which is better security suite

KELTICKNIGHT · 10 Jul 2006 at 17:59

have both norton and mcafee security suites 2005
havent tryed either yet
which is better

MarcLister · 10 Jul 2006 at 18:21

KELTICKNIGHT said:
have both norton and mcafee security suites 2005
havent tryed either yet
which is better

I haven't tried either but one word sticks out in your post, "Norton". Unless it is the Symantec corporate stuff I don't think you can have enough bargepoles between you and Norton software.

From reviews I've read I would go with the McAfee suite if you want your antivirus and firewall to be in the same package.

KELTICKNIGHT · 10 Jul 2006 at 18:23

cheers for that

MarcLister · 10 Jul 2006 at 18:28

KELTICKNIGHT said:
cheers for that

No problems. Hope it helped. If you want a package suite then I think most people here would say McAfee for the same reason I said.

I don't know why you want a suite, financial reasons or whatever but I would recommend NOD32 (or Kaspersky) and ZA (free or Pro) as I ran NOD32 and ZA Pro before ditching ZA Pro in favour of a hardware router.

Obviously you don't have to do what I do; but if you can afford it or want to then I personally think NOD32/Kaspersky and ZA could be as good as the McAfee suite if not slightly better.

All in all though, it is your choice and if it is a straight choice between the Norton and McAfee then definitely go for McAfee every time.

Buffalo2102 · 10 Jul 2006 at 18:40

I've used both Norton and McAfee (quite a while ago) and wasn't overly impressed with either. Most of my gripes were to do with the user interfaces and the resources taken up by the progemmes. I have used the PCCillin suite for the last couple of years and have no desire to change now.
Since installing the suite I have never had to resort to running any of the other utilities that I used to - Winpatrol, Adaware, Spybot etc. have all been consigned to the dustiest parts of my CD storage.

Having said that, I also run Avast and Zone Alarm free products on my laptop and have not really had any major issues either. For a paid-for all-in-one solution I would definitely recommend PCCillin but you can secure your PC pretty well with free products these days - the only real drawback being that you have to maintain/update several different applications at once with different user interfaces.

The Old Man · 10 Jul 2006 at 18:42

The free Avast antivirus (for home use) got 92% and a PC Format Gold Medal, beating McAfee and the others hands down. It uses about 2.5MB of RAM, a lot less than Norton Bloatware. I've been using Norton for years bu no more, it clogs your PC more than a Bigger Big Mac. I think it uses the SP2 firewall or in conjunction with it for worm protection (most virus's are worms now). Unless you are the CIA or MI5, you don't need anything stronger, especially if you have a hardware firewall in your ADSL router despite what the panic merchants will tell you. Although you could combine it with the free Zone Alarm.

MarcLister · 10 Jul 2006 at 18:43

Buffalo2102 said:
I've used both Norton and McAfee (quite a while ago) and wasn't overly impressed with either. Most of my gripes were to do with the user interfaces and the resources taken up by the progemmes. I have used the PCCillin suite for the last couple of years and have no desire to change now.

I had forgotten about PCCillin. That is to the big companies security suites what NOD32 is to Norton AV. I haven't used but I have heard good things about it.

Buffalo2102 said:
the only real drawback being that you have to maintain/update several different applications at once with different user interfaces.

That is one of the big advantages about NOD32, it updates itself, but so silently that I have to check sometimes just to see if I can catch it out and make it update. I never have done this, every time I check NOD32 has already gotten the latest update.