Anti-Virus / Spyware Removal Recommendations?

[SacredCow]

I'm sure this has been asked many times, but I'd like to ask it again.

It's for a newish laptop with Vista. It came with Norton, which was a bit of a pain in the ass, and now it's up for renewal to the tune of $70. I know there used to be some much less expensive options out there, but I'm not sure about now, and/or which ones are better.

What say you? Free would be awesome, but not totally necessary- I don't mind paying for it, but would hope that it would be a little more user-friendly than Norton.

And also- Is Norton one of those seemingly self-aware programs that puts up a fight when you try to delete it?

Thanks! :hi:

[Pool Hall Ace]

1. Malwarebytes

and it's free! :hi:

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

[Tangerine LaBamba]

12. Second that -

I got hit with a virus a few months ago that went completely past my McAfee, and Malwarebytes - recommended to me by people in the Computer Forum here at DU (who also figured out what had happened to my computer and showed me exactly how to fix it!) - immediately caught the bugger and quarantined it. After that, removing it was relatively simple, once I stopped screaming..........

[SacredCow]

2. That's a new one to me- Thanks! n/t

[NJmaverick]

5. That's good for the spyware/malware

but you need to add either AVG or Avest (both free) to provide anti-virus protection.

[Pool Hall Ace]

10. Oh yeah, I have Avast, too!

:)

[HopeHoops]

3. The Norton app that came with Vista isn't that great, but Norton 360 is excellent.

I've got a 5 PC license for Norton 360, think it was about $130 for the package. The trial version that comes with Vista is a different product and it eats the damn processor for things that should be background tasks. Norton 360 announces full scans (small pop-up from the system tray that goes away a bit later) and I'm yet to notice any performance hit from it. You can tell something is going on by the hard drive activity but that's it. The user interface is very easy to use as well.

[travelingtypist]

4. I've been using AVG Free for years.

I've heard Avast is excellent as well.

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/download/section/antivirus

[qb]

6. FWIW I have found Kaspersky Internet Security to be well worth the money.

It's been very highly rated and it works flawlessly on my Vista machine.
www.kaspersky.com

[Strong Atheist]

7. Norton is a piece of s***. Get a firewall, set up a limited account,

run opera as your browser IN THE LIMITED ACCOUNT, turn off cookies, java, popups, etc. End of problem. I have done this; no addware, spyware, viruses for 3 years of LOTS of internet surfing...

Edited to add: Oh, and password protect the main account, btw...

[Deja Q]

8. Norton is ****. Get Kaspersky or Trend Internet Security

I prefer Kaspersky

[TrogL]

9. Trend

We've got it at home and the officef and never had a problem.

[ghostsofgiants]

11. Avast and Malwarebytes. Both free, both awesome.

:thumbsup:

[Swede]

13. Comodo and avast are what I use.

Work pretty well.

[704wipes]

14. agree with Swede on avast and Commodo !! uninstall info too

I run avast on a win2000PRO machine, and Commodo on XP, both work just fine.

You can save the Norton subscription money.

Now-when you uninstall Norton - BE P.A.T.I.E.N.T. - patience is a virtue when uninstalling Norton.

The windows uninstaller has always done it on my machines, but you have to avoid the temptation to think the uninstall is hosed up and WAIT it out !! If you think it is hosed and you kill the uninstall you will have a mess or so I have heard.

Just wait.
On my XP machine I gave it 2.5 hours and it DID uninstall. The only thing I had to kill later was the Norton 'phone home' thingy.

Before you uninstall you may want to run PCCLEANER a free utility from the net and you may want to defrag with 'Ultimate Defrag or 'Defraggler', both of which are freebies on the net. It is good to run those things once in a while any way...