Would anyone recommend Norton Internet Security 2005.

S

Saint

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 20, 2004
Messages
290
Well my Norton anti virus has just expired so I have to do something. I was considering getting Norton Internet Security instead of just the anti virus for some extra protection. There is a 30$ mail in rebate for it as well on newegg which makes it 2$ cheaper than the anti virus. So Im like why not. I should get it right?

This is what im looking at.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16832108230
 
It's bulky and a memory hog, but you'd have to pay alot more for a non-suite alternative.

Norton beats McAfee ...
 
I got a Norton Internet Security disc with my motherboard. Haven't installed it yet, because AVG/Adaware/Zonealarm seem to be working just fine.
 
Bepunk said:
It's bulky and a memory hog, but you'd have to pay alot more for a non-suite alternative.

Norton beats McAfee ...
Click to expand...

I have Norton through my University's site license, but even if I didn't I'd still buy Norton over most anything else. Why? 'Cause it's all I know. :)

But I have to agree with the first statement above; Norton's suite products tend to be memory hogs. I remember when I had System Works or somesuch installed years ago; I ended up removing it because I could barely do anything else.

If you can get it cheap, then go for it. Otherwise, I'd be content with nothing more than Norton AV and a simple firewall--heck, even just the router I have at home is enough to keep me cozy at night.
 
I would say its not worth the money.

I have worked on countless PCs which have some verison of norton between 2002 to 2005... plain anti-virus or the full blown Internet security suite, and not only is it a more memory intensive program than some of the others, but it misses viruses that AVG can find which is free!

Try these out and see what you think. (They're free)

Antivirus - AVG
Anti-Spyware - Ad-Aware SE
Anti-Spyware - Spybot Search & Destroy
Anti-Spyware - Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta
Firewall - Zone Alarm
 
No matter what I did, Norton Internet 2004/2005 would not let me access the Everquest II game servers. I had to turn it completely off while playing. So whats the point. With AVG, I told it once to allow this connection, and never a problem after.
 
I wouldn't recommend the Internet Security bundle. The firewall was my problem: I could never configure it the way that I wanted to. I'd say renew your NAV for another year and get ZoneAlarm (either the free or Pro version) as a firewall. If you don't want to spend the money, AVG is also a good choice.
 
I use Invisus which includes every feature that Norton has (better virus protection though), and has free tech-support if needed. Norton charges you $100 an incident.
 
My advice to you is to avoid it. The only protection it really provides is misplaced "peace of mind" . Ultimately it is not going to improve your security posture significantly enough to outweigh the performance cost to be a sound investment.

If you are serious about securing your box you would be better served with a dedicated linux box running iptables or a BSD box running pf. Use this in conjunction with AVG for antivirus and you will have better than average protection for a home PC.

Alternatively, you may wish to consider running a comprehensive security distribution like Astaro (www.astaro,com -- free for home users) with AVG for desktop antivirus.

Desktop/software security products offer limited protection for a limited range of exploits. You may mitigate the risk to certain vulnerabilities but you will not have comprehensive (or even acceptable, IMO) protection.

Really, you'll just be consuming copious system resources for a product that "sort of" protects against a handful of exploits.

Don't bother with Norton, it's junk. As stated before, AVG antivirus is great. It has been shown to outperform both Norton and Mcaffee.
 
I have Norton Internet Security and so far it hasnt let me down...i havent had any trojans or attacks allowed into my computer...it monitors each program that accesses the internet and u can custom configure all of em...i like it..
 
IMO Norton Internet security is complete and utter shit. The firewall is a PITA and the whole program is a resource hog.

Get zone alarm for your firewall. It's free and much better than NIS.
AVG is free, why not get that too?
 
IMO, Norton is more trouble than it's worth (except for Ghost, which is the best of it's kind). I've had sooooooo many problems with their damn software suites it's unreal.

Anyway, AVG is by far the best antivirus prog I've ever used. For everything else, there are freeware downloads available (spybot S&D, ad-aware, etc).
 
Why did you feel compelled to post this twice?

I used it for a while and hated it. The firewall was sluggish and seemed to do more harm than good. The Filter software was a joke. It relies strictly on a blacklist for blocking sites. It loads a 100MB+ blacklist into your system's memory every time you boot your compter, huge performance impact. I advise against it. If you are feeling adventurous, get a junk box and load Smoothwall on it. Install the Dansguardian plugin and you will be light-years ahead of Norton's.
 
Wow I guess Norton isnt as good as I thought. I think I will try AVG instead. Thx for the advice.
 
I have Norton on my machine and you know what? After reading all the postings, I am uninstalling it now. It IS a damn memory and resource hog. Every time someone brings me their computer to fix, I fix it and install AVG. Someone posted this already, I remember reading it, Norton just provides a misplaced peace of mind.
 
l337zax said:
I would say its not worth the money.

I have worked on countless PCs which have some verison of norton between 2002 to 2005... plain anti-virus or the full blown Internet security suite, and not only is it a more memory intensive program than some of the others, but it misses viruses that AVG can find which is free!

Try these out and see what you think. (They're free)

Antivirus - AVG
Anti-Spyware - Ad-Aware SE
Anti-Spyware - Spybot Search & Destroy
Anti-Spyware - Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta
Firewall - Zone Alarm
Click to expand...

a person who knows their stuff

i 2nd this


why pay for it when you can get it all for free? with out breaking the law.
 
Rampant Paranoia 101

Id recommend various freeware ^ linked above and a layered defense
but the best security investment you can make in my opinion would be ProcessGuard ;)

What is ProcessGuard?
DiamondCS ProcessGuard is a groundbreaking security system first released late in 2003 that protects Windows processes from attacks by other processes, services, drivers, and other forms of executing code on your system. ProcessGuard also stops applications from executing without the users consent, stops malicious worms and trojans from being executed silently in the background, as well as a variety of other attacks. ProcessGuard even stops most keyloggers and leaktests, and is recognised by many to be the most comprehensive anti-rootkit solution available.

Why do I need it?
Security-conscious users on the Internet these days typically have a firewall and antivirus program at the very least, yet very few users are aware that these layers of security can easily be rendered null and void simply by terminating or modifying the host process. For example, a trojan could simply terminate your personal firewall before attempting to transmit your personal details over the Internet, effectively rendering the firewall useless and leaving the user with a false sense of security. Likewise, it could modify your antivirus program by patching it in memory so that it no longer detected any viruses, so even with a database update and even if it was a known trojan it would remain undetected. Rootkits are another serious threat, because once they've infected your system they can often be extremely difficult to detect (as they modify the operating system itself in order to hide, effectively becoming a stealth trojan). ProcessGuard allows you to block the installation of rootkit drivers, preventing any infection from occurring. Firewall bypass techniques are also another big security problem where ProcessGuard can lend a hand. These are just some of the many advantages you'll get from securing your system with ProcessGuard.

Main uses ...
Each capability of ProcessGuard is powerful in its own right. For example, a program which simply blocked rootkit trojans from installing would be very valuable in its own right, yet this is just one feature of ProcessGuard! Here is just a brief list of some of the main uses of ProcessGuard:

Securing processes from being attacked (terminated, suspended, modified)
Controlling which programs are/aren't allow to run
Blocking rootkit trojans and other malicious drivers from installing
Protecting physical memory from malicious modification
Blocking hooks and code injections
Determining which programs are being executed on your system
Determining which programs are attacking others on your system
Analysing the inter-process behaviors of programs
Keeping a log of all programs that execute (important for post-infection analysis)
Click to expand...

basically a rule based firewall for the kernel itself
at the very least download the limited freeware version ;)

for an AV scanner in the paidware category > NOD32
 
I have installed AVG and its works great. One thing I was wondering is does AVG auto protect while its running like Norton does.
 
Lowbatt said:
I've been using nod32 for about 8 months. Norton is such a resource hog and is really a piece of crap.
Click to expand...

LOL I hate Norton. Is there a conflict issue with NOD32 and AVG together? Also, do you know if AVG runs auto protect in the background?
 
I used Norton on my old desktop & I'll never use it again. It was a resource hog, didn't clean anything it found & was a pain to uninstall after I'd had enough. My current set-up for AV, firewall, & anti-spyware:
--Avast (free)
--Zone Alarm (free)
--SpywareBlaster (free)
--Spybot (free--am also using it's included hosts file right now)
--CounterSpy ($19.95)
--Ewido (anti-trojan; free version which I use as an on-demand scanner)
--I also use the free on-line scanners by Trend Micro & Bit-Defender

All that protection, & all I spend is $19.85 for CS (future upgrades will only cost $10 every 12 months).
 
icehokplyr said:
Has anyone ever tried NOD32? Check it out here: http://www.nod32.com/home/home.htm
Let me know what you guys think of this.
Thanks in advance....
Click to expand...


http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=925716
(one of about a hundred such threads, there is a search feature in VBull3 :p )


as far as AVG auto protect
which version it is would likely help considerably

the pro version has a "Resident Shield - checks for viruses as files are opened, executed and saved and will prevent you from opening or running an infected file" (sometimes :p)

but then most AVs do
however the freeware version doesnt appear to
and there would be no reason to run noth NOD32 and the AVG freeware version concurrently

and as mentioned various malware can both terminate and circumvent the typical resident protection, which is why you employ a layered defense with multiple trip wires, and why I personally think ProcessGuard is the greatest thing since sliced bread as its a very low level monitor and hook, able to block process attacks

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Known Direct Process Attacks @ DiamondCS

This section documents the main types of attacks that processes can launch against other processes on a local system (such as a trojan attacking a security program, a rootkit injecting into a system process, or a firewall "leak test" attempting to hitch on a web-browser).

These process vs. process attack techniques can typically be categorised into three distinct, but related groups:

Termination - the attacking process attempts to kill the target process. This is the most common attack.

Suspension - the attacking process attempts to suspend the target process (usually by suspending all threads belonging to the target process), leaving it resident but in an inactive, frozen state.

Modification - the attacking process attempts to modify or inject code in the target process, usually with the intent of changing the behaviour of the target process, or hiding its own code in the context of the target process. The target process remains resident and active, but in a modified state.

However, there are other types of attacks, including:

Hooks - the attacking process attempts to load a DLL into all processes on the system that use user32.dll, allowing it to then perform functions on behalf of other processes. This can make termination attacks easy, as well as firewall leak-tests, as well as password-stealers, as well as keystroke-loggers, and more.

Thread Activation - the attacking process attempts to start a thread in another process, usually with the start address being a function like ExitProcess, or in the case of the Windows File Protection attack, a function that unloads Windows File Protection.

Leaktests - the attacking process attempts to transmit data to the Internet, usually using advanced techniques such as hooking and thread activation in order to bypass firewalls. Although not originally designed as an anti-leaktest program, Process Guard has been demonstrated to have remarkable results against such programs.

Drivers - kernel-mode drivers (.sys files) have the power to perform some very low-level functions, and in the case of rootkits they can actually modify the behaviour of critical operating system functions.

All of the attacks represent a very serious and very real threat to local system security, particularly because the majority of people execute programs on their system without actually knowing what the code in the program does

Attacks in Detail

Code Modification

Process Termination

Miscellaneous Attacks

Rootkits

Global Hooks

Leaktests

Password Stealers

Keystroke Loggers

Disabling Windows File Protection
 
I would recommend against any firewall that's running on your windows box.. either get a hardware based firewall, such as a linksys firewall/router, or set up a linux box using IPTables.. big thing here though is to make sure the firewall will stealth all your ports.. if you google shieldsup, there is a firewall tester there, and it works very good to test out your firewall..

As for AV goes, I can't speak enuff about Kaspersky.. it always has the highest detection rate over any other AV program out there.. it updates it's definitions every 3 hours, and doesn't use up too much resources..

haven't checked out processguard, but that definately seems like a good program.. will have to give it a whirl..
 
Norton products have caused me more problems than I have time to list here. Avoid at all costs.
 
if you are running Windows Xp you don't need internet security. It can
will completely jack up your network on that machine. If you need something norton I suggest Norton Systemworks, you get norton utilities including ghost and Norton Antivirus which is still pne of the best, IMHO.

Internet Security is just asking for problems. I just had to rebuild from a scratch a sectaries system because she installed NIS. And once installed, its nearly impossible to completely remove even using Symantec's removal tool.

Avoid at all costs!
 
BTW, avg is an excellent free product. expecially once you pair it with Zone Alarm.
 
I have know for awhile that NIS isn't the end all firewall. I'm thinking of uninstalling it and going for AVG and maybe zonealarm and some of the other freeware (free CS version). should I keep the antivirus part of the suite? Any other active protection apps?
 
EnderXC said:
I have know for awhile that NIS isn't the end all firewall. I'm thinking of uninstalling it and going for AVG and maybe zonealarm and some of the other freeware (free CS version). should I keep the antivirus part of the suite? Any other active protection apps?
Click to expand...
I did it Bro. I removed everything named Symantec and Norton form my computer and registry. Back up your registry first and give it a whirl. You'll notice the difference after your first re-boot. It's litterally taking weight off your memory and resources.
 
I use MS's beta antispyware program, AVG and just the windows firewall. I'm supporting 15 pcs with those installed and I've not had an infection or spyware problem since I started using it.

If you want something a bit more robust use Zone Alarm's free product. It is the end all personal firewall.
 
EnderXC said:
You guys really think that Zone alarm/AVG is all someone could need?
Click to expand...
With Windows XP and a Linksys router, yes. Anyone can access your machine over the internet but with good programs to keep you hidden, you should be ok. Key work.... Should.
 
icehokplyr said:
With Windows XP and a Linksys router, yes. Anyone can access your machine over the internet but with good programs to keep you hidden, you should be ok. Key work.... Should.
Click to expand...
Thats a good point. Using a router secures your system a good deal. Of course nothings completely safe, but using a router really does reduce your risk. Main due to the firewall and the NAT feature. Security basics require you change the default password tho, otherwise you are pretty open.
 
EnderXC said:
You guys really think that Zone alarm/AVG is all someone could need?
Click to expand...
Yes. XP is relatively secure operating system as long as you keep it up to date. For a personal machine that means turning auto-update on, and making sure the updates are installed in a timely fashion. Throw some antivirus and a improved firewall and you've got something thats truely hard to compromise.

Of course, anythings possible and there are no guarantees. But if you take those reasonable precautions you have a extremely low chance of being compromised.
 
icehokplyr said:
I did it Bro. I removed everything named Symantec and Norton form my computer and registry. Back up your registry first and give it a whirl.
Click to expand...

If I had one complaint (outside of being a resource hog), it's this. You simply CAN'T uninstall their software without going to a significant amount of trouble. Lord help you if it ever gets borked during the wrong part of the installer.

I definitley like the NOD32/Kerio coupling. If you're at all interested in running a second box as a router/firewall, check out smoothwall. It's kickin.

 
Oldie said:
If I had one complaint (outside of being a resource hog), it's this. You simply CAN'T uninstall their software without going to a significant amount of trouble. Lord help you if it ever gets borked during the wrong part of the installer.

I definitley like the NOD32/Kerio coupling. If you're at all interested in running a second box as a router/firewall, check out smoothwall. It's kickin.

Click to expand...
argh i hate install issues. norton is the worst.
 
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