Jaxon

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hey hey all , just a question of opinions.
with the umpteen virus scanner programs out there , can a few of you all , please suggest 2-3 REAL good ones please.
thks, much
jaxon
 

Bubba

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Norton Antivirus.
But don't buy the Antivirus program. Buy SystemWorks, it is cheaper and you get all the Norton programs and you can choose which ones to install. You don't have to put them all on if you don't want to.
Its strange that one program is more expensive than 5 or 6 programs bundled together.
 

Kodiak

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Norton Antivirus.
But don't buy the SystemWorks, buy the Antivirus program. It is cheaper, and you don't get all the Norton 'programs'.
:smile: :)
Seriously, I was a devouted Norton Utilities believer in the old days (DOS, anyone?:), saved my posterior a zillion times. Right now though, unless you go for professional edition and get Ghost, all of the extras are just resource hogs... haven't seen a useful utility in a long time:(

also, McAfee (network solutions?) ViruScan... those are the two most popular, there are other very good ones but these two get the most talk...

If you're concerned about security in general, download ZoneAlarm from www.zonelabs.com, they have a free version that is amazingly simple to use (install it... done:), and has consistently been rated above such long-time champions as Black-Ice Defender etc... I've had it running in the background for months:)
 

scarecrow

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I'm a McAfee Virus scan user my self. Also my company uses it. They come out evey Wendsday with new dat files and in my opinion seems to be a good product.
 

Bubba

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Very funny.

In all the reviews I have read, McAfee gets the worst ratings. The software seems to be incompatible with newer OSs and it doesn't detect as many viruses as Nortons. Now don't get pissed, that is not my opinion, its just what I have read. I have never even used McAfee.

I use BlackIce Defender. Reviews say it catches most hacks. I just like the interface better, it seems easier to use and has more flexibility, IMO.
 
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Systemworks cheaper?, Norton Antivirus is $109 here and Systemworks is $169, I wish it was cheaper, that means that NAV would be cheaper also
 

Bubba

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Maybe you are right, I thought I saw Norton SystemWorks at Best Buy for about $10 cheaper than Norton Antivirus, but I could be wrong. I went on Buy.com and they have Norton Antivirus for about $35 and Norton SystemWorks for about $45. $10 more for those extra programs is not bad.

BlackIce is made by a company called NetworkIce. It is not free but last Sunday, it was the in paper at Compusa, I think, for $9.99 after mail-in rebate.

I would not use Norton Internet Security 2001, I have had a lot of problems with it when running Windows Me. And all these problems have been reported by others and are reproduceable.

I ain't seen a beating like that since somebody stuck a banana in my pants and turned a monkey loose
 

Jaxon

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one more crazy one please
why does Norton have 48,325 virus definitions
and Mcafee have approx. 60,000
thks again
 

Kodiak

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they use different definitions on what is a virus, and what is a variant... marketting purposes...

black Ice Defender is arguably a better, more flexible, more powerful program -- you're not getting arguments from me there:)

BUT, way too many people haven't set it up properly, and it takes some knowledge to set it up the way it should be. So I've seen a number of users thinking they were protected, but they actually weren't because one of the flags or rules were set wrongly... and even greated number were just confused...
I am not usually the one to believe in do-it-all solutions, but Zonealarm is free and it does it all for you very, VERY well... and it gets very, very favourable reviews even when compared to BlackIce... if you have little interest in diving into the knowledge, tricks and quirks of internet and networking deeply, ZoneAlarm is definitely a more useful program...
 
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An often-overlooked virus package is Inoculate. It is FREE for personal use (www.cai.com)! I have not seen it compared with Norton and McAfee, but great price! Pandasoftware also has a pretty beefy package ($$$). Had some compatibility issues, though. Last note: McAfee bought Dr. Solomon, which was rated highly, and has incorporated most of it in their current product.