Everything that I say here is only my opinion, based on what I’ve seen over the years. In my life, I have worked on (literally) thousands of computers and computer networks with my own 2 hands… and that’s AFTER I worked over-the-phone tech support for several years. Some may disagree with what I say here, but I feel that I’ve been doing this long enough to have a good idea of what’s good and what’s crap.

We see at least 5 or 6 computers per month that have Norton Antivirus installed and completely up to date… and is riddled with viruses and spyware.

Symantec, I feel, has rested on it’s laurels long enough to become lazy. I feel that they no longer need to compete on the basis of quality, since they now have a captive audience.

In case you haven’t purchased a new computer recently, let me save you the surprise and tell you that Symantec’s Norton Antivirus is going to come preinstalled on the computer. Most people, either not knowing any better or just not wanting to do their own research will probably just keep the trial edition on their computer. Once the trial is over, they will usually just opt to purchase a valid license to continue using the product.

THAT is how I see Symantec making it’s money. Is a dishonest? Nope. Is it good business? Definitely! Is it good for the customer? Not really.

I don’t believe that Norton Antivirus is absolutely horrible at detecting and removing viruses, but I do believe that there are far BETTER products out there. NOD32, Kaspersky, Trend Micro, AVIRA are all better in my opinion.

As for Symantec Endpoint Protection, the problem with SEP is not installing it and using it. The problem is primarily with UNninstalling it! It leaves a bunch of junk in the registry that breaks A LOT of stuff. I remember fighting for hours with a seemingly VPN setup on a Windows 2003 SBS box that recently had SEP installed and then uninstalled by their previous technician. After a couple of hours of troubleshooting, I checked the registry and found numerous places in which SEP had redirected services to the SEP folder (which no longer existed). I was eventually able to fix everything, but what a nightmare!

I’m a long-time user of Norton at home, and my company uses Symantec Endpoint Security. As a user, i have not had serious problems with my AV or my system in the past few years, but that could be becos my IT folks are good. Do agree that Norton Removal Tool is a real joke. I just wanted to get your informed opinion of Norton and Symantec Endpoint Protection. How good are they? Are they worth the money? I continue to pay for them as they have served me well. Just wanted to get a second opinion from someone who sees a lot of this stuff from perhaps the rough side of town with a different perspective. (One of the other readers made a rather harsh comment “Friends don’t let friends install Symantec”. Do you share his sentiment, and why?)

Regards,
Eric Lam

I stand behind my disapproval of AVG Free. I’m not going to go into the details of how Kaspersky and Avast will prevent the infection of a virus infection. This post is intended to be simple advice for basic users who don’t want to become computer experts… Most of my clients don’t want to learn the minutia of computer security – they just want focus on what they do best, and let the IT experts help keep them out of trouble.

You sound very knowledgeable. But, I just want to remind you that by definition, a backdoor typically doesn’t require any user interaction. It works similar to a trojan in which the infiltrator has direct access to the files on the computer without the user’s knowledge or interaction.

You are correct in stating that no antivirus will protect someone 100%. Look at the latest report from http://www.av-comparitives.org, and you will clearly see that AVG Standard Edition only has a 93% detection and removal rate.

It is important to note here that AVG Free (according to AVG) does not protect you as well as AVG Standard… and it only scored 93%! The test didn’t include AVG Free, but I can only assume it would not score as high as the version of AVG (Standard Edition) that you would actually pay money for.

On the same tests Kaspersky scored 97.1% and Avast scored 98.2%. I’d rather pay a paltry sum for a higher level of protection, especially since a few percentage points could add protection from thousands of viruses and spyware applications.

As for ComboFix, Malwarebytes and SuperAntispyware… those are all good programs.

But, ComboFix isn’t intended to be an antivirus application and should only to used by a professional. Running it can render your computer inoperable (which is why it encourages the installation of the Recovery Console).

Malwarebytes is also a great program, but in many cases today’s malware will keep it from installing, updating or running. Also, it is not as effective as it once was. There is a lot that it won’t catch. Plus, only the pay version of Malwarebytes actually has scheduled scanning and proactive protection.

The same thing applies to SuperAntispyware – it’s decent, but many rogue programs won’t even let it install or run if the system is already infected. Not only that, but it loads a start up service and tray icon, which slows down the system when it boots.

Again thanks for your opinion, but I feel the need to offer you a word of advice about your “soft-skills”… Although you are hiding behind the anonymity of the web, you should try to engage with people a little more before calling what they wrote “a load of crap”. True, I’m not the best writer, to be sure… but as a busy IT professional, it takes me a long time to plan and outline, write a rough draft, edit, revise and polish… all before I post.

I like AVG Free, but I know what you mean. It is sort of slow, and doesn’t catch everything. But, it’s free! Luckily I know how to remove viruses when I get them.

For those who don’t know how to remove viruses I also suggest something better, like Kaspersky or NOD32.

Friends don’t let friends install Symantec!