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Symantec Campaigns Against Free Antivirus

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5:21 PM - September 29, 2009 by Marcus Yam

Free is... bad?

As we reported earlier today, Microsoft today released its final version of anti-malware software Security Essentials. It's free for Windows users and it'll take care of most of your viruses and spyware headaches.

At the price of nothing, it's an offer that’s hard to refuse. Of course, there are other free alternatives, such as Avast and AVG.

Symantec isn't such a fan of free alternatives, naturally, and has created a video that hopes to convey the virtues of the paid Norton – in as few spoken words as possible. Is it convincing? We'll let you be the judge of that.

Symantec's view on free antivirus software

Via DownloadSquad.

Source : Tom's Hardware US

Talkback
Add your comment
ubernoobie 09/29/2009 11:44 PM
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-20+

Norton, stop being jealous and lower your prices

ssalim 09/29/2009 11:47 PM
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-20+

I thought they didn't bat an eye over this?
Norton = bloatware.
Bloatware is not good.
I think you are catching n.

ponchato 09/29/2009 11:50 PM
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vythiel 09/29/2009 11:51 PM
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-20+

Avast (Home Edition) scans web pages, IMs, and even P2P application traffic. Zonealarm and Comodo firewalls (free versions) provide excellent incoming and outgoing network traffic control and security. The video is a little misleading when it starts addressing security software.

nun 09/29/2009 11:52 PM
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--2+

wow maybe better actors without the random head bobs

montezuma 09/29/2009 11:52 PM
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-20+

Talk about wasting two minutes of my life. That was one of the dumbest goddamn, pieces of shit "commercials" I have ever seen. I will laugh when Microsoft's "free" anti-virus program outperforms Symantec's shit program.

Unlike that dogshit commercial tries to tell people, Microsoft's anti-virus program is not free, since you need Windows to run it. I figure that that is the least Microsoft can do since I gave them $300 for the OS.

dro524 09/29/2009 11:53 PM
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-20+

Freeware also isn't as bloated.

ag3nt smith 09/30/2009 12:03 PM
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-20+

Ok I see why Norton wants people to pay for their product; it keeps their company running. But that video is as misleading as Apple's Get A Mac commercials. My free version of Avast scans webpages; blocks hackers and scans my e-mail. NOD32 30-day trial can be downloaded over and over again and it scans e-mail and webpages. Avast will tell you if a website is infested with malware; but it's up to the user to continue or not. Comodo Firewall is freeware and it kicks major ass aswell as blocking intrusions and DDoS attacks. But they got one thing right; they don't offer recovery disks; but computer manufacturers do, and if you build your systems you obviously know what to do.

I've had more customers complain about Norton than anything. If Norton finds a virus in a system file it deletes it; often causing system corruption and BSODs. I have put over 200 of my customers on Avast Home and they love it so much better than Norton.

The_Blood_Raven 09/30/2009 12:15 PM
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-3+

I love Avast, it is a great free virus protector. I hate Norton, I wouldn't use it if I was PAID $100 a year to do so. Nod32 is a great virus protector and it only costs $30 and wont ruin your computer.

So Norton sucks balls and should never, ever, be used on ANY PC just like Mcafee? Your catching on.

tipoo 09/30/2009 12:15 PM
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-20+

They say nothing free is good, then they proceed to say Norton offers free support...

Transmaniacon 09/30/2009 12:22 PM
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-6+

The average PC user will find more than enough security from a free anti-virus solution. I am glad Microsoft went through with this, they really ought to include it with the operating system, and offer a complete package, ready to go after installation.

SAL-e 09/30/2009 12:29 PM
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-3+

SEP 11 (aka Symantec Endpoint Protection)+ LiveUpdate Server are the two biggest trouble software solutions on my network. If my vendor allowed me I will deleted SEP on the spot. It accounts for 80% of all my problems. And their Enterprise Support is one of the worst out there. Every time I have to fix something they ask me to install the new version, but only clean install fixes the issue on hand. The biggest problem is that every time the new version fix something, but it breaks something else. It is devil circle. Just search on the Internet and see how many problems are reported.

ponchato 09/30/2009 12:34 PM
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7amood 09/30/2009 12:35 PM
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-7+

FAIL

still won't buy... ya know... the internet is not that dangerous if you know how to use it in a wise manner.

you NEED to get a virus, spywear, adwear, worm, ...etc. at least once in your life in order to learn how not to let em' get you the next time.

stay away from shiny links and good to be true ads like "YOU JUST WON 1M $" and stuff like that.

There are plenty of free products that does the job of protecting you. just make sure you don't click ON an executable file before knowing what is it.

If you need almost perfect protection for like... protecting your host or very important data on a network... it's worth the money.

h0llow 09/30/2009 12:38 PM
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-1+

so uhh avast, avg, and other free virus scanners are lying when the main product page has a security center that scans all that? wow i never knew.. norton wasted two minutes of my life.

koss64 09/30/2009 12:39 PM
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-4+

This ad is amusing.Im sorry Norton is the worst antivirus ive ever seen.Ive seen it slow machines to a crawl,BSOD them,miss blatant viruses,have viruses comprimise it and block all net acess even after its uninstalled.MSE is actually damn good,its the first av ive seen that as soon as i stick an infected thumb drive in the machine it tells me its removed the crap that was on it.MSE picks up stuff AVG and Mcafee miss ,even rootkits.

The only problem ive had with it is installing it on some machines that have Onecare installed(theres a cleanup tool for that),no proper windows installer(on un-updated xp machines),not genuine or totally messed up with viruses(on xp machines where nothing will run due to virus curroption of certain key files.)There is also a minor bug in xp where the icon wont show up in the system tray but a window will pop up.They might have fixed that in the full release but there is a patch out for that.Finally it takes a long time to scan since it looks in all manner archives.Apart from that its the best antivirus ive used, my machines runs faster than it did when i used avg and its found stuff that it and spysweeper missed and i thought i was clean.Norton and Mcafee are really worrying about this.

tmike 09/30/2009 12:39 PM
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-2+

I find it hard to believe that this ad is legitimate.

nekatreven 09/30/2009 12:40 PM
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-5+

Windows has a built in firewall that is just fine for most users.....don't sit there and tell my they aren't FAR more likely to get infected by gambling online and downloading their porn.

For support, retail PC users have their manufacturer (which is no worse than Symantec's support, who probably sit in the very next cubicle at the call center), retail OS purchasers have MS support (which contrary to some rants, is excellent).

Having a firewall and blocking intrusions are the same things, unless you mean updates to the OS, which Norton doesn't do anyway, Windows updates does.

Webpage scanners and safe/block lists slow down your system and are mostly based on user input anyway. Someone has to get infected first for the flags to go up...Symantec doesn't care if its you.

Their backup and recovery options are no better than free options and other WAY better commercial options are out there for less money.

...basically for all of their points, I either don't need that "feature" or it blows, really, really hard. (except for the sucking it does of system resources)

Anonymous 09/30/2009 12:47 PM
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-2+

More problems had me with symantec ghost many mobos are not supported and forum support is the worst.The only good thing symantec has is symantec antivirus cause it can be used easily on domains.Freeware FTW

Anonymous 09/30/2009 12:51 PM
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-4+

At one time, Norton's was a great product....ABOUT 15 Years ago!!!!!!!!

Since then they are BLOATWARE............

My God, Norton.....You are so far out of touch. Norton's does work, but its size is so bloated that it always drastically slow down any computer.....

Get a clue Norton!!!

warmon6 09/30/2009 1:03 AM
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matt87_50 09/30/2009 1:05 AM
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-5+

umm... think the vid's gone?

Anyway, I wouldn't call the windows one free, I'd call it a part of windows. And seeing as how I'd rather risk viruses than suffer the constant slowdown of having a virus scanner, I sure as hell don't want to pay for one. Release one that has NO noticeable effect on my PC's performance or usability (except for killing viruses) then I might buy that.

Renegade_Warrior 09/30/2009 1:06 AM
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-3+

Norton is nothing more than Bloatware.

Even worse, it can cause problems which can make it difficult to work on a Norton Infested system.

If Norton were to get their way, you could possibly say goodbye to such tools as MalwareByte's AntiMalware, SpyBot - Search & Desroy and many other very useful tools.

Chances are, Norton would probably do what ever they could to get rid of them. Probably by buying up the competition and throwing away the software or worse, incorporate it into their own, thereby making it worthless.

echdskech 09/30/2009 1:14 AM
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-6+

montezuma :
Microsoft's anti-virus program is not free, since you need Windows to run it.



true. ofcourse, you also need Windows to run the viruses (virii?). :P

geoffs 09/30/2009 1:25 AM
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badaxe2 09/30/2009 1:28 AM
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-5+

It's funny how 99% of the time when someone says they have a virus/spyware/malware on their PC.....it's when they were using Norton. It's also funny how free antivirus products repair the problems Norton let happen in the first place.

nukemaster 09/30/2009 1:32 AM
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-5+

And the video is already removed.

Renegade_Warrior 09/30/2009 1:34 AM
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-3+

I have already had experience with the newest versions of Norton AV and Norton 360.

I still don't like them and they still have problems which need to be ironed out.

Norton tries to cover too many bases at once and there's "not enough" user control over the product settings. It's still Bloatware.

cscpianoman 09/30/2009 1:59 AM
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-0+

free.avg.com has v8.5 for free. I'm not sure where you got the not free part? Would you mind elaborating?

manjyomethunder 09/30/2009 2:10 AM
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--2+

montezuma :
Talk about wasting two minutes of my life. That was one of the dumbest goddamn, pieces of shit "commercials" I have ever seen. I will laugh when Microsoft's "free" anti-virus program outperforms Symantec's shit program.Unlike that dogshit commercial tries to tell people, Microsoft's anti-virus program is not free, since you need Windows to run it. I figure that that is the least Microsoft can do since I gave them $300 for the OS.



Wow, you bought a full retail copy of Windows Vista Ultimate Edition? That's rather silly, seeing as an OEM copy would have ran you $175, which is quite a bit less. At the same time, neither seems especially unreasonable, when games cost $50, professional applications cost hundreds, and plenty of other software is rather pricey. I'd say $300 for the OS that it all runs on is a steal.

geoffs 09/30/2009 2:11 AM
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-0+

cscpianoman :
free.avg.com has v8.5 for free. I'm not sure where you got the not free part? Would you mind elaborating?

Does it prompt you to upgrade to the paid version the every time you login (or the first time you login each day)? That's annoyance ware. It takes my time, therefore, it's not free.


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