Symantec Says Free AV Software Can't "Keep Up"

News Reader · Post by **News Reader** » July 5th, 2009, 16:00

Symantec Says Free AV Software Can't "Keep Up"
BLORGE spoke with a product manager at Symantec, David Hall, and got some very interesting quotes from the guy. According to Hall, free anti-virus software isn't "able to keep up" with products you pay for. He specifically calls out the upcoming Microsoft Security Essentials product, saying it's incomplete. What say you?

"People tell me, oh well look I use free antivirus because it is free and it protects me from everything in those areas, but when you compare that with what's really going on in the threat landscape, there is a very, very big gap between what antivirus does and the threats that are being delivered today."

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Publish Date: Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:07:00 CDT
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Gunslinger42 · Post by **Gunslinger42** » July 5th, 2009, 21:38

Norton sucks a fat dick, there's plenty of free av software that wipes the floor with it

Post by **Dog Pants** » July 6th, 2009, 7:08

Apparently Norton 360 is actually pretty good. I think it only shares the name with previous versions of Norton though.

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » July 10th, 2009, 19:02

Dog Pants wrote:Apparently Norton 360 is actually pretty good. I think it only shares the name with previous versions of Norton though.

The fact it shares its name taints it forever.

I'd rather remove 2Gb of RAM from my machine and underclock it, then insert hot, sharp things into my bottom than install anything Norton. *

* No hot, pokey things fetish , just making a point

Post by **Dog Pants** » July 10th, 2009, 21:17

It's unfortunate but true.

Out of professional curiosity, how involved in AV are you C&H? I certainly bought NOD32 from you on your, and others', recommendations.

*May be fishing around for potential contacts in the industry*

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » July 11th, 2009, 10:37

Not particularly involved DogPants. We simply resell NOD32 - although fish away.

Through my work I've supported billions* of PC users, so I've seen my fair share of problems & I've seen what previous incarnations of Norton have done to so,so many machines. In fact, for a while, the shittiness of Norton was actively giving us plenty of customers & work!

When we first started the company we had to settle on an AV to recommend and support, and NOD32 at the time was the best of the bunch by far, far, far. It was at version 1.x, it's core was machine code and fast, it's update mechanism was simple and it didn't screw machines over or slow them down particularly. So we then said, "if we're going to recommend it to clients, we might as well sell it"

Not sure what's happening to it since version 3 though. I think the marketing drones have got involved, I'm seeing adverts everywhere and they've made the GUI all gooey. That money would be better spent making the code better & faster IMH (and uneducated) O.

* Not the actual amount, although psychologically that is spot on.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » July 11th, 2009, 12:28

cheeseandham wrote:Not sure what's happening to it since version 3 though. I think the marketing drones have got involved, I'm seeing adverts everywhere

Not annoying fucking flash things by the system tray by any chance?

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » July 11th, 2009, 13:14

LOL, I meant in the popular media & advertising boards on roads etc. It's enough to make you want to chew bubblegum and kick ass.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » July 11th, 2009, 13:15

cheeseandham wrote:LOL, I meant in the popular media & advertising boards on roads etc. It's enough to make you want to chew bubblegum and kick ass.

ahh, the search continues