Norton expiring-what's the Best anti virus program

[dennis thompson]

I asked this question last year but I'd like to ask it again to see if your opinions have changed since then.
My Norton antivirus is expiring, I don't want to renew it. I have a few questions:
1-should I remove Norton before I install my new program?
2-Which anti virus program should I use? I'm running XP on one computer & Vista on a second
3-is there a special tool to remove Norton or do I just use the uninstall program that comes with my computer?
Thanks
Dennis

[Sandy Smith]

I changed from Norton to McAfee 2 years ago.

I have 5 computers here and they all use McAfee. I have had no problems with anything in two years. They have a deal where you can get multi protection on your computers at a very reduced price.

I don't have any horse in the race...... just my experience as you asked.

Oh, uninstall Norton through uninstall and then directly to McAfee for the purchase was how I did it. Took about 10 minutes total with high speed.

[Sean Troy]

Make sure after you un-install it, you go into you drive it was installed on and remove all traces of the program before installing another one. Add and remove will not get rid of all traces of Norton.

[Paul Ryan]

I have been using norton 360 for 3 years now. I switched from Mcafee becase it used to much of my memory. I am no expert but norton runs lighter and does a very good job. I have no compaints. If you are going to renew don't go through norton. They charge more than other vendors for their products do. Last time my subscription ran out norton wanted $70 to renew for 3 computers. I ended up getting a norton 360 disk through amazon for $20. I wasn't going to renew for $70 that is too much in my opinion.

[Jerome Hanby]

I use Avast. I started because it was the only one that had a 64 bit version (and I wanted 64 bit stuff on my spiffy new AMD 64 bit/XP54 system). Since I've switched all my PCs over to it.

[G. Brad Schmidt]

There is no AV program that will thwart ALL attacks (read: best). Though, some are better than others; I like and use Kaspersky.

Sean is right... Be sure you remove all traces of Norton first. It is a very intrusive program that runs very deep.

I use Revo Uninstaller (which is free) that will remove the prog. and all traces left in your registry. Revo is used for all my prog. removals.

[Scott Shepherd]

I have become a big fan of eset. It's very unlike Norton and McAfee, where as you don't see it doing anything to slow your computer down. Start up's don't take 5 minutes due to the protection. It's rated very highly by geeks, so I tried it. You just don't know it's running it takes so little resources.

I'm using the security suite on two machines and wouldn't even consider using one of the "big boys" again. It's nice to have my computer back.

NOD32 is the antivirus program by them (NOD stands for No Open Doors, so they say), and it's included in the security suite.

[Dave Clermont]

+1 for Eset I have been running NOD32 for the last 3 years, very good product.

[Rick Gifford]

I use to be a big fan of Nortons. I hate how its such a pain to uninstall. I have even worse hassles with McAfee.

I now use AVAST! free antivirus.

Its been rated one of the best free programs. I now just install it on any computer I repair or do a fresh install on.

It works very well.

[Myk Rian]

1-should I remove Norton before I install my new program?

YES

2-Which anti virus program should I use? I'm running XP on one computer & Vista on a second

FREE

3-is there a special tool to remove Norton or do I just use the uninstall program that comes with my computer?

Go to the Norton website and download the removal tool. No not use the un-install in Windows.

[Russ Filtz]

+3 for NOD32. You should also be running other stuff as well just in case. Malwarebytes, SuperAntiSpyware, Lavasoft AdAware, Comodo Firewall (or at least the Windows thing), occasionally HiJack This, etc. Best thing is all those are FREE! (except for NOD32 that is)

[Ron Cole]

Search google for "avg free download". AVG has a free version that works great. They do keep trying to sell you the paid version, but it isn't necessary. Using the google search makes it easier to find, since they make it difficult to navigate their website to find it.

[Matt Meiser]

Microsoft also has a new free AV utility for home use only called Microsoft Security Essentials. I'm running it on our home computers with good results. Before that I ran AVG Free but it was starting to get bloated like Norton and McAfee.

[Jim Tobias]

After years of trying McAfee and Norton and not liking them and also having a lot of trouble getting them entirely off the machine, I switched to BitDefender. According to out IT head, it is a very good program. I have had it for 4-5 years now and would not trade for anything else. Costs is around $50-60.

Jim

[Mike Henderson]

+4 for NOD32

Mike