A note by Maynard

If you need to renew your Norton Antivirus, I see it’s listed on Amazon at $14.99…for the moment, anyway. The typical price is $30 to $40 (such as here at Best Buy).

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6 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. KWH says:

    As a PC Hardware Tech that has several server farms and PCs, Norton isn’t a very good program. it’s bloated and doesn’t update often as well as doesn’t generally work well. I gave up on Norton back in 2004. BTW, I’ve seen Norton online for free after a $9.99 rebate.
    Try AVG, it’s a good program and they offer a free version. For those that want to pay for a supported version, they offer that as well.
    Just my 2 cents worth.

  2. marleed says:

    As a PC shop owner also … AVG is good, and so is Avira. Both available at no cost, and better than Norton. I guess that makes 4 cents worth if you add my 2 to KWH’s 2.

    (disclaimer, I’m a Linux, Open Source bigot)

  3. marleed says:

    I’d no sooner posted my comment when I stumbled on an interesting article.

    International Business Machines Corp. is hoping to convince corporate customers that they no longer need Microsoft Corp.

    IBM says it has created a “Microsoft-free” virtual desktop — a complete suite of applications that run on a backroom server and don’t require Microsoft software or costly desktop hardware.

    The software package, available immediately, uses the Linux operating system and a set of IBM office applications that can be displayed on so-called thin clients, which don’t have processing units or hard drives.

    Though this is more related to my Linux bigotry than virus software, there is a relationship. With this setup, you don’t need virus software!

  4. KWH says:

    ^5 Marleed
    Looks like we’ve both learned the hard way.
    As for IBM, “most” PC users wouldn’t have a clue with anything other than MS. I for one don’t want to purchase more software for another OS. MS, while far from perfect, is the best rounded of the lot.
    “you don’t need virus software” Stay offline and let no one use your PC and you won’t get a virus 😉
    Honestly,my PC stays online 24/7 and I am constantly downloading stuff (other than porn) and I have gotten 1 virus in 5 years. I got that by ignoring AVG’s warnings…….and I paid for it.

  5. pat_s says:

    How does McAfee rate?

  6. marleed says:

    Pat,
    McCafee is generally a little less invasive than Norton though if you install all of it’s security software it can be just as bad as Norton. AVG and Avira don’t tangle themselves up in the operating system … so if they need to be disabled or removed they can be. They don’t slow down the system as much … and they keep the system about as safe as any virus software can (assuming it’s being run regularly) I’m looking at this from the perspective as someone who fixes Windows computers after they’ve become infected. I haven’t noted that the bigger name virus scanners are any better at detecting infections that AVG or Avira, but I have noted that Norton and McCafee can cause no end of trouble while you’re trying to clean up after a machine has become infected.

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