Another Antivirus Question, plz

[kintangoman]

My antivirus protection (with Norton) is due to elapse in FIVE days. Each time I turn on the laptop now, there is a RED Message telling me time is running out. ''Renew now''.

So I checked on the net if thee was any freebies going and came across this site: Free Norton TM Antivirus - New 2014 Version Available Now (I have not had the courage to click on the site yet as I am a bit suspicious?)
- the above is provided by: www.norton.com/uk
- while I believe the ''official'' norton site is: uk.norton.com/downloads

My questios:
- Is the free download for 2014 rael, or is it a fake site?
- How can I find out without gettiing my system ''messed up''?

Many thanks for your help

[dewaltdisney]

I have been using AVG free version for years now coupled with Windows Defender firewall. It seems quite adequate and does not seem to have such an overhead on the system resources when you open up as Norton does. I do not think that McAfee or Norton are worth the money they charge. Avast is another free one that lots of people use.

DWD

[philprime]

I have been using avg for years never had any problems with it

Wouldn't pay the charges that norton want

[wine~o]

Another vote for AVG, which you can download here..

http://filehippo.com/download_avg_antivirus/

You'll need to choose 32 bit or 64 bit depending on your machine..

Probably a good idea to remove Norton before attempting the download though...

[ayjay]

I used the free AVG version for a long time, but after one update a couple of years back it was slowing down my PC quite badly - I switched to Avast, which is free and does the job.

http://www.avast.com/en-gb/compare-anti ... tAodXh4Aug

[Someone-Else]

http://www.norton.com/uk
- while I believe the ''official'' norton site is: uk.norton.com/downloads

I believe you are getting some what confused.

http://www.norton.uk.com/ is a website about the norton motorcycle.

The anti virus called Norton (made by symantec) is at www.norton.com

Anything that starts with (in this case) norton.com forward slash what ever e.g. norton.com/uk is owned by symantec, so no worries.

Look at the address you see in the address bar now, it says http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk forward slash (what ever page name you are looking at)

As for the anti virus it self, too expensive for what it is.

[Cannyfixit]

I used the free AVG version for a long time, but after one update a couple of years back it was slowing down my PC quite badly - I switched to Avast, which is free and does the job.

http://www.avast.com/en-gb/compare-anti ... tAodXh4Aug

Ditto gave it a try on mine last year and have since installed it on Mrs Canny's laptop and my nephews

[kintangoman]

thanks everyone.
just have to work out now which to go for?
Avast or AVG? hhmmmmmm

[dandan]

AVG slowed my machine down something terrible, I think they fixed the issue in a later release but I had already binned it (this was about a year ago).

The best I have found is Microsoft Security Essentials, its free and has no impact on the system.

[BlueC]

The best I have found is Microsoft Security Essentials, its free and has no impact on the system.

I'd second that. It's decent, does what it needs and doesn't nag you for money or get in the way.

Source: 10+ years as an IT tech

[joinerjohn]

I'm using a Linux OS now. No anti virus for 2+ yrs now and no viruses (although I may have unwittingly passed them on to Windoze users)

[BlueC]

I'm using a Linux OS now. No anti virus for 2+ yrs now and no viruses (although I may have unwittingly passed them on to Windoze users)

Great geek skillz joinerjohn! Is it Ubuntu? Or Linux Mint? I used Fedora and Arch on my home machine for about 4 years until finally succumbing to OS X. The lack of viruses and more secure OS is great but in the end I needed software that either wasn't available or just wasn't very good on Linux.

[kintangoman]

Ok JJ.
I'm trying to reply but the missus keeps asking me to 'come to bed', so I think I better obey

[joinerjohn]

I'm using a Linux OS now. No anti virus for 2+ yrs now and no viruses (although I may have unwittingly passed them on to Windoze users)

Great geek skillz joinerjohn! Is it Ubuntu? Or Linux Mint? The lack of viruses and more secure OS is great but in the end I needed software that either wasn't available or just wasn't very good on Linux.

Running Ubuntu 12.04.03 and also dual booting to Ubuntu Studio (for my music, the low latency is bloody good)
Dunno about the geek skills, I tend to shy away from using the command terminal too much (have buggered it up twice in two years. ), but will use it if pushed. (sometimes you just have to use it to sort stuff out)
Have to admit, the only thing I miss about Windoze is my (now) inability to play my favourite MMORPG game "Eve Online". I've tried using Wine and Play on Linux, but it slows the game down so much it's almost unplayable. ( another player targets you and before you can do anything, your egged. ) Office software on Linux, (Libre Office) is every bit as good as any offering from MS (and compatible too) Email client (Thunderbird) is great. And, the best thing is, it can bring older computers back to a useful life again (specially when Windoze slows to a crawl, as it invariably does) Tried a Lappy last week running Win8 and can't say I was overly impressed (bloody struggled to be honest)
Anyway I haven't found Ubuntu, to be too geeky. Quite the opposite. Easy to use, fairly fast (and remains so. No need to defrag the HDD every few weeks/months)

[wine~o]

AVG slowed my machine down something terrible, I think they fixed the issue in a later release but I had already binned it (this was about a year ago).

Agreed the 2013 version was pants....so I re-installed the 2012 version (Still had the set up files in a folder somewhere) Haven't tried the 2014 update, which is the latest version...