Re: Evil spirit, poltergeist. That you, ZmOz?
Re: Evil spirit, poltergeist. That you, ZmOz?
Plainsman said:
i386, I disagree, to a point about the prefetch. I have encountered many times after a program is removed, either with cp or antispyware that part of the offending program resides in prefetch and tries to start the program that no longer exists, thus creating errors and popup errors.
I am not a beleiver in AVG. I know it's free, great. I feel it does an OK job, but you get what you pay for. I am also not a beleiver in the full anti virus-firewall-anti spyware bundles either. But I do like and use the symantec AV by itself. Yeah I kow the argument about it using to many resources. Once agian I disagree if only the AV is used.
I will concede about prefetch, sort of...
It won't hurt to delete items in there, but Windows is actually supposed to maintain that for you. Prefetch is a "feature" of XP that improves performance. It's used to fetch parts of frequently used programs ahead of time (before you use them) to make them load faster. No programs are started from prefetch (like the startup folders). deleting everything in there is safe, but actually slows down the system until Windows re-populates the folder.
Norton AV is ok if you don't use the whole security suite. However, don't be so quick to dismiss AVG because it's free. They (Grisoft) do have a commercial version which has a few more features that the free one. I choose AVG because it's much less invasive, has no discernible performance cost and is very quick to install (and uninstall for that matter). Norton, OTHO is a larger program that adds a ridiculous number of registry keys. Failed uninstalls are not uncommon (Symantec even makes utilities to remove their product after a failed uninstall). If the uninstall fails, the maunal procedure is long and painful, especially for a novice user. As far as detection and removal goes I have found both useful in removing nasties that the other wouldn't. I do, however almost always use AVG to disinfect a customers computer after they've let their Norton subscription die (or if Norton just hosed itself up).
If paying for something makes you all warm and fuzzy, I might add that the commercial version of AVG costs about the same as Norton (abour $40) but is licensed for 2 years instead of Norton's 1.
That's my 2 cents, and here's a nickel more regarding Symantec's Corporate Antivirus product....
I have recommended and implemented this solution since version 7 (we're now at version 10). Since around version 9 I have had lots of problems with it regarding email, network drives and worst of all incompatibilities with Backup Exec. I liked it because I could do remote installs and manage the software on many computers at once. Their refusal to fix the problem with Backup Exec (Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) bug) made me finally give up on it.
I have since been migrating my customers to AVG Network Edition as their Symantec licenses expire. It has the same remote install/management features and like it's home counterpart is not invasive at all. My customers are happier with it and they have remarked that their computers seem less sluggish with it. It too is licensed for 2 years instead of Symantec's 1.
I have this good to say about Symantec...
Their Virus database and removal instructions (and tools) are the best I've used though I haven't needed to use them much in the last year or so.
AVG network edition's install is slightly more difficult to install than Symantec Corporate, but no more difficult to use.
'(
