Softpedia Exclusive Interview: Symantec

[malexous]

Softpedia Exclusive Interview: Symantec - Norton protection explained - Softpedia

I'm in the process of reading.

Edit: First posted at Wilders today so thought it was a recent interview but it is about one month old.

 

[JonM33]

I don't like their software. I had Symantec AV Corporate Edition (from being in the military) when I ran Windows XP and it didn't work worth a crap. My parents had Norton 360 for a couple years and it was crap. It slowed their computer down to a crawl. I uninstalled it and put on MSE and they finally realized that it was Norton 360 slowing their computer down and that Windows Vista wasn't as bad as they thought with a less intrusive AV program.

 

[malexous]

I find Norton 2010 and 2011 to be light.

So does my brother and sister.

I know some that find MSE heavy.

 

[Faladu]

Norton products rep is horrible, they blew it with bloatware resource piggy issues many years ago.
M$ is M$ and enough said.
I wouldn't use either.

 

[Petey7]

Faladu, have you even tried MSE at all?

 

[JonM33]

I find Norton 2010 and 2011 to be light.

So does my brother and sister.

I know some that find MSE heavy.

To be "heavy" it would need to be intrusive. I have never found anyone to say they notice any sort of performance impact with MSE.

Norton products rep is horrible, they blew it with bloatware resource piggy issues many years ago.
M$ is M$ and enough said.
I wouldn't use either.

MSE wasn't made by Microsoft. It was made by several security software companies that they acquired.

 

[Petey7]

Norton products rep is horrible, they blew it with bloatware resource piggy issues many years ago.
M$ is M$ and enough said.
I wouldn't use either.

MSE wasn't made by Microsoft. It was made by several security software companies that they acquired.

Also, if you have such a problem with MS products, why are you using Windows 7?

 

[malexous]

I find Norton 2010 and 2011 to be light.

So does my brother and sister.

I know some that find MSE heavy.

To be "heavy" it would need to be intrusive. I have never found anyone to say they notice any sort of performance impact with MSE.

I have.

You can see it can have a bigger performance impact on some computers compared to other anti-virus here: Raymond.CC Antivirus Performance Benchmark Test

 

[JonM33]

I have.

You can see it can have a bigger performance impact on some computers compared to other anti-virus here: Raymond.CC Antivirus Performance Benchmark Test

Sorry, I won't believe some average Bob's personal "review". I would need results from a trusted source. Those results are already messed up because the reviewer would uninstall one AV program and install another. Anyone doing a software review would use an image.

Also, the "gaming score"? What is that? Is this person assuming that your AV program can effect framerates?

 

[Dinesh]

I find Norton 2010 and 2011 to be light.

So does my brother and sister.

I know some that find MSE heavy.

Did you call me?

 

[malexous]

Sorry, I won't believe some average Bob's personal "review". I would need results from a trusted source. Those results are already messed up because the reviewer would uninstall one AV program and install another. Anyone doing a software review would use an image.

Raymond is usually considered a trusted source.


http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/675-system-image-recovery.html was used.

 

[Tepid]

Also, the "gaming score"? What is that? Is this person assuming that your AV program can effect framerates?

Actually, they can intrude on and cause problems with games.
If they scan files as they start being used, you will notice a performance hit on the game.

Some games have you exclude their folders from virus scan to eliminate the problem.

However, I have not had this problem, nor any others with MSE or when it was Live OneCare.

 

[JonM33]

Raymond is usually considered a trusted source.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/675-system-image-recovery.html was used.

Hey, I don't know the guy nor the website. I don't randomly trust websites. It's like Tom's Hardware who people keep referencing but that website has shown bias, nonobjectivity and unprofessional attitude for the past 10 years.

If you want, let's look at the details of that review then. I'd rather look at it than just toss it aside.

Application launch? So MSE adds 0.063 seconds to launch time compared to NOT having an AV program. That's what most people do all day, and that seems to be a very intrusive number.

Boot time? MSE supposedly adds 10 seconds to boot time. That's debatable. I'd like to test it out in a VM and get back to you.

   Note

I tested this out in a VM running a fully patched Windows XP SP3. It is set to use 512MB memory and uses 2 virtual processors from my 3.2GHz Core 2 Quad. Boot time with MSE is 23.506 seconds. Boot time without any AV is 22.105 seconds. Raymond is quite wrong on his results.

Install 3rd party software? He used .NET Framework 4.0 as this 3rd party software. My question? WHY? Nobody installs that separately. It's installed through Windows Update. No normal person really cares about it. Bad example of software to use IMO.

Most people install software off of a CD/DVD. So it would be better to grab something off of that instead. Of course installation would be so slow it wouldn't matter anyway. But that's the most common type of application installation method.

Compress/extract file? 7-Zip, amazing program and I use it myself. I find these results debatable. He claims a number of folders but doesn't indicate their file size or whether they contain large or small files. It takes longer to compress high numbers of small files as opposed to a smaller number of large files. Some files also compress better and some files aren't even scanned by an AV program by nature of their file format.

Load website? People sure do browse the web but nobody loads 50 websites at a time. Unrealistic test really.

Game score? An AV program will not effect framerates. He used a synthetic benchmark of a 3D engine that no game uses. Bad testing example.

So what in there, other than boot time, shows proves that MSE is an intrusive AV program?

I have never once HEARD of ANYONE saying that MSE is slowing their computer down.

 

[JonM33]

Actually, they can intrude on and cause problems with games.
If they scan files as they start being used, you will notice a performance hit on the game.

Some games have you exclude their folders from virus scan to eliminate the problem.

However, I have not had this problem, nor any others with MSE or when it was Live OneCare.

Perhaps ping times and connectivity to servers, but they will not effect framerates.

 

[Tepid]

It is not a direct framerate affect. It is a performance affect that does affect framerate.
There is only a slight difference between these. It's the difference between wheat and white bread, they are both breads and you get the same results. A Sandwich.

Also, this does not affect every game, just some games.
And it is not every AV program, but a combination of the 2.

 

[JonM33]

It is not a direct framerate affect. It is a performance affect that does affect framerate.
There is only a slight difference between these. It's the difference between wheat and white bread, they are both breads and you get the same results. A Sandwich.

Also, this does not affect every game, just some games.
And it is not every AV program, but a combination of the 2.

Unless you initiate a full system scan when you are in the middle of a game, an AV program will have zero effect on framerate EVER.

 

[Petey7]

Unless you initiate a full system scan when you are in the middle of a game, an AV program will have zero effect on framerate EVER.

And thats the issue isn't it. I have my MSE to run a full system scan everyday and to do the scan whether the computer is in use or not. Its fine for me because at 2 am the most I'm doing is being on this website and watching videos. I would imagine that while playing WoW or a similar game, I would definitely notice something. I would imagine quit a few others use similar settings.

 

[JonM33]

And thats the issue isn't it. I have my MSE to run a full system scan everyday and to do the scan whether the computer is in use or not. Its fine for me because at 2 am the most I'm doing is being on this website and watching videos. I would imagine that while playing WoW or a similar game, I would definitely notice something. I would imagine quit a few others use similar settings.

You would with any AV program on a full scan. But MSE is smart. It won't start the scheduled scan if the computer is in use.

I'm just dying to find someone that is actually complaining about how MSE slows their computer down. I have already proven apparently "benchmarks" wrong.

 

[Tepid]

:sarc: If you say so.

 

[Petey7]

You would with any AV program on a full scan. But MSE is smart. It won't start the scheduled scan if the computer is in use.

I'm just dying to find someone that is actually complaining about how MSE slows their computer down. I have already proven apparently "benchmarks" wrong.

Read what I said again. I changed the default settings so that it will run even when the computer is in use. If someone changes the default settings for their AV, the problem could occur. I agree it would likely be true for any AV. I am also yet to see many people say they switched from MSE to another program and saw a performance increase. Usually I hear the exact opposite and have seen it on my pc, and both of my parents computers.