I have used Norton products for years. They provide good protection in my experience. However, I have always known that Norton Internet Security takes a lot of space and slows the computer - especially at startup. However, I have always felt safe with Norton since I am not an expert by any means in computer protection. Short of removing NIS 2006 and going with the stand alone approach for different types of protection, can I tweak my existing NIS to improve performance?

Thanks.

Not to my knowledge. Having used Norton for many years as well, I finally saw the light and switched to Avast. But if your not ready to switch to the freeware replacements, then your pretty much stuck. The only small adjustment that can be made is to not have Norton boot up when your PC does. That only makes your PC start faster. Take it from me though.... my mom had NIS 2007 on her PC for a year. It used to take 10 minutes (we timed it), for her XP Pro computer to start. Now with her using AVG Free, it takes only 2 minutes.

Good luck!

Thanks. Does AVAST protect everything that NIS does?

i too used norton for many years and as jesse said i also seen the light,unlike jesse i use avg free and my computer boots in less than a minute avast and avg are great replacements for norton and since i swapped to avg i have never had a problem.

No. You would need to use Avast or AVG (both are free antivirus products) alongside a free firewall. Here is my lineup of security programs:

- AVG Free (I do not use Avast.... I tried to edit my post, but the doggon thing wouldn't let me)

-AVG AntiSpyware Free

- Zone Alarm Free

These three products will definately protect you 10x more than Norton ever could. Let us know what you decide and what works best ok?

Don't forget AVG's free Anti-Rootkit program to go with those other AVG free products.

Why is it that NIS 2006 slows down one's computer to such an extent, yet these other programs don't? Are they not as powerful or not as effective?

The trick is the other programs don't use as much system resources as the major internet security suite providers do. Norton uses 90% of your system resources at different times. The other programs are more powerful and effective than Norton, as we've said.

It actually has nothing to do with either how "powerful" or effective the program is. The slowdown is directly related to how much of the systems resources are used by the program. Norton's package isn't the only one that uses enough that user's notice a "sluggishness" in their system. Sometimes, adding more RAM resolves the issue somewhat.

Symantec/Norton's new security suite - Norton 360 is supposedly much lighter on resources than the previous suite.

Oh, I wasn't recommending Norton 360, just pointing out that the new Norton product is obviously re-vamped to use less of a system's resources.

So what did you decide Hal06?

Decide? I've decided not to think about it until the long weekend! From what I've read uninstalling NIS is a pain.

There is a program called the Norton Removal tool. If you google SYMNRT, you will see it. It does the pain of removing Norton for you.

Norton is so unpopular that there it has its own removal program? Yikes. That says a lot!

Well,

to be fair,

Norton's removal tool is a Norton product.



Anyway, you can get it h e r e.

Okay. I just received the email reminder that my Norton anti-virus subscription will automatically renew around 4 July. So now is the time to make the switch.

These three programs, AVG Free , AVG AntiSpyware Free, and Zone Alarm Free will do all that Norton Internet Security 2006 does? I believe that entails anti-virus and anti-spam and e-mail scanning. Is there anything that these three won't do that NIS 2006 will do?

Is this the correct procedure for switching: download the three programs and then remove NIS?

Thanks again.

AVG AntiSpyware Free will add something Norton doesn't have. It's made for antispyware purposes only, and is therefore, in my opinion, a better tool when it comes to detecting and removing spyware. I think its a very good scaner and cleaner. The pro (costs money) version includes live protection against spyware, but most people doesnt need this, so I wouldn't recommend it.
Most people would recomend Spybot and/or Ad-Aware (both free) as well as AVG Antispyware (I've got all 3) because no program finds everything.
(Haven't used AVG free and Zone alarm, so I cant tell you anything)

If your PC boots slowley, I would recommend Winpatrol free as well. Winpatrol is a user friendly program, that you can use to delay the start of unimportant programs. It also detects all the changes to startup programs (if a new startup program is installed), so if you decide to donwload it, you should install it after you've installed everything else. You can see some reviews here.

AVG Antispyware (and SpyBot, Ad-aware and Winpatrol) are programs you can download and install right away with out interferring with NIS. When it comes to AVG free and Zone Alarm, I think you should donwload first, then remove NIS, and finaly install AVG and Zone alarm. However its possible to deactivate NIS, so perhaps you should deactivate, install AVG + Zone Alarm, and then remove NIS? I guess the guys you talked to in may knows what to do, so you'd better wait for them.

Also, if you were looking to stay with Symantec, Norton Internet Security 2007 is less of a hog on system resources and adds better antispyware protection.

If you wanted to stick to the free alternatives, what you have mentioned above is good, and add Comodo BOClean Anti-Malware, it adds protection that runs in the background.

There is something to be said for a Suite like Norton Internet Security. One installation does it all; it has auto updates, etc. Is the freeware this easy to use? Is NIS 2007 that much better at not hogging system resources? Thanks!

The most important thing when it comes to the choice of security programs, is that you feel safe and comfortable with the program. If you dont mind paying for Norton and you dont want to change to something new, I think you should stick with Norton. It provides good protection, and you know how to use it. However, if you're willing to try something new, AVG free and Zone Alarm are good programs as well. When it comes to the use of system resources, its not sure this is a problem for you. It depends on how good your computer is and how high your demands are. If you are happy with your PC's performance, it doesn't matter. If you want to speed it up, you should consider to change. But remember, the process that uses the mot recourses is scanning. If you scan your PC when your not using it, or when you're just using small programs (word, internet and so on), you avoid beeing disturbed.

You can tak a look at how much recourses Norton uses by opening the task manager (right clik on the taskbar and choose task manager). Go to processes. There you can see who many % of your CPU different processes use. If you go to performance you can look at the RAM usage. The task manager has a help menu as well. These numbers will be low as long as you dont do anything, so just work as normal and see what happens. (Opening a document, for instance, will result in an automatic scan.)

Whatever you decide to do, you should download on of these: Ad-Aware, Spybot, AVG Antispyware. They are all spyware and malware scanners that you should use every now and then. Take a look here. Ad-aware and spybot are the most popular.

There's something to be said for an all in one program. It's a good concept but usually the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I recently asked about a freeware alternative to NIS called Blink Personal Security because like you, I would like one program that does everything and I'm definitely not paying for Norton. The reviews of Blink are good concept, poor execution. At least with a lot of the freeware virus & spyware programs, they're doing one thing and doing it well. I'm very happy with AntiVir, AVG AntiSpyware, CCleaner, SpywareBlaster & SpywareGuard. Both Ad Aware & Spybot have been surpassed by other programs. I haven't found a freeware firewall that I care for yet but I'm still looking. Comodo didn't work for me and I don't like the others. But I will tell you this. I have had Norton in the past. Never again. It's not worth the money.

Okay. Norton Internet Security is uninstalled using the norton removal tool. It took about 3 hours for it to completely remove itself! (Is that normal?) I'm using Zone Alarm Free, AVG Free, AVG Antispyware Free. We'll see how these go! Thanks.