Symantec Virus Checker

[DavidS]

Just noticed in a pharmacy running Pharmacy Manager which uses Symantec as virus checker, that it has switched itself off since 20th June, following some warning/update/something or other.

It needed a reboot, no-one knew what that meant, and of course no-one switches PM off.

No-one here had realised, and they're busy running off emails, etc etc. Anyway, its rebooted, and now running even slower than usual while it does a complete scan in the background.

[LeftArm]

We use Symatec AV managed by IMS. I have seen a number of instances where the system tray icon indicates that threat protection is off (red ring around the sheild) but if you open then close the user interface the ring disappears. Users cannot change the settings locally.

It needed a reboot, no-one knew what that meant, and of course no-one switches PM off.

This is unfortunately all too common. People don't have time to read the messages when they could be labelling precription.

[alexsmith]

Have you ever used Microsoft Security Essential ? Microsoft's own Antivirus jells quit well with it's own OS, plus it's not resource hog and won't slow your system.

[DavidS]

Have you ever used Microsoft Security Essential ? Microsoft's own Antivirus jells quit well with it's own OS, plus it's not resource hog and won't slow your system.

Thanks for the suggestion, but this is at work, Alex, and we don't have a choice.

[alexsmith]

yeah i forgot, plus i also ignored the business suit discount that symantec gives to companies...

[Fleegle]

I have always found AVG (free) to be more than sufficient. Download it for free!

Fleeg.

[Web Ferret]

I have always found AVG (free) to be more than sufficient. Download it for free!

Fleeg.

I am a fan of AVG but there is a lot that the free one won't catch. The full version of AVG is a free download for 30 days. Doenload it and run a scan then see what it detects! Then get a licence code off ebay. I pay less than £10 a year for the full version on my 3 PCs.

Norton (the paid for version) once let a trogan through that wreaked by hard drive. Luckly a format and then a re-install from my external back up drive saved the day.

The internet is so full of cr@p that the freebies are not up to it nowadays - Just look at how windows XP now patches weekly (every Tuesday).

[orb505]

AVG used to be quite good but over the past few years it's missed a number of high profile virus. Norton is a resource hog but if you're stuck with it then you have my sympathy. NOD32 is pretty good and not a bad price, version 2.5 was the best, current version takes an age on boot up but once it's running it's pretty much invisible.

[DavidS]

Aha, someone giving us a Positive Solution!

[orb505]

Aha, someone giving us a Positive Solution!

I use NOD32 at home on my gaming machine, I use Flight Sim X most of the time which is pretty resource hungry. I had Norton on it at one point and it reduced my frame rates by a third! NOD32 however hardly effected it.

Normally you get what you pay for from my experience, free AV are normally rubbish, my son's PC had AVG on and it was so infected last year I had to reformat the drive and install Windows again. Thats not to say the most expensive is the best though! Like I said NOD32 2.5 was the better version (at least imho) but the latest is still pretty good.