Help! Trial Norton antivirus expiring -- anyone know a decent free counterpart?

Is there a reputable program which does pretty much the same stuff for free? Thanks! :toast:

Although this year I bought the full version for the firewall, too :)

you can not beat AVG.

It's the only thing I use. LOVE AVG.

I've used it for years after barely surviving McAfee and Norton hell. I'd be more than happy to pay for the free version, it's that good.

AVG for antivirus, Comodo for firewall

or you can even buy a fancier of AVG.

Nothing with the name "Norton" should EVER be on your computer.

I've used AVG for years and years, and it's always excellent.

Hi, I've been in GD today.

:hi:

Avast rocks my world! I have not had a single problem since I started using it several years ago.

Which isn't hard to accomplish... getting a guard dog to sit on your harddrive would probably do a better job than Norton.

One of the elderly residents of the retirement center I work had it on her computer and they kept sending her junk email. I removed it and uploaded AVG instead.

They have a free version
http://www.avira.com/en/pages/index.php
Beats the hell out of Nortons

which updates every single day of every single month, and since I download quite a bit, I need a good one. AVG is available at www.grisoft.com.

I got rid of all the Norton stuff, and just went with AVG for anti-virus and anti-spyware functions. It is amazing how fast my computer works now. Truly.

To whomever recommended it to me: You've got a boatload of good karma as a result! :hi:

www.free-av.com

It has some of the best detection rates of all the free anti-virus.

I believe the best way to improve performance on a new computer is to get rid of Norton and MacAffee and replace it with a free alternative, or better commercial software like NOD32

and you'll be surprised at how much faster your system runs when you get rid of Norton.

Sadly for you, ever having Norton on any computer pretty much ruins it. Removing will not help since it never really goes away entirely.

I really need to add that AV programs are a scam. Prudent behavior online and careful handling of email is by far the best defense.

to uninstall it before you install your new one. Which of course is risky unless you download your program first and then get off line and install the new program after you remove Norton.

In removing Norton with "Add/Remove Programs" you will then want to do a search for anything that says "Norton" and of course anything that says "Symantec" and get rid of what you can of all of those things.

Norton is a total memory hog. I used to like it fine from the 2002 or 2003 version, in fact I still use the Norton "Go Back" program, which I seldom need with this computer but it has saved my butt before with a very buggy computer I used to have. I also USED to love the Norton firewall but it got too weird and complicated and I wasted the $50 or so I paid for the new one because I had to just uninstall it.

It is good to also occasionally run a couple other programs: Adaware, and Spybot Search and Destroy. (There's more than one 'spybot' program so get the right one.) These programs are also free for download, but they run manually not automatically (unless something new is out there I don't know about.)

I haven't bothered to run them for awhile because with AVG plus using Firefox instead of I.E., I really don't find unwelcome junk on my computer.