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@kima1263 wrote:

Can someone tell me why I would need a program like  Norton Internet Security for my computer if my DSL provider (SBC (formerally Ameritech) yahoo) already provides virus/firewall protection???  I already have the free version of Zone Alarm and spy sweeper running on my Dell Dimension 8200. Do I really need any more protection?

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ZoneAlarm provides a firewall, so NIS isn't needed for that.

You don't have antivirus software, and you are trusting SBC to catch everything?  Bad, bad idea.  Get antivirus software right now.

PC-Cillin Securtiy software has been rated higher than Nortons and if you wish you can test it for three months free as I am doing now and very well pleased.  A number of updates every couple of days, that Nortons does not do.

Dim 4400 ( 2002 )
2.6 Ghz
Bios A06
768 MB DDR 2100
Windows XP Home
SP-2
1703 FP LCD monitor
PC-Cillin Security.....Much better than Nortons

Since you already have Zone Alarm up and running, you really only need anti-virus component, no need for a complete security suite unless you really want it.  I have Norton Internet Security 2005 currently, and I like it, but I am looking seriously at changing to PC-cillin Internet Security next year.

The last review I've seen of the different packages is from 2004, I'm sure a new one will be coming out later this year for the 2005 versions, it's just not available yet.  Here's a link to one of the reviews of the 2004 options that you have available.  As you can see, they rate PC-cillin Internet Security pretty highly in most features (for the one area it did poorly in, spyware scans, they recommend using Ad-Aware and Spybot to subsidize the security - free versions can be gotten of both of those).

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,115939,00.asp

Kima:

Norton is widely regarded as the biggest resource hog among anti-virus programs. PCcillin is well regarded and highly rated. There are also a few free A/V programs.

AVG: http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/

Avast: http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

eTrust has a 30-day trial program, http://www3.ca.com/Solutions/Collateral.asp?CID=39914

You may also want to ask your ISP. Many are starting to provide either free or low-cost anti-virus software. AOL gives McAfee away for free, for example.

msgale,

I can't speak for Osprey; but from my experience, Norton does take up more space on the hard drive, and does cause the boot-up and shut-down processes to take slightly longer (the review I linked even mentions the longer start-up/shut-down times).  NIS also uses slightly more RAM when running than other security programs due to the number of security features they've bundled together.  If these items are what Osprey bases it on, then I have to agree.

Some users also report CPU usage being high, and openning and closing some windows and/or programs taking longer.  I've never seen any of this on any of the machines I've had NIS on, so I've always suspected those complaints are actually caused by some other problem.  They may get magnified by Norton, but NIS isn't the root cause (IMHO).

I am using NAV 2003, mainly because it came OEM, but I'm happy with it. With the updates Symantec provided it works well with Security center and ZA free. My startup/shut down is not slowed by NAV, but somewhat by ZA and some startups that use .NET framework (ATI catalyst control center and Diskeeper (they need ZA to have started to allow them to start). Still under a minute startup or total shut down. 

The only slow down was with office apps (Word), but that was cured by turnung off the Office plug in.