Anti virus suggestions

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

I got caught up in that Mcafee mess yesterday and it's hopefully fixed now, thanks to VMS. My subscription is about to run out and I am looking for a good security suite that will play well with ATX and Windows XP. I will be getting a new computer this summer, but I probably want to switch software now. I had Norton before and it caused lots of problems, but maybe they are better now. Thanks!

Bonnie

[TAXBILLY]

I've had AVG, it seems, forever and never had a problem:

http://www.avg.com/us-en/home-and-office-security-ppc1?ctype=ps3925e

taxbilly

[Lion EA]

I'm happy with Norton now. Had a horrible experience with McAfee long ago. However, when my Norton subscription expires, I will probably go with the one VMS recommends. My husband had VMS install it on his computer when they were fixing some problems he had some months ago and is very happy with it. Can't remember the name now, but VMS installed it for him while they were working on his computer anyway. I do have the spyware that VMS installed on my computer when they set me up with back-up and checked out my computer before tax season two years ago.

[artp]

I got caught up in that Mcafee mess yesterday and it's hopefully fixed now, thanks to VMS. My subscription is about to run out and I am looking for a good security suite that will play well with ATX and Windows XP. I will be getting a new computer this summer, but I probably want to switch software now. I had Norton before and it caused lots of problems, but maybe they are better now. Thanks!

Bonnie

I have used Viper from SunBelt software for seveal years. Works great and very reasonably priced. Here is the IP address. Check it out.

http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/

Art

[mcb39]

I have Nortons on 2 computers and AVG on one. I have never had a problem with Nortons and the latest version which I get free with my ISP is pretty awesome. I like the interface much better than AVG. I have Norton's 2005 on my main computer and renew it yearly for a fee. That is because this is where all of my tax files are and it has protected me very well since 2004. This is my desktop and the other two are laptops from which I move files back and forth on jump drives. The bottom line is that I am happy with both but the new Nortons has the edge....for me.

[Eric]

I switched all of my Windows computers from AVG to Microsoft Security Essentials a few months ago:

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

It updates itself with Windows Update so you don't have a separate updater running to keep your antivirus up to date. It's fast and light-weight, and doesn't bog down the computer like most other AV software does.

I'm not a huge fan of Microsoft products in general, but they seem to have done a good job with this.

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

Thanks, I will check these out. I really am looking for something that won't continue to use a bunch of memory, like Mcafee.

[chief]

I switched to Kapersky and have had goodluck.

[jainen]

>>I have never had a problem with Nortons<<

I stuck with Norton for years because I loved the DOS versions. But it flat out interferes with all sorts of programs. I finally let it expire a year ago and it STILL interferes, and gives me a popup warning seven times a day. Yeah, I just keep closing it, which tells you how rigorous I am about keeping things clean and updated. But in that year I've only picked up a few nasties, and just deleted them myself with the uninstaller built into Windows. My tax software, Proseries, stays flawlessly stable even on my old clunker, a Pentium 4 with 512K RAM running the 2002 version of Windows XP Home, so I don't care much about anything else.

Like Communists and Muslims, I think virus threats are overrated. I have far more risk of hardware failure.

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

Thanks. It's also so hard to get rid of the entire anti-virus program without some computer whiz to help pull out the remnants. I'm still deciding what to do. My Mcafee is fixed now and since I have to buy a new computer this summer, I might just stick it out and start over fresh.

[mcb39]

Thanks. It's also so hard to get rid of the entire anti-virus program without some computer whiz to help pull out the remnants. I'm still deciding what to do. My Mcafee is fixed now and since I have to buy a new computer this summer, I might just stick it out and start over fresh.

You can download a program to remove Nortons from your computer and it works. However, again I say, I have never had a problem with them and I am running the same archaic system as Jainen on a 2003 machine.; which is stable, although I backup the entire hard drive once a month with Ghost. I have much newer laptops, but I don't intend to change my "work" machine as long as it is still doing the job; and it is. Good luck with that new purchase and have a great rest of the year.

[Randall]

You can download a program to remove Nortons from your computer and it works. However, again I say, I have never had a problem with them and I am running the same archaic system as Jainen on a 2003 machine.; which is stable, although I backup the entire hard drive once a month with Ghost. I have much newer laptops, but I don't intend to change my "work" machine as long as it is still doing the job; and it is. Good luck with that new purchase and have a great rest of the year.

I've used Norton for years and although I know it slows things down, I've not had a problem. I was thinking of switching when I buy a new computer later this year. But now I see Symantec (Norton's owner) is buying PGP, which is my encryption software company. So I'll probably stay with Symantec (Norton) with the new computer.

[mcb39]

I've used Norton for years and although I know it slows things down, I've not had a problem. I was thinking of switching when I buy a new computer later this year. But now I see Symantec (Norton's owner) is buying PGP, which is my encryption software company. So I'll probably stay with Symantec (Norton) with the new computer.

I have the 2010 version of Norton on this particular laptop. If you haven't seen it, the new version is pretty impressive with a resource meter, etc. Very much on the order of AVG. Just happens to come free with my ISP so use this version here. Still have V 2005 on my work machine at home and no issues with either one.

[ILLMAS]

I have used Symantec antivirus for the last 10 years on my work stations. I would recommend going with the corporate edition now called endpoint, you schedule scans (daily, weekly etc....) and it does everything in the background, no need to do updates or annoying reminders, it does everything. I've been pretty happy with, but it's not cheap, I bought a 5 license and only have installed it in 3 pc. On my Windows 7 at home, I am using Kaspersky, unfortunetly I was not able to use my avaialable license because it's not compatable with Vista and Windows 7. I really don't like Kaspersky, but I needed protection.

[Kea]

For the Kaspersky on Windows 7, the program does have to be updated, but you can use your old license. I still had 3 months on my Kaspersky license when I bought my new computer. I bought the 2010 version of Kaspersky (free after rebate) & entered my old license code. When that code expired, I entered the new license. The only issue I has was that my husband's computer had an expiration date that was one day later than the other computer. And he kept getting warnings when using the computer that day. It was fine again the next day.

Kaspersky is warning me about a program that is showing keylogger behavior. But it doesn't say what program it is. The date it shows is a few days after I got that computer and I was installing a lot of software that day -- including some of the ATX prior years. Does anyone know if the tax software does anything that emulates keylogger behavior?

[LisaAnn]

Has anyone heard of or use cyberdefender? I inquired about it.....it has 24/7 live support and they can remotely access your computer, if you give permission, to fix a problem if needed.

Still on the fence, not sure what to do?

[Lion EA]

Have you looked into VMS? See the link on this site.

[Catherine]

For the Kaspersky on Windows 7, the program does have to be updated, but you can use your old license. I still had 3 months on my Kaspersky license when I bought my new computer. I bought the 2010 version of Kaspersky (free after rebate) & entered my old license code. When that code expired, I entered the new license. The only issue I has was that my husband's computer had an expiration date that was one day later than the other computer. And he kept getting warnings when using the computer that day. It was fine again the next day.

Kaspersky is warning me about a program that is showing keylogger behavior. But it doesn't say what program it is. The date it shows is a few days after I got that computer and I was installing a lot of software that day -- including some of the ATX prior years. Does anyone know if the tax software does anything that emulates keylogger behavior?

A client of mine who is a MAJOR computer geek uses Kaspersky, for whatever that means to you. I figured I'd look at it sometime when the existing crises have been addressed and I have time to think about such items.

[pcmcpa]

I use Trend Micro Internet Security and have been happy with it (i.e. easy to use, install, etc.). I used to be Controller for a company that did Internet Security and that's what they recommended to their clients. If you go to cnet.com or any of the shareware or freeware sites you can download a trial copy of this (generally 30 days) as well as a good many of the popular internet security programs so you can try them before you buy them.