AVG Antivirus vs Norton Antivirus [Archive]

webpromoterservice

13th June 2009, 15:27

I have been using Norton antivirus for many years now on my PC desktop.I just recently download AVG antivirus for my laptop because of the positive reviews i had seen and it has been perfect so far.

I just wanted to find out what antivirus programs people here use and what their experiences have been.

I am putting together an article on antivirus programs.

cmcp

13th June 2009, 15:34

Yeah I've been happy with AVG, been using it for years and it's quite good. I've heard NOD32 is the mutts nuts so I'll be looking into that with my next laptop.

Norton has always been a nightmare on my system. Completely drained the last laptop I had, raping it of all CPU usage.

Steve202

13th June 2009, 15:42

Really can't get along with Norton. Hate it when customers come to me and they've got Norton installed on their machine.

I used Nod32 a few years back, but had some issues with it and now I mainly use AVG with one machine still using McAfee

stugster

13th June 2009, 16:08

Two things I've found Norton to do in the past:
1) Eat up loads of your resources, mainly CPU, slowing your computer
2) Get a bit confused and completely ar5e up your firewall and system settings

SneakSMS

13th June 2009, 17:03

I switched from Norton SystemWorks :eek: to AVG's full security package :cool: (but the free antivirus is just as good if that's all you need)

Takes up much less CPU and doesn't leave me feeling really hacked off every time it decides to do a scan

SneakSMS

13th June 2009, 17:05

Just to add to my above post, I also find AVG gets less false positives than Norton

estwig

13th June 2009, 18:42

There isn't really a choice, Norton is a complete waste of money, awful piece of software, total poo!!

AVG is definitely up there with the best.

wizzard

13th June 2009, 19:31

If you want an anti-virus system that wraps itself round the neck of your operating system like a boa constrictor and strangles it to death that forces an OS re-install stick with Norton.

MarkN

13th June 2009, 20:21

My 2P as an IT bod.
Norton is pants and also very hard to remove properly

My advice is go for AVG or Avast.

Ennov8web

13th June 2009, 20:55

AVG is good and Avast is also a good option to go for. I use AVG on my laptops and avast on my desktop.

DambTech

14th June 2009, 08:18

Just moved from McAfee to AVG and it is great for me, I found McAfee used to many resources and slowed my computers right down.

AVG gets my thumbs up!

brownie

14th June 2009, 10:41

Same as what has already been said really, in my experience Norton and McAfee can be resource hogs, AVG and Avast do the job well for free without any problems.

Subbynet

14th June 2009, 11:10

Using Nod32 on my XP / Vista machine and Kaspersky (Beta) on my Windows 7 computer.

Both of which I'd highly recommend.

KidsBeeHappy

14th June 2009, 11:15

AVG full internet security suite also does all the spywayre, cookies, etc. I like it, although i have to disable the link scanner because i've just not got the patience for that.

LightingGiants

14th June 2009, 11:46

I have used avast in the past but it was not as effecitve as avg. my experiences with avg are great been using it for 5 years never had a prob and im still using the free version. I had norton on my desktop used it for a year a so and then scrapped it. also used ntl netgaurd dont think they do that no more but AVG by far the best.

Comspec

14th June 2009, 14:16

Kind of agree with most that has been said.

A few points to note:
1) AVG Free is only licensed for personal use, you should really buy the full suite for a business PC
2) Norton is a pain to remove, but there is a free uninstaller which does it very easily, available for download from our blog here (http://comspeccomputers.co.uk/blog/2008/removing-norton-from-your-pc/).
3) We tend to stick with AVG free & full according to which customer, and have had no problems with it. I tend to nip into the advanced settings for home users and turn on 'auto-heal' as well as schedule the scan for twice weekly instead of every day.

That Guy

14th June 2009, 18:22

AVG has never let me down :)

bcmedia

15th June 2009, 06:00

Symantec Corporate edition seems light on resources and has never failed me in five year....does not do well with malware but then spybot covers this.

EfficientEnergySolutions

15th June 2009, 08:42

Anyone ever used Avira Antivirus? I've replaced AVG with this as I read some decent reviews about it.

I had some issues with AVG using up quite a lot of CPU when Vista loaded up (but nowhere near as much as Norton did!), so I've been using Avira for the past week with a very noticable improvement in CPU munching

dagr

15th June 2009, 09:03

I'm looking for a simple, unintrusive Anti-Virus+Firewall combo (10 licenses). It's for a PC that's not a PC, i.e. a PC running in an intergated environment for a specific task - no email, no web broswer, but on a network and where users can insert a USB key.

My 3 possibles are Avast, AVG & ZoneAlarm. I've got a little experience with all 3 in varying set-ups and mixes on typical office PCs, but here my main concern is user interface: I don't want any. Given it's a low-risk setup, I don't want to be called every week by a user with a pop-up or upgrade question, etc. Any recommendations of what's best for this sort of application? CPU usage isn't an issue.

Cheers

los_design

15th June 2009, 09:21

woodss

15th June 2009, 09:33

I'm using ClamWin and to be honest, i never notice it's running apart from the little popup balloon which tells me it's updated itself :) It's free (Open Source) too!

http://www.clamwin.com/

LightingGiants

15th June 2009, 20:10

Wow I dint think kapersky was that good deffo gonna try out cheers mate .

Comspec

15th June 2009, 21:35

I have used many over the years and here is my list in order of preference and based on ease of use, effectiveness, parental controls and cpu usage.

1st Kaspersky...

98th AVG (full)
99th AVG (free)
100th McAfee

Kaspersky outperforms everything I have ever used by a mile. I have it on 3 pc's and NEVER had any issues.

;)

When you say 'over the years....' do you mean that you haven't tried AVG v8.5, and are judging it on an older version?

Personally I like Kaspersky in that it does what it says on the tin, and OEM licenses are available easily, but I have never liked the 'feel' of it just as much as AVG tbh.

I wouldn't see Kaspersky as outperforming AVG 'by a mile' though, based on loads of PC's that go through my hands every week.

Still, AVG & Kaspersky, two products I'd heartily recommend to anyone.

Norton & McAfeee are the spawn of the devil, and I spend my life clearing them off machines for people. I'm getting more and more convinced that the day your Norton subscription runs out, it lets the world know :D

eventdomain

16th June 2009, 13:54

Just moved from McAfee to AVG and it is great for me, I found McAfee used to many resources and slowed my computers right down.

AVG gets my thumbs up!

As with all software, it needs trial to fully check it out. Some software runs fine for a while, then a problem begins.

Here's my run own in the charts!:

At number 4, we have McAfee,

good firewall
anti-virus good
spyware good

Beware, when running a scan, it drains PC systems to a snails pace, completely slowing Explorer navigation. Not Recommended :(

Number 3 - Norton

Firewall - pretty good
Anti-virus - mainly good, but not always upto date/has holes where it's vunerable to attack.

Tough to uninstal elements

Number 2 - AVG

Firewall - Good
Anti-virus - Good

Annoying pop-ups get activated

Number 1 - Trend Micro

Simply the best.

Firewall - Good
Anti-virus - Unreal!

Superior fast scan, thorough scan, great updates, PC runs like a dream when in scanning mode

Note: there are currently 300'000 PC viruses, trojans etc out there, so updating and keeping a PC protected is tough for all these software companies, but most do a good job.

Recover My Image

16th June 2009, 15:36

Well I use Avast and Zone alarm, Also if you use on-line banking with Barclays they give you free Kaspersky.

NetwiseHosting

17th June 2009, 00:32

I cant say I've ever had a positive experience with any of the large security providers, such as Norton or McAfee.

NOD32 worked well for me in the past. Give it a go, I'm not sure how solid the latest released are, especially on Vista, but going on past experience it was very good.

4little1s

17th June 2009, 08:45

Norton is what we use, however I didnt try to install it a few months back from a PC - BIG MISTAKE ! Its almost as if it has some kind of shotgun effect when you install it on your PC...bits of it are everywhere.

AndysWeb

17th June 2009, 11:34

I would recommend avast or Avira AntiVir :)

webpromoterservice

17th June 2009, 12:19

so if so many people are against norton,why is it so popular?

stugster

17th June 2009, 12:21

'cause you're force fed it.

"Buy a computer from PC World and get Norton half price!"

"Buy a computer from XYZ and find the crap already pre-loaded on the machine"

5up3rman

17th June 2009, 14:43

Norton eats resources like a mudaf***a.
AVG is good, but I think Avast is better.
Had it for some time now and never let me down!!!
Runs perfect, good regular updates.
Not too much else you can ask for, but remember we still need to have
some decent spyware programs.

im here for advice

17th June 2009, 18:20

Have used Kaspersky...good tool

AVG good tool

however currently using Avira and it knocks eveything else into a cocked hat...lol

EastCoastInteractive

18th June 2009, 17:20

I've just investigated an infected PC that had AVG on it. Firewall (sygate) detected attempts at an outgoing connection to a russian site.

Hijackthis (a malware removal tool) pointed out a few malicious files that were being hooked on startup that were responsible.

A full scan by an up to date AVG 8.5 failed to spot any of the 4 files.
A full scan by lavasoft adaware also failed to pick them up.

Make of that what you will, but AVG won't be getting used by mean again any time soon.

Tritech IT

18th June 2009, 18:27

Kaspersky or Eset.

igorza

12th July 2009, 14:01

The OLD Norton products -- prior to 2008 -- were slow, frustrating pigs. For the last 2 years, though, Norton Internet Security, Norton AV for Gaming, & Norton 360 (v2 & v3) are THE lightest solutions available.

Norton AV for Gaming uses 5 MB of system memory while the others use about 10 MB (including firewall). False Negatives are higher than w/ Kaspersky or Nod32 but about on par with others.

The big problem with Norton (IMHO) is the interface. Trying to exclude a file or rescue it from quarantine takes a Herculean effort. Other than that, Norton's products are very good; better than Kaspersky, much better than Nod32, and much, much better than anything else. Try it and you'll see

nepaltrekking

12th July 2009, 15:11

i m using norton since 2006. its very nice antivirous.one of my friend said me Avg is not so good like norton.

extremedistro

12th July 2009, 15:36

NOD32 is king........

ozbon

12th July 2009, 16:16

I'm yet to have any issues with AVG, and been really impressed with it on the occasions where I've cleaned up infected client PCs (how can people *still* not be running any anti-virus at all? The mind boggles)

imranali

12th July 2009, 18:09

i just had a pretty big infection from a variety of virus's a few days ago and avg just didnt detect them despite being fully updated...

i then installed kaspersky and as the virus had ingrained itself in the memory upload up it could only do 50% scan for some reason

finally i tried avast and that really took it all in and sorted it out. definatly a thumbs up from me