Why do my parents like Norton so much?

[vStone1K]

What's so great about Norton?

I used to use it, now I've switched to other AV software. I felt it was slowing my computer down a lot. My parents used to use it too, and I convinced them to try another antivirus, and they also agreed that it affected their pc's performance. What do you think is so great about it; it seems to be very popular.

 

[seavixen32]

Listen to your parents or leave home..............

Don't be concerned about using too much RAM as Windows 7 loves RAM.

As had been mentioned before, what's the point of more RAM if it's not going to be used?

Just take notice of your parents and chill out.

 

[marsmimar]

It's been my experience that as people get older they tend to become set in their ways. ( And no disrespect meant to any forum members because I'm 66 and in that "older" category. )

Every so often various magazines and independent companies publish their findings as to which AV is "the best". If you search around I'm sure you'll find some comparisons that rate Avast or MSE equal to or better than Norton. Using those comparisons and perhaps throwing in the argument that free can be as good as or better than a paid product, perhaps your folks will change their minds.

But as seavixen said, it's their house so you gotta play by their rules.

 

[richnrockville]

You might leave home while you know more than your parents.:sarc:

Rich

 

[rraod]

Long time ago, I use to admire Peter Norton and his Utilities (During MSDOS 3.3 era). He was the first person to create the Undelete utility for MSDOS.

But times have changed and the charm has lessened in Norton products after Symantec has taken over the company. The Norton Antivirus once a lean product has become bloated and fell out of favor with many people.

As marsmimar has mentioned, get some comparisions of AV products (both free and paid ones) and try to convince your parents to let you use your favorite AV product on your laptop.

 

[dreamer]

But but but NIS on my laptop works fine with hardly any high RAM usage or slowdowns....why this norton hate

 

[seavixen32]

I'm 66 and I totally agree that us older people can become more set in our ways , but I think in this case, you should be pleased your parents are looking out for you.

If you persist, you're in danger of becoming as pedantic as they are!

 

[vStone1K]

@seavixen32 Haha, your last sentence made me laugh . Yeah maybe I'll stick to my parents' ways and maybe there'll be more good than bad. I think I'm over exaggerating on Norton a little bit though, as it really doesn't seem to be that bad. I think it's a friend who hates the guts out of Norton and kind of made me feel the same way too...

 

[rraod]

My laptop is also a Toshiba Satellite P775-S7232 an i5 based system with 8GB RAM.

Here is my memory usage with only the browser running. Don't worry! this is normal with Windows 7 x64 and I am using Comodo Internet Security Premium (a free product).

 

[Fantail]

I remember running Norton on, I think W2k..icnic:

 

[djl47]

Your parents have been been taken in by the sirens song of marketing and the implication that MSE is inferior because it doesn't cost anything. I dumped Mcafee, Norton and Trend a long time ago. I use MSE and it works great. So far it has detected an infected file on a USB stick and a hostile drive by download. Microsoft could integrate MSE into Windows but it would start a new round of antitrust litigation. So they give it away instead.

 

[pincushion]

Your parents have been been taken in by the sirens song of marketing and the implication that MSE is inferior because it doesn't cost anything. I dumped Mcafee, Norton and Trend a long time ago. I use MSE and it works great. So far it has detected an infected file on a USB stick and a hostile drive by download. Microsoft could integrate MSE into Windows but it would start a new round of antitrust litigation. So they give it away instead.

Or perhaps they know as many of us do that it is effective and is not the bloated ogre depicted by those who don't use it. Try running as admin and with UAC disabled as I do (not recommended) and see how effective your anti-malware is - I have done so for many years and haven't seen any malware infections - and this is mostly down to Norton.

 

[boohbah]

Do what my teenagers do and tell your parents they are idiots,

   Warning

Warning, this can lead to facebook not being accessable at all occasionally. ( due to siteblock add on in firefox :devil: )

who's the idiot, they haven't worked out to use ie9 to get round this issue.


:roflmao: (shhhhh!)

 

[vStone1K]

Oh yes, I asked my parents if they were going to buy Norton 2012 and guess what? They said yes?! I told them that there are freebies that work just as good OR an antivirus that costs $50, instead of $100 a year. They said that that antivirus would not be as good as Norton, so I don't think I can do anything. I tried everything, and it hasn't worked.

 

[boohbah]

direct them to this thread , i use MSE and switched from macafee which comes free with my isp ( BT)

 

[vStone1K]

@boohbah Um, I can't do that... I think I'd get in trouble.

 

[boohbah]

i doubt it, your parents would see you are a responsible chap, who is getting information to be able to make an informed decision.
a good life skill.

 

[metalmania31]

My whole family uses Norton and we don't have any issues. All win 7. My pc I have on Win7 Pro and Win XP pro and both run fine. How do you know OP that Norton is the memory hog? Here's a screen shot Running norton and various other applications and streaming video. That's my memory usage 1.6-1.9G. And I only have 4G of RAM.

 

[marsmimar]

Oh yes, I asked my parents if they were going to buy Norton 2012 and guess what? They said yes?! I told them that there are freebies that work just as good OR an antivirus that costs $50, instead of $100 a year. They said that that antivirus would not be as good as Norton, so I don't think I can do anything. I tried everything, and it hasn't worked.

Who bought this computer? If it was your money then you have every right to decide what programs are going to be on it. IMHO.

 

[niemiro]

@boohbah Um, I can't do that... I think I'd get in trouble.

i doubt it, your parents would see you are a responsible chap, who is getting information to be able to make an informed decision.
a good life skill.

He would get in trouble. I am a teenager, so I understand completely Chatting to people on the Internet is seen as dangerous in parents eyes, and results in harsh sanctions! No matter how nice this forum is, how moderated, how public, and therefore safe (unlike Facebook private chat), it is still seen as "dangerous".

I have over 5,000 posts (not a huge amount, but enough to fit around school), work on many, many different forums, write programs for people on the Internet, specialise in Windows Update errors, and am learning advanced techniques to employ on Kernal Memory dumps, and there is no way I can tell me parents! lol.

In responce to your first question, despite Norton having many die hard haters, and me using MSE because it is free, and good, I do not hate Norton. It is not that bad. Many call it bloated. It has many features. Sometimes you will find them useful over the minimalistic MSE. If I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about Norton.

To set the cat amongts the chickens, a view held by many, including huge names such as jcgriff2 (I hope I get this right!) is that MSE is the best (remember, this is only an opinion, and so it is fine to use the word "the" here) free AV, and the best overall is ESET (better than Norton). If John pops in, no doubt we will hear all about the BSoD side of things, which I think boils down to MSE and ESET being great, and everything else not so great! (oh, how it had better be ESET he likes!)

Richard