AntiVirus Software recommendation solicited

I'm running a T61 and Vista. I did a pre-install Vista checkpoint on the OS. I installed Norton IS 2009. Turned off everything except anti-virus and anti-spy/mal ware - and my formerly screamin' web access is crawling. So I uninstall, reboot. Re-install the OS from the pre-install Vista checkpoint and web acces is back to screamin fast.

Then I re-installed and my results are consisitent. Norton is a problem ... Norton's support pg course say's that the problem is with my ISP. Right... my old Dell 610 XP machine running along side is still hopping fast so ?

OK - end of rant and end of Norton for me. What are you guys running for anti-virus and anti-spam ware ? I'm looking for small footprint, fast, non-obtrusive yet effective.

Thanks in advance! Mal

 

I have Norton Internet Security 2009 and my browsing and torrenting speeds have not been affected whatsoever.

I've also used Eset Smart Security, and it's also light on resources, maybe not as much so as NIS09, but it won't make any noticeable impact on your system.

 

God bless Spyware Doctor w/Antivirus option. Bulletproof and lighter on resources than most of the other anti-spyware/anti-virus suites, and annual subscription is reasonably priced too. Still, when I get my new T400s, will see if I can stick it into turbo memory

 

I sure wish I was seeing the same results. When I browse to a site, IE takes up to a few minutes to load a site that formerly loaded in seconds. The behavior certainly seems to indicate that there is some filtering activity taking place. That it doesn't happen when Norton uninstalled seems to be an indicator to me ...

 

I have had horrible luck with Norton's antivirus and thats why I switched to Avira. Works great in my opinion.

 

+1 for Avira. Lightweight, non-obtrusive, highly customizable, and free.

If you do get Avira, follow the instructions to disable the ad on update and the splash screen on startup.

 

If you want free software --Avast! AntiVirus Free Edition ( http://www.avast.com).

If you're willing to pay, eSet's NOD32 has one of the best reputations in the business. ( http://www.eset.com)

Products to avoid --Any Norton or McAfee home-user product. They require more system resources (CPU, RAM, hard disk) to do what other products do, which affects performance. McAfee has made some versions deliberately difficult to uninstall, in the hope that the end-user will just give up and renew their subscription.

 

Eset NOD32, always worked great for me. people use to complain that it's too difficult to use but they have made it a lot easier and yet still kept the advanced option, just behind the scene and you can access them if you feel comfortable.

 

avira and nod32 have both good detection rates. avoid avast. avira is available as free edition too, just a short notification pops up every day or so, advertising their paid products. both are fast.

for enterprise usage, i have sophos on top of my list. i'd avoid anything with a firewall though... firewalls in av progs suck big time. the one built into windows is just fine.

 

i should elaborate why i said you should avoid avast: it just has a very badd detection rate. so you'd be much better of with free home version of avira free-av