celeste Posted September 9, 2009 Report Share Posted September 9, 2009 It's coming to the end of my antivirus thing, I have been using Bitdefender, which was fair enough but would annoyingly clash with some parts of my Dell lappy,and make it difficult to run scans and stuff, I think Dell recommend Norton, I'm assuming it will run better with the Dell but I was also thinking about Zonealarm or Kaspersky, but unsure if they would run ok with Dell, does anybody have any advice please ?. I have in the past used the free antivirus, but I do on-line banking now so would like something a bit more robust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
griff Posted September 9, 2009 Report Share Posted September 9, 2009 i have used norton and mcafee before, the last mcafee i had wouldn't run at all on my laptop, will call my bro and ask him tonight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted September 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2009 Cheers kelly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cycas Posted September 9, 2009 Report Share Posted September 9, 2009 My Dell laptop and all our other PC's here are running Kaspersky, and we have had no problems with it: I've just taken the laptop all round Iceland and it's had no conflicts with any of the weird and wonderful wireless networking things I asked it to do, while remaining protected. I'd recommend Kaspersky. I have no personal experience with Norton or Mcafee, but have heard second hand reports that because both are very large comprehensive suites that try to do things outside pure system protection, they are more likely to slow things down: for this reason I've never bought either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyMalc Posted September 9, 2009 Report Share Posted September 9, 2009 I've got Avira antivirus, which you can download for free. It was recommended to me by someone who runs a company and they have Avira on all their pooters. I've got a Dell laptop, and I don't think it's the AV that slows it down - only every other day for about 5-10 minutes while it's downloading updates, but I can live with that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snow Posted September 9, 2009 Report Share Posted September 9, 2009 I wouldn't touch Norton with someone elses bargepole let alone willingly install it on one of my pc's. Avast is a good all round FREE anti virus, doesn't conflict with anything I've ever run, takes far less resources than Norton and updates several times a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helly Posted September 9, 2009 Report Share Posted September 9, 2009 I run both my pc's on avast free version and it does a fine job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted September 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2009 Ooooooo ! I'd just settled on Norton and now I don't know again ! I'm just worried about the free stuff because of the internet banking, I used it before with no problems, but the guy who has the local pooter shop put the wind up me about free security not being as good as a decent bought one Cycas,how easy is the Kaspersky to use ? I read a review that said you needed to know a bit about stuff to use it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merledogs Posted September 10, 2009 Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 (edited) I use AVG free version and I've never had any problems whatsoever (and I do internet banking too) I might look at Avast so thanks for that If you look hereyou can read editors ratings on AVG and Avast Edited September 10, 2009 by merledogs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cycas Posted September 10, 2009 Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 I found Kaspersky easy to use: it is configurable, but I just accepted all the defaults and haven't needed to change them. My in-laws are on Panda Antivirus, which I reckon is the easiest I've tried, but to be honest you come across as considerably more computer literate than they are, I wouldn't have thought you'd have any problems with Kaspersky. Before that we had NOD32, and I would agree that NOD32 can be a bit scary to set up. I have friends using AVG and Avast, mostly successfully, but occasionally I come across someone who has one of those and has found something that can't be dislodged with it. It may well be that that is just because home users with less expertise are more likely to be using free solutions or doing mildly dodgy things that make them more vulnerable rather than anything intrinsic to the software, however. I bought Kaspersky because for something like virus protection, if I used a free solution and lost data I'd be kicking myself for not having spent a few bob and saved myself hassle. Of course, antivirus is a fast-moving specialist field and I don't really know whether Kaspersky is really 'better' in any real sense. It seems to win a lot of awards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snow Posted September 10, 2009 Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 Guy at the local puter shop has a vested interest in selling you an anti virus as they make money on it - presumably he would be the one supplying it to you? Norton used to be a very good anti virus - I had it for several years, however, having been hit by a bloody awful virus that took me and several other computer geeks days to remove whilst running norton I got very miffed at them - the problem is that norton isn't reliable for updates, very often to stay on top of things you need to run a manual update of virus definations, this is NOT a good thing for the average user who just wants to install an antivirus and fergeddaboutit. If you don't double check by doing the manual updates then you run the risk of being vulnerable to a virus until symantec (norton) include it in their auto update - which sometimes isn't for a few days after a virus has been spotted in the wild. Avast updates automatically every single time a new definition is made available - thats often several times a day my pc announces "virus database has been updated" in a very sexy American accent Additionally Norton is invasive, your pc will slow down when running Norton mine booted up twice as fast once it was finally FULLY removed from the system (to remove norton you will need the norton removal tool). One other thing to mention - if its security that concerns you rather than anti virus (and they are not the same thing) then norton is no better than any of the stuff that comes preinstalled with Windows for example I don't bother with a stand alone firewall the windows firewall does the job perfectly well and theres built in anti phishing softwear in Internet Explorer - there are basic things to do like make sure your internet connection is encrypted, run the windows firewall, never click on email links to go to your online bank always log in from their home page and always use a password thats at least 12 characters long and includes letters and numbers and shouldn't be recognisable words for example password123 is not as secure as myp@55w0rd123 banks should also be running on a secure connection so always look for the padlock icon either up on the address bar or down on the bottom bar of the browser window which shows you that the site is secure. If I were to consider paying for an antivirus as Michelle says I'd choose Kapersky over norton anyday of the week and twice on Sundays Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted September 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 Whew ! I'm so glad I asked, very nearly bought Norton !, damned glad I didn't now. I'll have a look at Avast and it'll be a toss up between that and Kaspersky, I was just going to download direct from the site, is that ok ? I had read that your better off doing that as you'll get the latest version, rather than getting one from a shop, and your right Snow, I did buy the Bitdefender from the shop. Thanks so much again Oh, another question, is it ok to download from an American site ?, I've noticed you can quite often get downloads cheaper than on British sites, but unsure if U S stuff is configured differently than our stuff, (or some other techie mumbojumbo that i'll never have a hope in hell of understanding). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snow Posted September 10, 2009 Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 Downloading is often cheaper than buying from a shop, although to be fair even downloads will not always be the very latest version and will end up being updated as soon as you install it. American versions will usually be the same however with bought software you may find they are already aware of the extra money to be made by charging in £'s and they will redirect you to their european site for downloads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted September 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 however with bought software you may find they are already aware of the extra money to be made by charging in £'s and they will redirect you to their european site for downloads. Bugger.....thanks again Snow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowlanderkev Posted September 18, 2009 Report Share Posted September 18, 2009 I use Avg with my dell lappy, its free to download, ( well basic version is ) it does the job,,, but most anti virus things will still let some virus`s and trojans through, so its always good to do scans every now and again with malwarebytes anti malwear and thats also free to download, just remeber to update regular there is also house call, a website that will scan your computer for free online . But often norton and big names clash with other programs and with windows firewall . hope helps,,,, i get viruses now and again,,, they are no big deal, dont panic if u get them, doesnt mean someone is lookin about your computer,, just means they could,, but would have to target your computer indevidually and the virus prob wasnt intended to infect the avrahe joes computer who only had £2.00 in his bank acount anyways ( thats me ) haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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