Wonder if my customers would complain that my staff is clueless? Most people (except for the impossible-to-get-Supervisor) who work in almost all Call Center are indeed clueless. They were trained to go by Dell-generated logic tree charts similar to THIS. They ask you a question with only two possible answers - Yes or No. If Yes, they go to the next relevant block. If No, they go to the next No Block. Each subsequent blocks, in turn, has a Yes and a No links to still another blocks. It goes on and on which is why no one is happy with the answer they get. i_XpUser

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so Dell is out, what's a good manufacturer, I have HP and they are ok until the warranty runs out... Jen

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I have an e-machines. It has win xp and I use MS IE only to update windows which I do whenever a new critical item appears. I use firefox and thunderbird and spyware blaster and spybot and Adaware and crapcleaner and Avast AV and zonealarm. I deleted 90% of the software garbage that came with the computer and diasbled anythging from automatically starting except the zonealarm and the spybot and spyware blaster. I run the av and the others every other week or so. I don't click on anytrhing that has "free" in it anywhere. My computer works fast great and all of the stuff mentioned above is free, but it works. I ain't no computer geek but i can keep my stuff running fine by my longtime philosophy of less is better. If I don't use it i dispose of it. If I don't need it, I don't want it around taking up time and space. Color me happy as clam on an incoming tide!

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I knew response 6 seemed quite familiar.....lol There is nothing wrong in using AVG (free) version, and the "You get what you pay for!" principle is not true for every scenario. The spyware platform is a clear example. A lot of folks here use a combination of Ad-aware, Spybot and Spywareblaster (all free versions) to combat the dreaded scumware menace, now are you telling me they are all too cheap to afford paid spyware tools ?.........(I didn't think so). Simply buying the most expensive AV out there is not the solution to malicious codes, it goes beyond that. The point here is to get a reliable AV software to begin with (free or paid), ensure the definition files are constantly updated and to scan the system on a regular basis. There is a lot of people out there that cannot afford to pay for expensive softwares and with AVG, Avast and so on being offered free, they couldn't have been happier. Lastly, I'd like to add a practical review for people who still maintain Norton invinsibility, you'd think with the almost infinite resources at Symantec's disposal, the products will keep getting better with some innovation, unfortunately to Symantec, expanding is their prefered method innovation. They have lost one their loyal fans that cannot be cajoled by half truths. List of Lists.

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Nicely said, Sabertooth. By the way, thanks for that "list of lists" link; I bookmarked it. Tons of handy stuff there. Take care everyone. ~Tommyo

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You are welcome Tommy o, believe me, I happen to stumbleupon while trying out useful extensions for FireFox. List of Lists.

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Jen, I swear by Gateway. 34 of them and rarely if ever a problem, and tech support will stay with you as long as it takes. _________________________ The internet is no longer a toy, it's a COMBAT ZONE!

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Sabertooth - it was true then and it is true now. same question, same answer. As for the get what you pay for, it is true with AV software but I will give it to you on the spyware issue. I use Adaware and Spybot S&D and have no complaints on either when used in conjunction but, give it time, you'll be paying for them before it's over. No AV software is invincable, period because of a couple of factors. The most important one is the device between the keyboard and the chair....the other is NO AV company will be able to stop everything as soon as it comes out, if they did there would be no need for defintion updates.

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"Sabertooth - it was true then and it is true now. same question, same answer.".....What is/was ?????? ....because either people buy a utility suite and just keep clicking next during the install and put everything they can in the startup and then blame the AV part for the system resources being used up OR they flat out dont know what they are talking about and just 'heard' somewhere that Symantec/Norton was a bad product or a system hog. Whatever dude !!!, I think you're really trying to insult some people's intelligence, but I refuse to be offended. BTW did you even read the review link that I posted, most will probably stop about a half way through, if not earlier as they'd have had it by then. List of Lists.

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no one is trying to insult you, you have your opinion, I have mine but, if you believe that most people dont click next through installs without knowing exactly what their doing, you are way off.. what was true you asked, that the free AVG software is crap compared to Norton or Trend feature and reliability wise. Maybe you should tpye in Trend Micro into the link you sent and read their reviews but, remember the reviews are subjective and I am basing my opinions on years of first hand experience. Get offended if you want, honestly I dont care.

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I have always found AVG Free to be good. It picks up many viruses on machines that Norton does not. In my experience with clients machines, Norton is slow, slows down your computer, takes up many resources, misses bad viruses, causes problems such as blocking all secure sites and some programs, and lastly is hard to get off. AVG has never let me down.

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I have run AVG free for 2-3 years now without a problem . I occasionally go out and run one of the name brand online scans like trend or panda and it has never found anything with AVg running . AVG updates almost every day , lately it has been everyday . Wouldn't run it if it didn't protect my machine .

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Well my install is Norton AV 2002 Pro which I bought to get NT4.0 compatibility for my other desktop and it does seem to take a lot of space and resources on my W2000SP4 machine. I want to try something different. I have no issue whatsoever with Norton AV reliability. The only virus I've ever encountered was when I let the Norton definitions get out of date (by several months). From the sound of things AVG is used by some with great success so I'm going to give it a try. Thanks for all the input and opinions. royG

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hope it works well for you, send an update if you get a chance

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AVG does a great job at scanning, IMO....as does a properly installed Nortons. Where AVG wins, however, is in its ease of installation and use. BY FAR, the average PC user will not watch an install like a hawk. They just install and "Next" way. That's just reality and a good program is designed around that fact. Besides, often the questions that pop up cannot be fully understood by most folks, so they click YES just to be safe....the result? A Massive, BLOATED, HOG of a Nortons install. With AVG....the default settings are actually best for most users. And boy...is it LEAN. As for a DELL....I think they are a GREAT deal...as long as you don't need tech support. Their small biz deals, as a general rule, simply CANNOT be beat. Try to build a similar machine that they often have on sale (WITH the monitor) for less. The tiny bit you might save is not worth scowering for bottom dollar prices and the hassel of the build/OS load/burn in, etc. But, of tech support...make sure you don't need to call before you buy......(Thank You, Come Again) > PLEASE CONTRIBUTE to Computing.net - Report back which suggestions did/didn't help. <

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hi isn't the point of a good av its ability to clean and repair an infected file? do any of these do it and if not why and then if they don't which one does, and if we find out which one does, doesn't that one make it the best. just a thought all the best, murve

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kev100 is right in para 3 of post 21. Therefore, can someone throw light on what all an average user can skip while installing Norton?? And How ?? -

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As an only antivirus program, in the case of AVG free, you get a hell lot more than you pay for. As an only antivirus program, it also works as well as any of the commercial ones. As an only antivirus program, it also updates the definitions way more often than couple of the largest commercial ones. AVG is at least 20-30% lighter than the commercial ones. If someones AVG really doesn´t work like it should, then the problem lies somewhere else than todays AVG free. Look for INDEPENDENT malwareadvicesites for more advice and basic reviews/comparisons. f.ex. http://www.virusbtn.com

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I take exception to Crandall's statement. Free doesn't always mean "too cheap to buy". In my case cost wasn't a factor. I BOUGHT Norton - what a waste of money. I did a custom install and it STILL was the biggest memory hog since AOL - actually worse! AVG could cost twice as much as Norton and I'd still use it - for the same reasons that have already been eloquently stated by others before me. ~ Went and threw my two cents in and now I'm broke ~

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Every computer is retarded i got a dell and i regret it like crazy!!!!!!! The best computers out there are ALIENWARE. heeelll ya. go to www.alienware.com and check em out. there awsome!!!

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I'm giving AVG a try myself and so far it seems to be fine. Thankfully I've never had any viruses and hope to never have any. As far as computers go... I've purchased somewhere around 7-8 Dell's in the last 7 years. They are great! I couldn't tell ya about support because I've never had to have it. If you watch for the coupons it is hard to beat their deals. I just purchased 3 new systems for my office (2.8Ghz P4's, 512k RAM, 40G HD, Wireless NIC's, 256MB Dell Memory Stick, 48X CDRW, 17" LCD, XP Pro) for $600 each shipped. Also picked up a new Canon S2 Digital camera shipped for $354 with Dell coupons. Saved $700 + shipping on my Dell i93 laptop that I'm on right now... it is the bomb of laptops... love it! Sonnie L.A. Lower Alabama

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Nothing is bullet proof I am recommending 2 antivirus programs and in addition online scans from Panda Trend Micro free scan and so on. free programs work great I cleaned out over 1000 viruses that norton missed. Advast Anti viral PE Avg

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I used to swear by Norton 2002, then my subscription ran out and when i went to renew it norton siad it was no longer supported and i`d have to upgrade to 2005, I did and what a disaster, firstly it wanted me to lower my IE security settings before it would even install, then it failed to install repeatedly, after 2 weeks I finally gave up and tried AVG, AVG now runs on all my and my partners systems. I still use norton systemworks but not NAV anymore. They lost a loyal AV customer who always recommended NAV. Woof Curiosity may have killed the cat but at least the cat wasn`t bored

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Try avast! antivirus: http://www.avast.com/ Their home edition is free, I also run AVG, but I think Avast is slightly better. Yesterday, it blocked some LASS attacks from an infected computer. I like it. Avoid Intel Celeron CPUs, buy an AMD instead. Avoid Nokia, go Motorola instead.

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Can AVG and Avast work together?? I have experienced as well have heard from others that some functions of Avast don,t work when installed after AVG. Is it true?? -

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Misse: "AVG works as well as any commercial scanner". Sorry but if you do your research that statement simply doesn't hold up. AVG is ok considering it's free, but nothing more.

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