Best Anti-virus / Anti-Spam solution?

All,

Im a long time Norton AV user... but since im outfitting a new machine Im curious if its the best choice. Ive also pumped hundreds of $ to symantec over the years so im wondering if their arent better alternatives.

Basically what im looking for is reliable protection with as little a system resource hit as possible.

AVAST looks good for a free program... but is it good because its free or can it hold its own with Norton?

What does everyone use for AV and Anti-malware?

 

I currently run Norton, but from what I've been reading, I may switch when the e1505 comes through the door. Avast looks decent. Tagging along here.

Mike

 

For anti-malware/spyware, I use spybot, their website is:
http://www.safer-networking.org/
Simple, easy to use freeware for the occasional scan for spyware.

 

I've never particularly liked SpyBot - Microsoft (gasp!) Antispyware (Now the flashier sounding "Windows Defender") has served me very well in the spy/malware departments. Ad-Aware was also nice, but since installing Firefox, I've had no use for it.

Mike

 

I used to swear by Spybot until it ate a machine of mine... it did its thing then the machine would no longer boot!!! Last time I used it.

 

I still like spybot and adaware which are both free and great. AVG is also excellent for a freebie but towards the bottom of the list in terms of all solutions. The best in my opinion is mcafee security suite (spam, virus, spyware and firewall for $70) I used norton for three years before switching to mcafee it hogs less, scans faster and is more effective in every way.

 

I guess everyone has their favorites from their experience... my experience with Mcaffe is mixed... It saved me once when it was the only thing I could find that would remove a virus a few years ago... but it was also responsible for eating a machine of mine... ive had two machines killed forcing a reinstall one from spybot and the other from mcafee... so not thrilled about either of those. Also mcafee really slows down a system... its been the first thing I take off every dell I get either home or work.

 

I like Kaspersky the most, and AntiVir as far as free goes.

 

Kaspersky is very good but I have no way of paying for it except with cash in a store

AVG is best free. trend pc cillin is garbage and dell usually ships that. Norton imo is the biggest hog.

 

Avast in my experience in neither a practical solution nor a fast one (very slow scanning and it has its share of problems); and while AVG is free, it really does not compete with the others. If you're simply looking for the best, go with Eset's NOD32. Or try Symantec AntiVirus 10.0--it's Symantec's business grade offering and is quite a bit better than their consumer Norton AntiVirus (I currently use it on a number of PCs and am quite satisified).

For antispyware, I'd try Adaware or maybe Windows Defender.

 

I use Norton on my desktop. It does the job, but has really bogged down the computer. My Gateway NX860XL came with McAfee. The notebook startup also bogged down when I implemented McAfee. I uninstalled McAfee and downloaded Computer Associates ETrust security suite which is provided at no additional cost (1 yr subscription) by my provider, Frontier DSL. The notebook starts up much faster now, 57 sec vs several minutes with McAfee. I don't really know how good a security package CA is, but its spyware found 17 spyfiles in a very fast 3-4 second scan while Spysweeper found only 7 of them in a 15 minute scan in spite of its large library.

 

Well, I just put avast on my e1505... i'll post how it goes... so far so good though... it seems real resource friendly and it has alot going for it from what ive seen so far.

 

I used to use avast. I use antivir now. It seems faster.