long before the AV providers have updated their systems.

Conclusion: Go to the security sub forum and find expert information.

[wige]

Any program that does live scanning will slow down your computer slightly because it does pretty thorough checks on new files and on files as you access them. However, antivirus software is still important because even trusted sites can be compromised and the virus can spread on your system quickly.

One of the things I like about the Avast software is that it can be configured to run the full scan when the screensaver is running so it doesn't affect performance when you are working.

[bj]

Geez, I guess all the agreement with me from a lot of folks on this board whose opinion I respect shows JUST HOW BAD NORTON AV IS!

I thought I'd mention, in view of what else has been said, to offer a couple other experiences I've had. Avast, though a very good AV, didn't play well with some of the other software on my machine. YMMV. I had Avira AV for awhile and it let something through. Panda didn't play well with others, even worse problems with it than Avast, its support page is a PITA, and the support people don't communicate well in English. Kaspersky so far has been golden.

There is a free, slightly stripped down version of Kaspersky available here:
Active Virus Shield

Very informative thread!

[bj]

I thought y'all might be interested in what problems CAN result from Norton--

Computer Security and your Website

[wige]

Like bj mentions, no AV software will work perfectly 100% of the time... In addition to my above mentioned experiences with Norton, I have seen various issues with a variety of other products....

I had alw