Choosing Anti-virus program: NAV or AVG?

Hello,,I have always used Norton Anti-Virus with very good luck. Lately I have been using AVG, the free AV from the Web for my other PC. It seems really good too. I get lifetime free Live Updates from Norton and AVG has them too. I guess what I'm trying too ask is would you remove NAV from the other PC and use AVG. I know its going to be what AV do I like best,,I wonder which is the better AV in your opinion???
Thank You..Paul

 

AVG is better. Less bloat, less problems.
I run AVG on all my systems, and recommend it to all my customers. Sure, I could make a few bucks selling them Norton, but then the machines would be back in the shop with some related problem, and I'd have more angry customers.
I just set them up with AVG, and haven't had a virus related call in over a year. Trojans however, are a different story. Even though AVG and Norton both scan for some of them, a good trojan scanner is also recommended.

 

A Question only as I have never had a problem with NAV.

Does AVG have that capability to check e-mail both in and out ?

NAV does do that with Eudora and Calypso. And also Checks MailWasher when checking the mail on the server.

I do not use OE so I do not worry about that

I ask because I do have software here that uses AVG.

BillyBob

 

Paul may have unwittingly opened a can of worms here as this topic often fuels heated brand loyalty endorsements.

I wish to first answer BillyBob's question: Yes, AVG does have the capability to check e-mail both in and out, but does not support all clients necessarily. It does for most all of the MS products and Eudora

As far as Paul's question, let me just say that if you do a search of this forum alone, you will find that NAV has been the root of many OS and software conflicts and often requires special surgical strikes or Symantec support to resolve when such conflicts do arise. NAV is also a resource hog for the typical user with typical resources in a typical configuration.

You will never find a conflict w/ AVG software and your OS or other third party software and takes up no noticeable resources at all.

I have given NAV several chances and it has failed to deliver on the advertised claims. AVG has picked up W32Klez family virii I, E, & H where NAV 2000, & 2002 have failed. That alone is enough for me right there.

I also don't hold a lot of faith in the accolades of the glossy periodicals that depend on the very advertising revenue for the products they advertise. It is no coincidence that there happens to be twice as many full page ads for NAV in certain magazines each time they are reviewed. Do you really think the vendor is unaware of such reviews and the outcomes that are slated for publication months in advance? Please! I have professionally worked behind those scenes.

Until a magazine such as 'Consumer Reports' but IT industry specific is published you are at the mercy of trial-and-error and what works for you.

The Chevrolet Chevette was a number one selling car in the early 1980's. The best car built then? Hardly. Just because a product has been well marketed and is a top seller does not make it the best product.

Remember the 913 followers of Jim Jones in Jonestown in Guyana in 1978?? The result of great marketing.

 

BruceKrymow

Thank you.

That is all I need to know.

I will now be able to make a choice and maybe try new things along with the new HD and OS I am planning on getting.

BillyBob

 

BruceKrymow I totally agree.

Billy, have no fear, AVG works perfectly with Eudora and Pegasus (and probably others) for both incoming and outgoing email.

Probably AVG's largest selling point: It DOES NOT interfere with any other programs, and does not install any spyware, nor does it require you to jump through hoops and install yet more software to do it's updates. Updates are shceduled once a week by default, and scanning scheduled whenever you like. It will also detect mapped drives, and scan over a network LAN with ease.

I'm speaking from the point of a beta tester/user of AVG since before it was available to the public, and never an ounce of trouble. It works the same in all versions of Windows, including XP and the beta/alpha's I have tested. It works with OE if needed, and most other email clients I've tested.
It's user interface (GUI) is unpretentious, and easier to use than NAV (or any other for that matter). Nothing is in "geekspeak ", it's all plain, and the help files are written with a user in mind, not a programmer.

 

I vote with reboot and Bruce!

Paul the hardest part will be (really) getting rid of Norton.

Believe me uninstalling and even using thier own Symclean and Rnav will not totally remove it. Even after doing these and running a couple of RegCleaners or three there will be many dozens of registry entries left.

Norton was once really the King, in the days of dos and win31, then he was bought out by Symantec. He worked for them for some time then left the programming and developement, now they only use his name.

Mike

 

You people have been AWESOME,,BEST Forum on WEB! I was very interested also if AVG would scan "IN-OUT" e-mails and now they do. I'm using Eudora. reboot, you were very good and straight foward. That was being honest at a price $ but I admire your insight. Problems later from unhappy customers.. I have been happy with Norton like i said but also have been enjoying all I read about AVG. Now mflynn,,the next question has been kind of answered. To know in what order to Uninstall NAV, Livereg, LiveUpdate, that seems to be the million $$ question.
Thanks everyone for the great help and info..
~~Paul~~

 

OK Paul

Here are the steps.

1. Download these Norton removal tools. Do not run yet and these do not require installing they run as is.

Norton removal
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2001092114452606

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nsw.nsf/docid/2001101612274407

2. Boot to safe mode and unistall all Norton, Symantec and LiveUpdate and LiveReg.

3. Search HD to find all norton*.* search for Syman*.*. Remove all!

4. Now run Symclean.

5. Now run RNAV for each ver of NAV even if you didn't have that ver. Don't let it reboot when it offers here!

6. reboot here, but back to safe mode.

7. I know you have RegCleaner and EasyCleaner and RegScrub. So run Regcleaner 1st and look on the first screen for any Norton or Symantec or LiveReg or LiveUpdate. Tag and remove them all. Then check the Startup list for any Norton/Symantec entries and remove. Then to the top Tools-Registry cleanup- Dothem all. Then run the other regcleaners one after another.

8. reboot back to full mode.

9. Optional but if you are fanatical about being totally clean of norton registry entries then go to this thread read the entire thread but do the manual clean that I wrote in message #5:

http://windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14576&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

You should not need the sfc /scannow , so don't do that.

Mike

 

Food for thought.

 

Wha....

who...

Well look what the cats dragged in!

Brett where the h** have you been man!

Good to hear from you. Hope you have been well!

mike

 

Will AVG do this ?

Using MailWasher I just found an e-mail waiting for me from a @Yahoo.com address.

This one actually said POSSIBLE VIRUS.

I forgot to uncheck Bounce. I just wanted to delete and Blacklist.

So when I selected proccess mail NAV tried to check it and send it back.

Nope NO GO. NAV says I can't do. Not a vaild address.

I have been getting a LOT of these e-mails lately that NAV brings up the same Message.

BillyBob

 

Its NEVER easy!

Well like someone said earlier, "opened quite a can of worms ".
I'm soooooooooo confused now,,its got to be easier than this Maybe if it ain't broke, I won't try to fix it!
Thank you ALL so much,,,
~~Paul~~

 

Paul is Wuss, Paul is Wuss, Paul is a Wuss!

Lol!

Yeah Paul those are wise words. No need to bother it if it is working and you are satisfied with it.

And you probaly would not have to do all I reccomended and you could switch over OK. It is just that I know about these registry items and how prolific they are. So I told you how I would do it.

Mike

 

Yessiree. Very wise words.

Mine ani't broke and so don't needed fixin.

Notice that I said I was waiting to get a new OS set up before trying something new.

Thoughts behind that are partly due to agreeing with Mike that Norton can be tough to get rid of. And if some part was left it might well cause conflicts.

BillyBob

 

I'm Worried now

Hi

As a NAV user ( never used anything else ) I admit no problems UNTIL XP and version 2003 ( think NAV creates more conflicts than I have ever known )

AVG - I like the ' less bloat ' as Norton anything takes over !!!!

From reading the posts it works as well as ( if not better ) than NAV.

Is there a site that I can read about AVG. I think it has been on magazine discs but it must be a trial version as I don't think it's free. Just hope UK can buy the full version.

Be grateful for advice on this as I will give serious thought to NAV the next time he creates conflicts. More to the point if I do my homework now then I will have something better when my sub runs out ................. I agree very respected until recently. They have told me more times than I care to remember to uninstall & re-install to solve any problems ..........

I definitely need a good program. Goodness - a LOT of cleaning after Mr N

 

Thanks Mike and BillyBob!

After all the work that you did for me Mike I felt terrible not doing the change. I bet though that one of the next times I do a re-install I'll go with AVG. Again friends,,MANY THANKS!!!
~~Paul~~

 

PAULDEP

I would just like to offer a small suggestion.

If and when you do try ANY new software do not get yours hopes too high as there is ALWAYS a chance that it does not work as planned. At least not until you get it setup to the way it will work on your machine.

No matter what any of us say there is no way we can ( or even should ) say that it will work. We can however say ( as has been said in this thread ) whether we have had good or bad luck with it. And what problems we did have and whether we could fix it or not.

I myself read the box, ads or what others say on this BBS. But I DO NOT make any final judgement until I get it on MY MACHINE and see how it goes. If it works then all is well and good. If it don't then I am ready for that also.

I can write this in all honesty as I have tried many different pieces of software that were supposed to do this that or the other thing. And wound up finding out that 98SE don't need a darn bit of it. Leaving it alone and keeping all unnecessary things from running in the background works the best for me.

Now mind you. I am writing this about MY MACHINE. Yours may be entirely different.

That suggestion could be and should be applyed to most any misbehaving software. INCLUDING Windows itself.

Norton ( or any other ) software in its own right is really no different than which version of Windows works best for us.

Many users are using ME. I tried it and had no luck with it at all. I swore at it. Others swear by it.

Right now I see XP as nothing more than an over rated, disk space hogging, do it Microsoft way or else expensive piece of software. But at the same time I can not really say that in all honesty as I have not had the chance yet to get XP onto a HD where I can really get into it.

The individual machine and its components have as much to do with software working ( or not working ) as much as the software itself. This includes the Motherboard, ( BIOS ) CPU, RAM, Video card etc.

I did have problems with Norton on one machine. But at the same time I was having problems with other programs. A Friend suggested changing the Video card. I did same. BINGO !!! ALL problems disappeared.

I took the Video card that I removed, put it in another machine and fixed problems there also. My Wife was much happier when her programs worked better.

Speaking of my Wife. I gotta get off my soap box and go help her. She just had her Gall Bladder removed today. She is beginning to get over her hangover and she is getting hungry

BillyBob

 

myflynn

This is Wafflehouse Paul.
Now don't get mad at me for askng dumb questions becuse you know how new I am at this--but I have a few questions about your removal of Norton (which I'm using)

In Step 4 you say run Symclean--how do you do that.

In Step 5 you say run RNAV--same question.

I have RegCleaner & RegScrub and use them all the time so I know that part--but I don't know the RUN part--can you please explain.
Thanks Paul

 

By run I mean use the programs.

The 2 links I left have the Rnav and Sysclean from Norton just download them.

Found you another Waffle House princess huh?

Mike