Considering Giving Norton a Try - Trend Micro User Now

[guptasa1]

Hi all,

After having some not-so-great experiences with Norton and McAfee years ago (bloated, slow, let things through, etc., etc., etc.), for the last few years I've been using Trend Micro Anti-Virus + Antispyware. I've been quite happy with it and have no real complaints - it does just those two things, does them well, and is fairly unobtrusive (aside from a bit of a startup time). It can also be exited easily when I play games (the system is otherwise secure, so that's fairly safe to do) and restarted afterwards.

While I like my Trend Micro, my subscription expires today, and I really have to say the buzz about Norton 2009 (both ads and the few reviews I've seen) has been really good, and I've been particuarly grabbed by their recent campaign of being light and fast. That's just how I like my software, so I'm seriously considering Norton Antivirus 2009, specifically their gaming edition which I think is a cool idea (I can keep it on, just in gaming mode so it uses very few resources).

Anyways, I'd like some advice from anyone with experience with Norton (or preferably experience with both) in recent day. I think I will at least give it a try as I'm pretty sure they offer a trial version, but I'd like some feedback about how good the protection is as well! If anyone happens to know of a review comparing Norton and Trend Micro's latest offerings, that'd be great too!

Thanks in advance!

 

[compman25]

I'm using NIS2009 on a bunch of laptops at work. It really is a much improved product. Installs fast and uses hardly any resources.

 

[UsandThem]

Here is a review of Trend Micro.

Note, there are not many reviews of it. Places like AV-Comparitives have not tested them in years.

On a personal note, my father-in-law's PC has had so many viruses the last couple of years because he insisted on using Trend Micro because of the price. I finally got him to use another suite, and he has been virus free for the last year.

Review

I would go with Norton, Avira, Avast, and many other programs over Trend Micro.

From the link:

"Trend Micro's suite fails at the most basic task of detecting and blocking malicious software. Not recommended."

Also, if you want to see what companies scored well, go to this thread that talks in great detail about it:

Detection Rates

 

[Phynaz]

We use Trend at work, detection rates suck. Lots of malware is getting by.

I use NIS 2009 at home, it's blocked everything that I have thrown at it. So light that I can't even tell a virus scanner is running.

 

[Sam25]

+1 for NIS 2009. It's light on the system and gets the job done great. Here's a pretty detailed review of NIS 2009.

 

[guptasa1]

Wow! I'm legitimately surprised by the negative reviews of Trend 2009. I've had good luck with it, but beyond that, at the time (years ago) it was reviewed really well. I guess all the suites change and change over the years. Kind of sad to see it doesn't do a good job anymore. But, I'm pleased to hear Norton's much improved.

Well, Norton, here I come. About to give it a go. =o) Thanks for the help - I'll try to post my thoughts in a few days if anyone's interested.

 

[guptasa1]

One more quick question while I'm at it.

I feel if I have good Antivirus + Antispyware (Norton), it should be safe to completely disable Windows Defender (Vista 64). Yes?

Thanks!

 

[Phynaz]

I have.

 

[guptasa1]

Cool. I disabled most of it with Trend Micro but just realized part of it was still enabled, so went ahead and completely disabled Windows Defender.

Even before that, though, I have to say my rig is a bit snappier with Norton - I can actually tell a difference. It also updates much more frequently, and the game mode is a neat alternative to exiting Trend Micro altogether. The interface is also much nicer than the older interface I remember (and at least as nice as Trend Micro's).

Overall, I'm pretty pleased so far - I already think it's a buy for me and have only been running it a day.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

yeah because it's better than defender.

Originally posted by: guptasa1
One more quick question while I'm at it.

I feel if I have good Antivirus + Antispyware (Norton), it should be safe to completely disable Windows Defender (Vista 64). Yes?

Thanks!

 

[guptasa1]

Just a quick update - after almost a week with Norton 2009 Gaming Edition, it's a definite keeper for me.

I love how few resources it takes, I love the bursts where it updates frequently (and completely non-intrusively), the interface is nice and simple, etc. Really don't have much negative to say about it. Gaming mode is great as I don't have to completely kill it and it comes back to full protection if I forget. It also loads faster than Trend did and is much less intrusive.

One small critique: It's supposed to have full screen application detection to go into game mode, but the log seems to indicate it goes into silent mode instead (almost like game mode, but not quite as low-resource). Not sure what's up with that as the settings appear right to me.

I have to say Symantec has come a looong way since the last time I worked with their products, and I hope they keep it up.

Of course I can't exactly vouch for how well Norton protects - only test was EICAR, but it of course passed. I guess time will tell. But from the reviews, looking good there, and it really is as low-resource and non-intrusive as they advertise!

 

[guptasa1]

One other nice touch. Norton does what is called background scanning when the computer is idle In other words, when you haven't used your computer for 10 minutes (which happens a lot for me as I need mine up for work but am not always at it), it quietly scans in the background, the only indication of the scanning a little popup in the lower right corner that says Norton's working in the background (and of course other alerts should it find something). As soon you start using your computer, it stops and gives you full resources back.

Not only is this a nice feature, but from what I can tell so far, it actually replaces the weekly "dedicated" scans I'm used to with Trend altogether. That's pretty nice.

(BTW, I want to reiterate I don't want to bash Trend. I realize especially the latest versions it seems people aren't as happy with it, but it always worked pretty well for me. I can honestly say though I like this new Norton even better.)

 

[NetGuySC]

Another added bonus you can find a 3-month trial of Norton Antiviris if you search

I'm extremely happy with it so far. I was an Kapersky premium subscriber

 

[Nocturnal]

I just want to say that I worked on a client's computer that had NIS2009 installed and holy crap I was amazed. Simply amazed at how great it worked. It did not slow the system down at all. I was so surprised and ecstatic at the same time. I recall the days when Norton was hailed as a great piece of software. I just hope others can follow suit, :cough: Nero.

 

[guptasa1]

Well guys, I have some bad news. Norton's out of my system and I'm back with Trend Micro (just trial at the moment), which sucks because I paid for a year of Norton Gaming Edition. I really like it, but I can't forgive the problems I've been having with it. So here's where Norton went wrong on my rig...and maybe it's because it's the Gaming Edition or something, but it's left a rather foul impression in my mouth...

1.) Inexplicably, automatic updates started turning itself off every time I rebooted. I discovered this when it warned me it hadn't been updated. I turn it on...and it remains on until the next time I reboot, and then it's turned off. I tried an uninstall and reinstall with no improvement. Kind of silly.

2.) I started experiencing random computer hangs. Not hangs that can't be gotten out of, but...it usually happened when I went to start a program (any program...mail or AIM for example). Computer would just...stop doing new things. I could move the mouse. I could click on things. But nothing would happen. Then, two minutes later, BOOM...everything I had clicked or tried to do the last two minutes (guesstimate...could be less but it seemed that long) happened all at once. I can't prove this was Norton, but it was happening once or twice daily, and since uninstalling and going back to Trend, it hasn't happened. I'll of course come back and update this thread if it happens again and was NOT Norton's fault, but I think at this point I can establish it was.

3.) This is probably related to #1, but the Gaming Mode, while a great idea, didn't always seem to work properly. Either that or if you log off and log back on, Norton got confused and didn't load correctly. But I discovered when I selected "Turn Off Gaming Mode", Norton didn't always come back with everything on. Similar issue when I logged off and back on again. I think the first time this happened might be what messed up my automatic updates to begin with.

It's a shame. Program detection seems great, and it really is very quick and quicker in general than Trend (though the Trend I'm using now is a newer version than what I had before and seems to be starting to catch up). Gaming mode is an awesome idea that only Norton has. But the last month or so I've been dealing with the above issues, and I just can't trust the thing. I will grant this machine is due for a reinstall of Vista and is a bit cluttered at the moment with a few glitches (such as folder views not holding like they should in Vista) from so many things installed/uninstalled over time (my first Vista experience), but nothing severe - still a fairly stable OS... Trend has in the past and continues to work flawlessly. So I really don't think I can blame anything else.

Wish I had better news. I really think Norton's come a long way and wanted to like it very much, but in the end, something that I can't trust to automatically update or turn its features on when I tell it to...and that randomly hangs my system for a frustrating period of time...isn't going to work out. I haven't seen much about this from other users, so I'm at a loss as to why I'm having these issues (though to be fair I haven't seen many with Gaming Edition - and maybe these problems are limited to this version), but the problems do definitely seem to be Norton realated. I'll update should the hanging issue recur and turn out to be something else. Comments certainly welcome.

Oh, and Nocturnal, as to your :cough: about Nero...one of the things that has managed to screw up my Vista install was indeed Nero. I'm done with their software too. Upgrading from 8 to 9 (and I've tried their clean-up tool, etc.) caused me all kinds of problems. I'm now a big fan of VSO's burning programs (www.vso-software.fr) - fast, lean, and their ConvertX application is the first piece of software I've found that can convert almost any video file I throw at it. Used to love Nero, but their latest version especially is another unforgivably buggy and bloated piece of software in my opinion.

 

[Lemon law]

Well my jury remains out on the new Norton 2009, but its somewhat safe to say tend micro is not very good in terms of detection rates.

And there is that other factor to consider, namely that its us v. the bad guys, namely the people that write the malware and then try to infect our PC's.
Problem number one, the bad guys may be evil, but they are also very smart. And getting smarter and more determined everyday.

So it stands to reason, those bad guys will buy test bed PC and load them with the various security suites that have the largest market share. And then the bad guys can keep refining their wares until they can get by those security popular suites. And that is their signal to release that malware into the wild, with added ability to burrow in and hide from being detected by after the fact passive scans.

Which may be part of the reason that the original Norton anti virus soon went into disrepute, despite having the largest data base in the world. And therefore the 2009 version may start out better but end up in the same place.

And I maintain the contrasting position, what ever the herd does, do the opposite, have an unpredictable mix and match blend of security. Its worked for me, knock on wood, for years. Never be predictable by using a security suite with a large market share, as soon as you do, you are dead meat.

 

[Bradtechonline]

I have went with ESET NOD32, and have not been let down.. The back end of the product is superb as is the client. Today we started the implementation on our Linux File Servers, and it has been fairly simple to setup. We had a mixup on our license, but it was corrected within an hour between Dell ASAP, and Eset. I have been impressed with the Version 4 release which notifies me if a security update somehow did not get applied, and let's me do a Sysinspector snaphot on clients remotely to look at background processes running, plus I use it on my DMZ servers at the application layer..

 

[guptasa1]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

I have close to a month to figure out where to go from here. I have to say after the initial promising performance, I'm pretty disappointed that Norton let me down. I rarely give companies second chances when a product really disappoints...and I did in Symantec's case - they may very well not get a third... What's confusing is I really haven't seen many other reports of the issues I'm having, but:

A). I suspect the niche market for Gaming Edition is quite a bit smaller than regular Norton 2009, and these could very well be GE-only issues. [As I said, I think it somehow got "messed up" when it didn't come back from Gaming Mode properly.]

B). There doesn't appear to be a forum specific to Norton issues, so I can't really check all in one place...

At any rate, I appreciate the suggestions and they make sence. I'll evaluate my options and give NOD32 and some others consideration.

The theory that virus makers try to attack the most prevalent protection software out there also makes some real sense.

I realize Trend Micro's reviews detection rate is reportedly a bit lower than the competitions in the latest versions (though 2008 may have been the last reviewed - dunno), but I guess since it has seemed to work well for me now for over 2 years and give me pretty great protection (for what I've run into anyhow), I'm still kind of partial to it. But I'll try not to let that bias me while I think about my decision.

Thanks again and any more comments certainly welcome/appreciated.

 

[lxskllr]

I'm a big fan of Antivir. I use the free edition, but if I were to buy A/V, Antivir would be my first choice.

 

[zeruty]

The OP and his posts almost seem like a long, drawn out, calculated stunt to advertise Trend Micro. Give it another month and he'll be telling us how absolutely fabulous Trend Micro is, and all the criticisms of the TM software are unfounded! Well played, good sir!

;-)

 

[Chiefcrowe]

I'd also definitely consider Antivir!

 

[nordloewelabs]

Originally posted by: lxskllr
I'm a big fan of Antivir. I use the free edition, but if I were to buy A/V, Antivir would be my first choice.

exactly my situation (and opinion).

 

[guptasa1]

Zeruty, I have absolutely no vested interest in Trend Micro, nor do I/have I worked for them.

I've used several antivirus programs over the years, most notably Norton, McAfee, and Trend Micro. Trend Micro simply has given me the least problems of the three. I haven't tried AVG, NOD32, or Antivir yet (frankly, this is the first I've heard of Antivir, but I may check it out - thanks to the users giving a favorable impression of it).

It's been noted here by other users/reviews that Trend Micro's detection rates aren't as high as other suites, and I don't dispute that, nor do I dispute from what it looks like it's a fairly unpopular suite, at least in the Anandtech community. I actually have had an infection on Trend Micro before, albeit not a very serious one, but it's also blocked a good number of threats before for me. (It's also falsely blocked clean files). So it's far from perfect, and it's also slower than Norton, though the latest version does seem to be an improvement. Just because I've *personally* had good experiences with it, which is far from a scientific sampling, doesn't mean I'm shilling for it...or trying to badmouth Norton for that matter.

But the experiences I had with Norton's Gaming Edition were very real, I assure you, and at least so far, the several-second to minutes system hangs seem to be gone. I also don't have to worry about constantly checking to make sure it's updating itself and hasn't turned that feature off. As I mentioned, I did try an uninstall/reinstall of Norton before giving up on it as well as trying to research the problem with no luck. (I will say I didn't contact Norton support, and I may still try to do that since I did purchase the product...and maybe they have some answers).

I suppose I could have just let this thread die without updating it at all, but I felt in lieu of the problems I was having, I should probably post them.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

I used to have sophos but it had problems updating and wasn't able to clean some things, so I decided to ditch it in favor of antivir. It seems to use less memory (8-10 MB in the background as opposed to 30-40+) and is a much better program overall.

thanks for posting your updates/experiences.

 

[zeruty]

guptasa1, I was just teasin ya... no worries!