Question on free Norton AV from Comcast

neo960 · Post by **neo960** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 8:56 pm

I just noticed this at the comcast site while paying my bill:

"Comcast customers can now get Norton™ Security. It protects your computer, files and identity without slowing you down. Plus, get the award winning OnlineFamily.Norton to safeguard your kids online - $160 dollar value at no additional cost with your Comcast high-speed internet subscription."

Has anyone tried this? Are there any strings attached to this offer (spyware, etc)? I would like to get this but want to make sure if anyone had any issues using this.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 7:38 am

Norton gathered a pretty bad reputation a few years ago, for making software that really bogged down your PC and made it sluggish. But their newer products are actually very light..one of the lightest, period. Detection and cleaning rates are consistently quite high. It's your choice. Personally, for free, I use MSE.

CableDude · Post by **CableDude** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 7:15 pm

Just go with MSE or Avira.

neo960 · Post by **neo960** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 8:40 pm

I had not heard of MSE until now (haven't been keeping up to date on the news lately). Based on the advice of YOSC & cabledude, I am going to give it a whirl.

neo960 · Post by **neo960** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 9:04 pm

PC Mag does not seem to like this product:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2353386,00.asp

Any thoughts?

"Installing the free Microsoft Security Essentials will protect your system from malware—to a degree. But you'll get better protection from one of the other well-known free anti-malware products.

Poor protection against keyloggers, rootkits, and scareware. Just average protection against general malware. In testing, sometimes erroneously reported successful malware removal or blocking."

neo960 · Post by **neo960** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 9:19 pm

I have been running MSE for the past few days and here are some areas that I wish Microsoft will improve:

Updates cannot be scheduled. I have to manually hit "Update" every day. I do a full scan only on weekends and that is the only time the automated updater updates signatures.
The program cannot be terminated cleanly. I need to go to task manager and kill it manually when I need to perform some sensitive task like burning a CD. I prefer that anti-virus does not run while burning CDs or DVDs since I have had bad experience with badly burned discs before.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 6:27 am

MSE updates daily on its own for me.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:59 am

neo960 wrote:PC Mag does not seem to like this product:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2353386,00.asp

Any thoughts?

My preferred source of benchmarks and comparisons regarding antivirus software is av-comparatives.org. Has been for years. They recently introduced a new type of testing, called "Dynamics Tests"..which is much more "real world", and using todays current web based threats...aka "rogues", versus traditional viruses of common testing methods.

http://www.av-comparatives.org
Check out the "Dynamics 2009" test.

Guess which "free" product scored quite up high on the list..and this was done only a few months after the product came out.

I have MSE installed on many rigs..including my own at home. Updates just fine without any manual intervention. Regardless of OS. And it's quite low on system impact...I never have to disable it while doing online gaming or other system intensive tasks...with many other products I use to use for AV..I often would disable them to free up resources. But...you "can" disable real time protection..just a few clicks into the menu.

neo960 · Post by **neo960** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 7:49 pm

YARDofSTUF wrote:MSE updates daily on its own for me.

Is there any setting I need to turn on for the auto update to happen? Or does it happen via windows update?

CableDude · Post by **CableDude** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 9:24 pm

neo960 wrote:Is there any setting I need to turn on for the auto update to happen? Or does it happen via windows update?

What OS?

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 8:19 am

neo960 wrote:Is there any setting I need to turn on for the auto update to happen? Or does it happen via windows update?

No its done on its own.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 1:31 pm

neo960 wrote:Is there any setting I need to turn on for the auto update to happen? Or does it happen via windows update?

It uses the AU/WU engine..but on its own. As long as the services are running. It doesn't matter what your actual windows update settings are, as long as the services are on.