Norton 360 V5 slowing down my old computer. (1 Viewer)

[MrBrightside]

Okay so I had Avast V 6 FREE installed on it before and it ran fine. But ever since we bought Norton 360 V 5, 5 user pack. My old comp runs slow, even though it exceeds the system requirements.

Norton's system req:

300 MHz or faster processor

256 MB of RAM; 512 MB Recommended
300 MB of available hard disk space



My old comp's specs:

2.6 GHz P4 Intel Processor
1 GB DDR RAM (512MB * 2 in dual channel)
40 GB HDD with at least 10 GBs free.

I know it's an old computer, but it should still run smoothly with Norton installed, I've heard stories that Norton has "redesigned" their products for speed - clearly this is not the case on old computers. I'm just on the urge of uninstalling it as I keep getting complaints that it is too slow. What are other alternatives. I've tried Nod32 that was pretty fast. Avast looks nice and it's light weight.

Note: I have Norton 360 installed on 3 other (much more recent computers) and it runs fine, fast. It's just that on this 2001 dated computer it can barely run with N 360 choking it every second. Also what's with Norton not having add on support for firefox or chrome, only IE they do.

 

[SnowFox]

Ur comp might just be dying.

That and norton has always been a resource hog. Get AVG.

 

[MrBrightside]

Ur comp might just be dying.

That and norton has always been a resource hog. Get AVG.

Yeah tried AVG once, wasn't impressed with it's cluttered UI and ads. AVAST was much cleaner and I found it to be more zippy. Both provide a similar level of security. Would any one recommend using Commodo firewall or zone alarm? or is windows firewall good enough?

btw, this PC is for online shopping, banking and just general internet browsing with email. So I need something strong but light weight on resources, and something that doesn't prompt the user a lot - because it's for my mum and she doesn't know anything about this stuff. I found AVAST to be good with minimal prompts. atm Norton uses up to 600 MB PF usage of memory, with AVAST I never saw my PF usage go past 250 MB. But having saying that, N 360 does contain a lot more features - some useful and some not so much.

Nah its not dying..yet. It's just generally slow, but with N360 it actually just halts at web pages and freezes. Also N 360 picked up this .exe that I've had on numerous PCs and have never had a problem with it, and it treated it as a virus - trojan. AVAST and Anti malware bytes never saw it as a threat - I don't think it was either, it did no harm - it was use as a burnout paradise crack and has been used numerous times without problems. Also what's with Norton deleting all these tracking cookies? none of the other Anti virus solutions do it :/

EDIT: Would anyone recommend overclocking this machine a bit?

 

[nightweaver066]

Stick to MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (free is good, PRO is better).

Has a great review on CNET:
http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html

It's small, fast, doesn't slow down your computer and is very reliable.

If you're going to be using the free version, i recommend scans at least once a week on the computer your mum uses (as you yourself can't monitor that she doesn't open anything suspicious).

 

[MrBrightside]

Stick to MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (free is good, PRO is better).

Has a great review on CNET:
http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html

It's small, fast, doesn't slow down your computer and is very reliable.

If you're going to be using the free version, i recommend scans at least once a week on the computer your mum uses (as you yourself can't monitor that she doesn't open anything suspicious).

Yes, this is a very good and well known anti-virus program. I don't think the paid version comes with anti-spam (apparently my mum used to use Norton anti-spam before - like pre 2005 when my comp could handle it's somewhat less bloated software, but yeah I dunno if she still does).

Does anti malware come with a free email scanner / real time traffic scanner (firewall), auto updates for paid version?

EDIT: LOL wtf that guy says "keep in mind, it won't remove viruses, only malware" Malware does cover a virus. omfg where do these people come from or get these jobs.

 

[Arcorn]

Get Comodo Anti-virus and Firewall. Just go through the basic programs that access the Internet, set them to allow. Disable real time scanning and just do a manual scan maybe once a month in conjunction with Malware Bytes. Comodo is ranked number one by independent testers, generally in line with Online Armour(but it's way too restrictive).

 

[SnowFox]

How the hell is AVG cluttered?
Just stick it in the task panel and thats it. no need to piss fart around with it.
Dl, install, allow any programs that didnt pass the install scan. done.

 

[MrBrightside]

How the hell is AVG cluttered?
Just stick it in the task panel and thats it. no need to piss fart around with it.
Dl, install, allow any programs that didnt pass the install scan. done.

I've also seen malware that never got picked up by AVG or AVAST, but Malwarebytes Picked them up.

 

[MrBrightside]

Get Comodo Anti-virus and Firewall. Just go through the basic programs that access the Internet, set them to allow. Disable real time scanning and just do a manual scan maybe once a month in conjunction with Malware Bytes. Comodo is ranked number one by independent testers, generally in line with Online Armour(but it's way too restrictive).

How much RAM / CPU usages do they use?

 

[MrBrightside]

I've also heard of avira anti-virus, but I don't know how good that one is.

 

[SnowFox]

The first form of AV is the user.
Keep AVG on auto update and your set. Been using it for 5years and had no problems.

 

[qwerty44]

The best paid one is Trend Mirco. Hardly uses anything and works great.

 

[Arcorn]

The best paid one is Trend Mirco. Hardly uses anything and works great. However it's a paid one.

Lolololololololol, lrn2 Internet.

@Mrbrightside I used them on my old P4 ran fine.

 

[ohexploitable]

best av

http://www.cloudantivirus.com/en/

least resource intensive too

 

[MrBrightside]

best av

http://www.cloudantivirus.com/en/

least resource intensive too

What's the major difference between "anti virus" and "internet security" suites. Is it just that the internet security suite comes with a firewall? (Which Windows has any ways)

 

[MrBrightside]

I Found Comodo Internet security (FREE version) on their site. It feels pretty zippy, feels promising. I wonder if it auto scans emails for viruses? AVAST has a real-time scanner for emails. :/

 

[moku]

You can play around with settings to speed things up.
I also suggest NOD32, pretty lightweight.

 

[Arcorn]

I Found Comodo Internet security (FREE version) on their site. It feels pretty zippy, feels promising. I wonder if it auto scans emails for viruses? AVAST has a real-time scanner for emails. :/

Yeah, it does but it eats through your resources, like any real time scanning.

 

[MrBrightside]

How much RAM / CPU usages do they use?

Not much.

Around 15 MB RAM for Comodo. Went to 40 MB once during a scan. (1 process at 16 MB)
around 12 MB for AVAST at idle. (2 processes one at 9 MB and one at 3 MB)

CPU is pretty stable.

Tbh, my new computer is so fast I can't even tell the difference between Norton 360 and AVAST / Comodo. It's on older computers where you'll see the draw backs on performance.

However I did notice N 360 had 2 processes (ccsvchst.exe *32 twice. around 10 MB, 7 MB each at idle, but rises to 34 MB when using the GUI of N360) so it ain't too bad.

 

[seremify007]

I would never recommend Norton 360 anymore. I used to be a Norton fan (buyin their AV, as well as 360 before realising it was a dumbed down version) but then each year they added bloat and junk as they tried to justify forcing people to buy new versions and ceasing to provide definition updates to older users, I moved to avast and have never looked back. I've tried a few free options, as well as Symantec Corporate antivirus (same people who make Norton) which was provided free by my university, but have settled on avast. It's light, it's simple, and it works well. Firewall wise, I still use ZoneAlarm even though it is a tad annoying.

Symantec is a perfect example of a company which used to be the market leaders, but is trying to stay relevant as better and free alternatives pop up.