COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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Gloria
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Gloria »

I wasn't sure where to put this but it is a computer query so here it is.
Just over 12 months ago I had a problem with my computer, it went in to our local guy who added Norton antivirus. All has been well since then, but now Norton is running out---do I renew it (which my local guy says he does cheaper than me downloading) or do I download something else? if so, what?
Thankyou for any help.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Big Kev »

I use Avast, which is a free download.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Gloria »

Thanks Kev.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Tripps »

I second that suggestion - I have used the free version of Avast for about five years and not had any problems - or cost.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Gloria »

Brilliant. I think I have approx 25 days left so will do something soon.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by PanBiker »

Concur with Kev and Tripps, I have used Avast also for a few years now.

Your biggest problem may be getting the old one off your system. Some AV products are notoriously difficult to eradicate from a system. You should uninstall your old application before installing the other though or it could get messy. Use the Norton uninstall routine if it has one.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Pluggy »

Microsoft security Essentials. Free, and doesn't need renewing every year unlike AVG and Avast. Takes a lot less out of an aging computer than most other AV. Its what I put on all my customers Windows machines now. Its standard issue on Windows 8. (Well, real windows 8, the preinstalled stuff on a major manufacturers computer will come with whoever pays the manufacturer most to put their time limited version on their machines. as often as not Norton)

Make sure you remove the old stuff first, which goes for any change of AV.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security ... y/mse.aspx
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Gloria »

Thankyou all for the help. I wouldn't have known to uninstall the Norton first so you live and learn. My laptop is 7yrs old now and still going strong, it also has windows XP would that be okay?
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by PanBiker »

Pluggy's suggestion will go on WinXP service Pack 2 onwards, same for Avast.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Pluggy »

I don't know how Microsoft will deal with Security essentials on XP machines from next April when they cease support for XP. Its tied in with Windows updates and when there aren't going to be updates any more.....

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/ ... pport.aspx
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Stanley »

Pluggy, am I right in saying that if Gloria can search she should look for files with Norton in their name and delete them? I seem to remember that 'uninstall' doesn't always take all the files out. May not be essential Gloria, don't worry about it. See what Pluggy says...
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Pluggy »

No, is the short answer. I'd go into add/remove programs and remove it in there first off. Be careful how you answer the questions the uninstall routine asks. You don't want anything to do with identity protection, its just an excuse for something you thought you'd buried coming back. Then I'd run Hijack This! and remove anything Norton thoughtfully left behind. The files don't matter so much if you get it out of the registry. If Norton uninstall decides it doesn't want to play, go to Nortons site and find an uninstall program. Failing that you unpick it by hand out of the registry. Failing that you 'scrub it and start again' with the whole operating system. Having done battle with it for longer than I care to remember, I woudn't touch Norton with somebody else's bargepole. If it was actually good at detecting and removing malware, it would have something in it's favour, but it isn't. Its very popular with computer stores, because they make a lot of money out of it.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by PanBiker »

My experience as well when I was doing PC work. Norton have very annoying and difficult to get rid of AV products but as Symantec produced Ghost which in network management and workstation auto cloning roles is a godsend. Mind you, quite a difference in the pricing structure.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Gloria »

Oh I can see I am going to get a major headache doing this :wink:
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by PanBiker »

Gloria wrote:It went in to our local guy who added Norton antivirus.
Just a thought Gloria, did he ask you if you wanted Norton or just do it as a matter of course. If it's the latter I would take it back and insist he took it off for you. It does not seem very fair to install a product that locks you into his services, could be construed as somewhat underhand if you were not made aware of the implications.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Tripps »

"could be construed as somewhat underhand"

In my opinion, the whole of the software situation seems to be somewhat underhand, and getting worse. I loaded your recommended Morse tutor program on to my main PC, without problem, but after I nearly destroyed the machine, by closing the lid with a data stick lid inside, :sad: I reverted to my cheap standby machine.

I tried to install it again, and despite watching carefully for any add ons, spent most of yesterday morning getting rid of the rubbish that came with it. It hijacked the home page, installed another search engine with adverts, a PDF converter, and something called Yontoo (I think) - no idea what that does. They also had the cheek to insert in their terms, that I indemnify them against any consequences of my using their software!
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by PanBiker »

Which one of the programs was it Tripps? I have downloaded and installed quite a few without any problem on installation.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Gloria »

It was nearly 12months ago, and he said I should go in again in another 12months and he would update it for a lot less than it would cost to do online through Norton. I don't remember him asking if I wanted it, but he may have done.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Tripps »

Ian, I think it was this one http://www.g4ilo.com/software.html

I can still access it my ASUS, but have to use an external screen with it now, and it takes up a lot of room on my desk, so I've parked it up for a while.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by PanBiker »

G4ILO (Julian) has a note in his blog that a lot of AV products incorrectly flag that the installer has a trojan or virus.

You can read that here.

I can see that his site has a few adverts on it, no doubt fund it's existence. He is no longer developing any of his software due to illness the progress of which he is charting in his blog also. The trojan thing was 5 years ago now and as I say I had no problems when installing on two machines here.

I will uninstall and re-download the application again and see how it behaves for me.

[hr]

I have just re-installed from a new download. It went perfectly normally, with just a trust warning from Windows (which is the norm), when opening the file, there were no add on options to deselect and it installed in about 20 seconds which is what I would expect. I installed on my laptop which is running Windows 7 SP1.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Stanley »

In my experience with AV, most of it is sold on fear and it's almost as though they want to let you know they are working and indispensable. I was lucky in a way because I installed Mcaffee from the first and it served me well but was a pain of a programme. I suspect that I had so little trouble because I left it alone and put up with the delays and waits while it scanned with a very low speed chip. One of the great advantages of Ubuntu for me is that the OS attracts less attention from the Black Hat Brigade.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Pluggy »

If you're a conspiracy theorist, you're convinced there's collusion between the "good guys" and the "bad guys", sometimes I'm not so sure there isn't myself. Another of the many reasons I got off the Windows merry-go-round years ago. With Linux, the program does what it says on the tin, there are no other 'bits' that more often than not are the primary reason reason the software exists.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Stanley »

We owe the unsung benefactors who support free software a great debt. When you think about it, Those of us who took to computing reasonably early have had a long and interesting march through unfamiliar territory, at times under heavy fire from the large software and machine manufacturers, Think of the transition from the original Amstrad, the upgrade to our first XT then the struggles with early email and the advent of what looked like a lifesaver, Windows. Now I have reached the sunlit uplands of Linux 64bit with adequate memory and chip speed I feel as though I have survived the campaign and this is where I wanted to be at all those years ago when it was so easy to lose eight hours work! I wonder what they will think up to tempt us hardcore box users....
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Pluggy »

Microsoft are a bunch of crooks. I've built a computer for a customer, he wants windows 8 on it. So I pay out an arm and a leg for a legitimate copy of said OS, Microsoft being Microsoft, it decides that it wants the product key to install, no problem, its printed on the nice sticker on the envelope. Pity its printed so small and faint it's barely readable, Magnifying glass and strong light, and I'm still struggling, I've had about 10 attempts at it and its still refusing it. I'm losing the will to live.........
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Pluggy »

Took it outside and took a picture of it in macro mode on my digital camera and I've got it to go. What I would have sworn was a 8 was actually a B and the Q was a D.......

Would it be so painful for Micro$oft to actually make their bl**dy labels legible to tired old eyes ?

Image

The label is 22mm top to bottom, so how big is the lettering ?
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