Free AVG vs. Norton Antivirus
Is free antivirus software as good as paying for Norton? For years, I was brainwashed into thinking that Norton was the most reliable antivirus program and nothing free is worth taking the security risk. I don’t mind paying, if that will get me the best protection, but come on, free is always better!
Having used Norton for many years, I’ve been happy with it’s performance and its ability to thwart off viruses, Trojans etc. A couple of things have changed to make me want to find another solution though.
First, the price has been increasing. It is now $39.99 for the antivirus subscriptions for a year and is now bundled with an anti-spyware program. Then when it comes time to renew your subscriptions, the online process is so confusing to many non-technical people that they are suckered into buying more that they need, like Norton Internet Security or Norton 360.
This brings up my second issue with Norton - the dreaded bloat. I’ve had more clients buy these unnecessary add-ons, only to find out that it’s the cause of their computer slowing to a crawl because every move is being scanned before they can proceed. I end up uninstalling these programs and installing antivirus only - problem solved. Except that you better use the Norton removal tool to get rid of it totally! Would be nice if their uninstall feature really worked.
Enough about Norton and on to the better solution, AVG’s free antivirus program. Check it out at http://free.grisoft.com/. I’ve been using it for about the last six months at work and so far, have been impressed. It is set to scan every morning before I arrive to work and it doesn’t seem to take as long as Norton did. My emails are being scanned as received and outgoing can be set to scan as well (turned that option off). Updates are done automatically every day usually taking less than one minute. It has caught a couple of viruses and quarantined them appropriately.
With the bombardment of increasingly powerful viruses, worms, and Trojans, it makes sense to want the best security against them. However, anytime you can get the same or better without having to pay, it would be silly not to use the free choice.
Of course, these are my opinions based on my experience. Has anyone had a bad experience with AVG or agree with my findings? Would love to hear your comments.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I use Avast free antivirus and been happy with it, but will check out AVG. Anything’s better than the bloaty Norton.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Using AVG for years now. Can’t believe people are still paying for norton.
February 20th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Good article, thanks!
February 24th, 2008 at 10:46 am
thaks for prepare free anvir
March 10th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
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May 23rd, 2008 at 8:55 am
Been using Norton internet security from 2002 to 2007. Found 2007 the fastest of the Nortons at that time.
Bought Norton 360 and slowed my really fast computer to a crawl. With the other Norton versions I’ve had I could scan a disc before installing it across. Norton 360 has no way of scanning a particular drive where the other Norton versions did.
Just installed AVG Free and it allows me to go to My Computer and then right click on a drive number so that I can scan that drive disk before installation.
I’d love to know why Norton 360 doesn’t have this option for scanning drives via My Computer.
I’ve downloaded AVG Firewall but not sure if I need that as my modem is a Netgear with an in built double firewall.
Now to remove Norton 360. Hopefully I won’t need to format my PC to get rid of 360 completely.
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:12 am
I just removed Norton 360 and installed Free AVG. AVG found 4 trojans and two viruses that Norton NEVER even noticed! Not to mention, AVG informed me that I was currently infected and, while I had to do some manual effort to get rid of a NASTY trojan, at least it noticed!
Norton is an expensive, bloated piece of junk!
June 17th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
i workin the IT industry and remove viruses/trojans from at least 2-3 computers a day and have seen many times people had norton internet security and go “It slows my computer down too much” so they have removed and gone with free AVG then week or two later im called out to remove pagejackers viruses etc…a general mess
pay peanuts get monkeys …there are thousands of people writing viruses/trojans every day ..ill go with a company with proven results and a staff of thousands vs free and staff of much less vs the Virus writers
June 19th, 2008 at 5:40 am
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June 21st, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I don’t get it? just bought a laptop from my mum n it had norton 360 installed, I was surfing on the internet then avg contacts me saying i have 67 trojans! but norton 360 detected none…I don’t use avg so is it a trick or is my computer infected?
360 then decided it found threats (different threats) removed them, I restarted my computer now it restarts itself eveytime I trygoing on the web?
any advise? this is the first time I’ve had a laptop n I live n work in a hotel so I use an unsecured shared signal, is that a problem too, if so what other mesures can I take
Thank you Gary