Son has new laptop and can get AV software via a Uni scheme

He tells me it's Norton :(

Has Norton improved these days? I guess it will be the latest version of whatever.

His laptop is an HP, model HP DV6920 Ea, running Vista Home with SP1.

Having seen my face drop (I've never got on with Norton), he asked that, if he didn't get Norton, what should he get then? I know of some but unfortunately have no knowledge of what works well with Vista.

Son thought that maybe if Norton was the software the Uni uses, maybe it might somehow be more compatible with them. I see the logic but can't say I follow how it could be relevant to be honest.

Any comments would be most appreciated.

Ta

Mo

My experience of Norton (a few years back, admittedly) is not the best.

As to what the uni normally runs on their own computors, it shouldn't matter. My uni ran Norton earlier, Mcafee now, but I've had my private laptop conencted to the net and running AVG, no problems at all.

I liked AVG 7.x, the 8.x with a lot of extras added is more of a nuisance but it works. I know that a lot of peeps swear by Avast. Both are freeware and widespread. No need to pay for an AV programme.

I use the paid version of AVG which suits my needs.

Has he got himself the Office 2007 via the student scheme?

Many thanks for the info

Glad to hear it's a choice independent of the Uni systems. I have knowledge of both AVG and Avast! - both free versions and without problems occurring and a friend runs Mcafee happily Just wasn't sure if they were OK with Vista so glad to hear that they should be OK

Thanks VRStu - he says he has "something" already on there so will check that out. Do you know off the top of your head if the 2007 has Publisher please as for some reason it wasn't included in earlier student packages.

Again many thanks.

Mo

It's Office Ultimate Mo so it has everything I think -

Microsoft Office Discount for Students - The Ultimate Steal

nod32 by eset is THE best AV you can buy imho, and uses tiny resources compared to Norton et al.

It's Office Ultimate Mo so it has everything I think -

Microsoft Office Discount for Students - The Ultimate Steal

Thank you very much indeed for the link.

@ Tom_vRS - it was the resource usage that mainly drove me barmy also with Norton. nod32 has always had good reports so will revisit that one also.

Can I ask also please, because I've just remembered that protective software on main computers here won't be available on son's laptop. Meaning that if it gets nicked, nothing will be encrypted and clearly he couldn't have run deletion software the instant before it was nicked nor avoid recovery software. What do folks use for that?

That might be a tall order, since government ministers manage to lose laptops seemingly with all "our" data recoverable.

Is there a "This laptop will self destruct in ..." button please?

Thanks

Mo *brain in overdrive as usual*

I use AVG and Zone alarm on my Vista laptop and that works ok. I haven't used Norton for Years either after it made my (then powerhouse) PC crawl.

Just taken ZA off my sisters laptop cause she doesnt seem to like it. and leaving her with the windows firewall and AVG.

I would steer clear of Norton, still the same bloated software that it always has been. That and the fact that in 12 months you'll need to spend more cash on renewal. Stick with the free ones, AVG or Avast are pretty good having used both.

I've recently changed from AVG free to Avast free on both XP and Vista. No problems with either and Avast found something on an XP machine that AVG didn't. I am now an Avast convert.

I use kaspersky. you can get it from aria for a tenner or about 20 quid for a 3 machine license. thats for their full internet security suite.

Norton is worse than it ever was.

Works PC was fine until they loaded that crap on it. Now it locks up,egg-timers, eats the battery and needs charging again.

So off came Norton, and Feck me PC's fine again.

So I bought McAfee and put it through on expenses. Much better IMO.

It's Office Ultimate Mo so it has everything I think -

Microsoft Office Discount for Students - The Ultimate Steal

Following the Additional Products links also shows Vista Ultimate for £41 as well - due 10th Oct.

Again a bargain - but not as much as the Office offer is.

Offer is for anyone with a .ac.uk email address.

I have found Norton to corrupt PCs many times, usually when it gets disconnected from its internet connection when updating.

Use McAfee at work, it could be better but generally doesn't give us any problems.

I have been recommending AVG to students, but have been suggesting Avast on the recommendation of others. I've not tried it myself though.

FWIW, I've got a .ac.uk email address

Avast! all the way Been using it some 3 yrs now.

Re Kaspersky - I uninstalled it from a friend's comp recently. Crazy CPU and resource usage. made the thing run so slowly.

We installed Avast! and the machine so much faster.

Norton, as everyone says, is expensive bloatware.

McAfee IMO not much better.

I use AVG and Zone alarm on my Vista laptop and that works ok. I haven't used Norton for Years either after it made my (then powerhouse) PC crawl.

Just taken ZA off my sisters laptop cause she doesnt seem to like it. and leaving her with the windows firewall and AVG.

exactly my setup (and swmbo's) avg (from grisoft.com) free version, with auto updates, and zone alarm... works well, i also havea boggo anti spyware thing too.....

norton doesn't work in a good way (as a computer scientist!) it takes up way too much of your computers run-time, something with the way it works with memory, too time consuming, too much interupting, AVG is much simpler, and does a better job for free

Does anyone know how to uninstall Norton please? I seem to recall having to download a tool and/or enter the registry (eek) rather than it just being an option from the install menu.

As it's my son's decision, it's just in case he learns the hard way... I'd rather he didn't install it in the first place especially after reading your comments, for which I thank you all

Being a new laptop, if he has any problems, it'd be better IMO if the issue weren't clouded by a known potential cause.

Thanks and regards

Mo

It's supposed to disappear if uninstalled through "add/remove programs" in the Windows control panel, but if uninstalment fails I think the proper tool can be found here:

Download and run the Norton Removal Tool

Should the worst happen you may have to fiddle with the registry. I've used an earlier version of this guide with good result:

How the $#@$# do I fully remove Norton from my PC? :: Free Tech Support from Ask Dave Taylor!

Many thanks swedishskoda.

The ***** was how I remember the uninstall process. i.e. Tsk! Hrmph! and a few asterisks of my own

Ta

Mo

i used norton a few years ago and found it to be awful for reasons stated above. Swapped to Avast, free version first then started to pay for it.

As I had a 90 day freebe of Norton 360 on a new laptop I did try it.

Much Much better than old, hardly takes up any resource and never causes any problems.

Admitedly this is on a PC that came with no bloatware of its own like most new PC's these days so maybe that has something to do with it.

Much prefer it to Avast now to be honest.

Steve

Kaspersky £20 for 3 licences for a year in PC World and a very good AV tool IMHO.

Kaspersky Lab: Antivirus software

i used norton a few years ago and found it to be awful for reasons stated above. Swapped to Avast, free version first then started to pay for it.

As I had a 90 day freebe of Norton 360 on a new laptop I did try it.

Much Much better than old, hardly takes up any resource and never causes any problems.

Admitedly this is on a PC that came with no bloatware of its own like most new PC's these days so maybe that has something to do with it.

Much prefer it to Avast now to be honest.

Might I ask why you prefer Norton 360 to Avast! paid version please?

Ta

Mo

FWIW, I've got a .ac.uk email address

Me too

Which means I now have office ultimate