Ant-Virus software

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Quite simply, are there any concrete reasons to prefer Mcafee AV software over Norton (Systemworks)

The reason I ask is that I am currently repairing a friends computer who approached me because the system was running slow, especially straight after booting. Windows XP Pro is installed. After exploring various possible causes, I eventually narrowed the probably cause down to his AV software (Mcafees)

My friend was advised that Mcafee was "better" than the Norton package which is why he went for it. However after uninstalling Mcafee, the performance problems seemed to be gone. I have also since installed Nortons Systemworks which includes an AV component and this is running fine on the system with no performance problems.

My friends only concern is that his computer is working and "firing on all cylinders" which it certainly appears to be as of now. Is there any reason to prefer one AV package over another, apart from the issue of cost if that is relevant? Certainly Mcafee and Nortons both seem to be pretty popular.

 

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All pretty much the same these days.

At work I used to use McAfee, but because I was noticing it reducing performance switched to Norton.

At home I run the open source ClamWIN without any problems.

 

Both of them usually slow systems down considerably. You might want to try the AVG free version from Grisoft.

 

I think that both products are good, myself!

 

i been supporting pc's for a bit so i used basically most of the Antivirus software out there... nortons systemworks and mcafee seem to be the worst outthere in my opinion!! now something i think that works terrific and infact i left nortons for it was NOD32! this amazing product has so many settings and it picks up on viruses left behind by nortons and the others i didnt believe it till i saw and experienced it!

 

i have to agree with zimbo and nugget in that i don't like either products.macafee does seem to slow down the pc more than norton but then again norton seems too pedantic in everything it does and is veeeerrry slow on scanning without even picking a lot up.

avg or avast for me , quality products and free too!

 

I use Symantec Corporate on my home lan to protect my Windows servers and workstations. It uses far fewer system resources than standalone products like Norton or McAfee and you don't have any time limit on virus definitions. I've been using the same version for 3 years now and I get updated daily. I've never had to purchase a virus definition subscription. I also have the ability to centrally install, administer, and distribute the virus protection. All the systems report to one server so I can log onto one server and see if any of the systems have reported anything related to viruses.

One reason I've found that people complain about Norton and McAfee slowing down their systems at startup is because they have set it to scan system files every time the system boots. This is really overkill in my estimation. Why should you need to scan system files at startup if you have set up an AV product to scan a file everytime it is created, opened, changed, etc... with the auto-protect feature? That means you are going to scan your system files while the system is running and system file is changed. That will detect any problem right there.