[kritter86]

I'm due to get a new laptop from my insurance company they have told me it's a new sony vaio but I'm unsure as to the exact model. I've heard from many people that the standard norton protection you get with most new laptops is not the best and that there are better products on the market?? I tried to remove norton from my last laptop but didn't have much luck. What is the best way to delete norton from my system?

I need some advice on anti virus/spyware protection and what ever else is availible. What protection do I need? Where is the best place to get it from? How much will it cost? etc etc etc.

Any help will be most welcome.

Many thanks,

kritter86

[mfletch]

Hi,

The best way to remove Norton is to use there removal tool,

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/U...val-Tool.shtml

After that I would suggest you install AVG OR AVAST {free}

Also you should have some malware scanners,

MBAM Malwarebytes
SAS Superantispyware

A good place to download these is from filehippo

http://www.filehippo.com/

Here is a little more user info on SAS

http://nob14.proboards40.com/index.c...ay&thread=1170

[lunarlander]

If you feel like paying: NOD from Eset is a pretty good antivirus + antispyware. It is both signature and heuristics based, so it can detect new viruses. http://www.eset.com/

Another behaviour based free antivirus is ThreatFire. http://www.threatfire.com/

If you have Windows XP Professional, MS published an XP Security Guide v2 and tells you how to harden XP Pro. It is available here:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec...fault.mspx#ETE

If you have Vista, there is a Vista version of the Security Guide:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Hardening an OS gives the attacker a smaller attack surface by disabling unnecessary features. XP after a fresh install is quite bloated and has a lot of places for an attacker to poke at.

Also you should consider running it daily using a limited user account, as that prevents some malware from working and prevents malware from making system wide changes. In the Unix world, nobody runs a machine daily using the admin account. MS acknowledges that and has made UAC for Vista to achieve the same end.

Here's more details about that:
http://www.mechbgon.com/build/security2.html

Also along the lines of protection and prevention, use Mcafee's Site Advisor, available here:

http://www.siteadvisor.com/

It places a site rating besides every google result and tells you about malware infested sites before you go clicking on them and instantly infecting your machine.

[AleciaBrent]

Norton and McAfee are both notoriously hard to remove. There is a comprehensive help page at Symantec's site that describes in great detail various methods for removing its software manually in the event that you are confronted with an error message when you attempt to use the uninstall routine. You can read more at this Symantec support site.

[DoubleHelix]

Is this your employer giving you a laptop they purchased and will manage? If so, leave the software installed. They likely have an infrastructure in place to control updates, exclusions, and other settings.

[kritter86]

Hi everyone thankyou all for your help I'd be lost with out it. I managed to get my laptop through today and the anti virus software which is already pre installed on it is McAfee. It says that I have a free 60 day period which is all well and good but after that I know they'll be wanting me to cough up which I'm not prepared to do. I know this my sound tight but I don't see the point in paying for something that you get for free!! Any more help would be great.

Many thanks once again,

kritter86

[calvin-c]

You're right, it does sound tight. The biggest reason to pay for something that you get for free is so both you & your friends can continue to get the free versions when you need them. I know it sounds redundant, but do you expect this to be your last computer?

I routinely use free versions to evaluate software I don't currently use. My time for testing software is limited (I have a living to make as well as a life to live, you know?) so when the free version is time-limited I'm often unable to fully evaluate it. Likewise, if the free version is crippled in some way I'm often unable to fully evaluate it. So I want the fully free versions to continue & the best way I've found to encourage that is, when I find a product I like, buy it. Even if it doesn't do anything more than the free version does, I feel better about my use of it. Buying the software makes me a responsible citizen, not a freeloader. And increased sales for those companies who offer free versions will encourage others (who rely more on marketing deals than on appealing to the end users) to offer free versions enabling me to evaluate & therefore choose from a wider selection.

Also, paid versions sometimes offer extras. I'm not sure how relevant that is to AV products though, AFAIK the only 'extra' you get with most paid AV products (if you buy the same product you tested) is support. Other products often include free updates, but that's usually included in even the free AV products since staying current is a critical function there. But my other reason applies, even to AV products.

[Rich-M]

Calvin-c, you got it right. To go a step beyond, how can software that is free, that produces no income, be as well supported as software that is paid for? Well as it happens here is a really big difference. Nod32, Kaspersky and Bit defender, probably the best paid antivirus programs around today repel virus and spyware "at the gate" and it never gets into your system. Avast, Avira and Avg let everything in and then labor to remove it. Is it logical based on that one thought, that you would rather infect and then uninfect yourself, or would you rather prevent infection all together?

[calvin-c]

Very true, Rich-M. I will allow there are reasons for people to use free AV software other than for evaluation, but Kritter86 didn't mention them. The main one, IMO, is if they're simply unable to pay for it. Again, IMO, it's to everybody's advantage to have everybody protected whether they can afford to pay for the protection or not-so I absolutely believe that free AV software should continue to exist and should do a reasonably good job, too.

And that means that those of use who can pay for the software should do so. It's like taxes to support the fire department-most people would prefer having the fire department show up to suppress a fire at their neighbor's house before it spreads, even if that neighbor hasn't paid for the service. At least that's how I think of it.

[kritter86]

I've decided to go with a paid anti virus but I'm still unsure as to which one would be best. My laptop's os is vista not sure if that makes a difference? Also does anybody know where the best place to find a removel tool for mcafee?

Thanks again,

kritter86

[lunarlander]

If you feel like paying: NOD from Eset is a pretty good antivirus + antispyware. It is both signature and heuristics based, so it can detect new viruses. http://www.eset.com/

[calvin-c]

I use AVG Internet Security suite personally, but I no longer recommend it-I'll probably change as soon as my subscription runs out if not before. (Detection rates have dropped, system load has increased, etc.) Recommendations are all over the place though-about the only 'universal' recommendation I've seen is to not use Norton or McAfee.

With that, my recommendation is that you build a list of recommendations (start with NOD & Kaspersky) then try as many of them as you can get trial versions of. Find the one that best pleases *you* and then buy that one. In many cases the only unarguable difference is in the user interface.

As for removing McAffee, I found this site http://service.mcafee.com/FAQDocumen...107083&lc=1033
referencing a McAfee Removal Tool, but I've never used it. This site
http://www.pchell.com/virus/uninstallmcafee.shtml
has manual removal instructions and includes links to removal instructions for quite a few other AV products, too.

[kritter86]

For everyone's information I have decided to go with the NOD32 program and everything at the moment is going well. Thanks for all your help.

[Rich-M]

Originally Posted by kritter86

For everyone's information I have decided to go with the NOD32 program and everything at the moment is going well. Thanks for all your help.

Wonderful conclusion! You will not regret it.