Wednesday
Jul092008
Norton May Be Worse Than Any Virus You Could Get
July 9, 2008 at 2:44 PM by EsquireMac
My mother (who runs her own business) recently made the switch from PC to Mac. I helped her set up and get familiar with her new MacBook Pro. I installed Windows XP via VM Ware Fusion, and installed AVG antivirus because it is less bloated and it is free - two values Norton can't wrap its head around.
Anyway, I guess I didn't explain to her that her Windows installation was already protected by AVG. What did she do? She installed (and paid for!) Norton Antivirus. ACK! Next thing you know, her Windows installation would not boot - not even in safe mode. Thankfully, I set her up with a Time Machine backup. I directed her to restore the latest version of the Windows file that she is sure booted, and then, to uninstall Norton.
As I recall, Norton was the program that harassed her so badly that she decided to switch to Mac. I remember my experience with using a PC and having Norton. It was terrible. I finally came to the conclusion that I had to uninstall it, regardless of what perils I might be subjecting myself to. I was sure that Norton screwed with my computer's performance far more than any virus would. Besides, when the free stuff is just as effective and doesn't bloat down your machine nearly as badly, why pay for the bad stuff?
As a side note, my mother is only using Windows because she needs to use Quick Books to process credit cards. Unfortunately, Quick Books Pro 2007 for the Mac does not have the ability to process credit cards. Quick Books Pro 2008 for the Mac is due to ship in Q3, 2008 and promises many new features. The ability to process credit cards, though, has neither been confirmed nor denied for the 2008 release.
Also, Microsoft's own Anti-Spyware was for a time deleting Norton Anti-Virus...
Anyway, I guess I didn't explain to her that her Windows installation was already protected by AVG. What did she do? She installed (and paid for!) Norton Antivirus. ACK! Next thing you know, her Windows installation would not boot - not even in safe mode. Thankfully, I set her up with a Time Machine backup. I directed her to restore the latest version of the Windows file that she is sure booted, and then, to uninstall Norton.
As I recall, Norton was the program that harassed her so badly that she decided to switch to Mac. I remember my experience with using a PC and having Norton. It was terrible. I finally came to the conclusion that I had to uninstall it, regardless of what perils I might be subjecting myself to. I was sure that Norton screwed with my computer's performance far more than any virus would. Besides, when the free stuff is just as effective and doesn't bloat down your machine nearly as badly, why pay for the bad stuff?
As a side note, my mother is only using Windows because she needs to use Quick Books to process credit cards. Unfortunately, Quick Books Pro 2007 for the Mac does not have the ability to process credit cards. Quick Books Pro 2008 for the Mac is due to ship in Q3, 2008 and promises many new features. The ability to process credit cards, though, has neither been confirmed nor denied for the 2008 release.
Also, Microsoft's own Anti-Spyware was for a time deleting Norton Anti-Virus...
Filed Under Windows
Windows
Reader Comments (4)
Great blog Adam! Keep up the great work and keep posting!
The best anti-virus I've ever run across is BitDefender. VERY small RAM footprint and it just works with no interaction.
Excellent. I'll check it out!
[...] a virus. I personally would rather have viruses on my computer than run Norton AntiVirus. Others have come to a similar conclusion: As I recall, Norton was the program that harassed her so badly [...]