Interesting day on the Net

[kamau_d_lyon]

This turned into a very interesting day of Internet use. I did a Google search for picture I wanted for a new LJ icon. I use WOT as well as Norton Safe Web so I usually get at least one telling me a site is safe before I click on the thumbnail. Well not once but three times today that failed

Comments

[kls_eloise]

My father (whose opinion I trust implicitly on these things) will have nothing to do with Norton. He sums them up as "used to be a good company that used to produce a quality product." These days he thinks they are overpriced, insufficient memory hogs that do nothing but slow down whatever system they're running on.

I'm running Malwarebytes and Crap Cleaner.

[kamau_d_lyon]

First of my PCs with Norton runs out in about 3 weeks so I think I'll get the license for Sunbelt's Viper. I've been told by a couple of friend, one who runs an IT department, that it is currently one of the best. It also offers a 10 PC license for private use PCs which will let me make one purchase to cover all my machines rather then three.

[mwalimu]

Like lks_eloise suggests, Norton is no longer a very good product. Current wisdom is that the best free antivirus products are Avast and Avira Antivir. AVG was one of the best 3-5 years ago but in recent years it's gotten to be more of a resource hog.

Malwarebytes and WOT are both good products. Keep them.

I'd suggest at least one other Adware/Spyware program. SuperAntiSpyware is a good current choice. AdAware, like AVG, has also become bloatware/resource intensive in recent releases. Spybot S&D seems to be drifting in that direction as well, but I still run it without TeaTimer resident.

Consider adding a resident firewall such as Online Armor or Outpost.

[kamau_d_lyon]

One of my laptops with Norton AV runs out in about 3 weeks so I think I'll get the license for Sunbelt's Viper. I've been told that it is currently one of the best. There is also the advantage that it offers a 10 PC license for private use PCs which will let me purchase product rather then three to cover all my machines.

Malwarebytes and WOT are definitely staying in the mix. The failure of WOT yesterday was a big surprise but other then that it's been just about flawless in pointing out suspect/dangerous sites.

[hallan]

Thanks for posting this, Kamau... I run AdAware and Spybot (and got rid of AVG not too long ago), so I'll definitely be looking into the ones Mwalimu suggested.

[kls_eloise]

That's the other one - Dad put Avast on our machines and it runs so politely in the background that I forget it's there. Until it pops up a warning.

[ionotter]

I've been using-and rating for-WOT for about 2 months now. I had to ditch my anti-virus altogether. AVG used to be great, but after the last update, it just would NOT play well at all with anything else. So I'm "running bare" with just MS Security Essentials and ZoneAlarm Pro, with regards to "security software".

As for WOT, I've noticed that the rings don't always show up on Google results. I don't know why, either.

I will make a suggestion for WOT, though? Do NOT use an account that can be traced back to you, especially if you are rating websites in countries with FUBAR libel laws like the UK. Someone might take exception to your honest rating and take you to court over it.