View Full Version : Alternative to Norton Antivirus ?
MadWeb
13th December 2009, 11:59
Can anyone recommend a good open source alternative to Norton Antivirus for me please ?
Bri
13th December 2009, 12:08
Avast & Kapersky are pretty good.
FireFleur
13th December 2009, 12:49
Well one idea is to make the partitions that the user has write access to unexecutable, and ensure that the programs they have access to cannot execute data.
That pretty much stops viruses.
SneakSMS
13th December 2009, 15:33
AVG :)
http://free.avg.com/gb-en/homepage
bluedreamer
13th December 2009, 16:34
Can anyone recommend a good open source alternative to Norton Antivirus for me please ?
The only open source antivirus sofware I know of is http://www.clamwin.com/
On the other hand did you mean free? There is a big difference :)
That Guy
13th December 2009, 16:36
AVG Free
http://download.cnet.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10320142.html?part=dl-10044820&subj=dl&tag=button&cdlPid=11014801
or
Microsoft Security Essentials
http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/
(great protection rates in allot of tests)
Slartibartfast
13th December 2009, 17:39
If you mean free, then I've usually recommended AVG or Avast! in the past. Currently Avast! has the edge IMO but you'll find fanbois for every bit of software going ;-) These days, I'd personally just use the Microsoft one as mentioned above. When my Eset NOD32 licences are up for renewal I'll probably switch some machines to MSE.
Cheers,
Slarti.
Comspec
13th December 2009, 18:03
AVG Free will suffice, and I usually back this up with manual scans using Malwarebytes every now and again.
One thing though, none of these FREE options are intended for business use, and you are breaking their licensing if you do use them so.
I was beginning to like Kaspersky but the 2010 version made me want to throw a PC through the window, so I'm back off it again :)
imageonline
13th December 2009, 18:17
AVG FREE and run an Ad aware scan when I remember. http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php
Dawg
13th December 2009, 18:32
Well one idea is to make the partitions that the user has write access to unexecutable, and ensure that the programs they have access to cannot execute data.
That pretty much stops viruses.
Useful. Thanks.
Will print and store in my Nestles samovar.
KM-Tiger
13th December 2009, 19:21
Useful. Thanks.
Will print and store in my Nestles samovar.
Yes, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest.
It's the same reasoning as mounting /tmp noexec, nosuid to protect a webserver. Whether that's achievable in Windows is a different question.
OT: I've just checked our samovar and can't see "Nestles" on it anywhere.
Alba Transcription
13th December 2009, 20:46
I used to use Norton exclusively and in fact still have NIS on one newish machine (purely because it was pre-installed - it will be replaced soon) but moved to the products below a couple of years ago.
Since I am new to the forum (very, actually - first post), I can't post links so you may want to have a look at Avira dot com and Comodo dot com.
Avira and Comodo are free (paid versions are available which I have never tried) but they have a pretty steep learning curve. However, once you get the hang of their hang-ups, their detection and zapping skills are far superior.
Hope this helps.