Process
- Thread starter Kornowski
- Start date
Geoff
VIP Member
If you really wanted to, you can exchange Norton for a free program such as AVG Free Edition. I use it, and personally I find it to be much better then Norton, not to mention it doesn't use up loads of resources.
Post a screenshot of both the service tab and startup tab, so we can see what isn't needed to boot up.
Post a screenshot of both the service tab and startup tab, so we can see what isn't needed to boot up.
Diamondsleeper
New Member
Spyware? Do you already regularly run a Spyware removal program?
tlarkin
VIP Member
despite its bad reputation among "tech" people norton is not a bad product at all, especially on the enterprise level. It can cause some performance hits though on your machine just like any other spyware/malware/anti-virus.
Personally I would rather load these types of applications and have them run in the router, not in the machine but that is not possible in everyone's configuration.
What Norton does have is the best support out of anything else. Their website, online, and updates (general support) is some of the best. That is why it is also so expensive, their support costs money to run.
So, really it will be up to you to decide. Try out other things mentioned here and then make a choice to keep it or try something else.
Personally I would rather load these types of applications and have them run in the router, not in the machine but that is not possible in everyone's configuration.
What Norton does have is the best support out of anything else. Their website, online, and updates (general support) is some of the best. That is why it is also so expensive, their support costs money to run.
So, really it will be up to you to decide. Try out other things mentioned here and then make a choice to keep it or try something else.
Diamondsleeper
New Member
Norton does not cover spyware. Try Lava-soft Ad-aware if you don't already have it. www.download.com
tlarkin
VIP Member
that is actually false
http://www.symantec.com/enterprise/security_response/threatexplorer/risks/index.jsp
source: http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/themes/freedom/index.jsp
Perhaps you should double check things before you give out wrong information.
It's crap, and I'll tell you why.
Norton heuristics are not near as good as Panda's, for instance. Panda will simply smoke Norton on any level, particularly the enterprise level. They have far superior product offerings in every aspect.
I can't count the number of instances of Norton I have seen where the system was still infected by virii that were picked up by Panda's ActiveScan and removed. So, not only does Norton hog resources and bring a system to it's knees, it doesn't even do a proper job. That is the pinnacle of uselessness.
On a 512MB or higher XP machine, Panda Platinum will simply trounce Norton. Norton doesn't stand a chance against it. I don't care what reviews say. I've serviced the machines.. I've seen the effects, and Norton is about as effective as a fart in the wind.
On the enterprise level NOD 32 will spank Norton as well. Norton has an informative website. That's about it.
On a home machine that is light on resources I can only recommend Avast! It has a small footprint, takes up very little resources, eliminates threats that Norton doesn't and it doesn't cost a thing unless you want the pro version. You get free live updates for life (unlike Norton) as long as you register every 19 months or so.
There simply is no reason to use Norton. It has no advantages, especially to the home user.
For the corporate admin, I recommend Panda Businessecure for small to medium sized businesses (that's the one I have), or Enterprissecure for large corporations. You'll never look back.
Norton heuristics are not near as good as Panda's, for instance. Panda will simply smoke Norton on any level, particularly the enterprise level. They have far superior product offerings in every aspect.
I can't count the number of instances of Norton I have seen where the system was still infected by virii that were picked up by Panda's ActiveScan and removed. So, not only does Norton hog resources and bring a system to it's knees, it doesn't even do a proper job. That is the pinnacle of uselessness.
On a 512MB or higher XP machine, Panda Platinum will simply trounce Norton. Norton doesn't stand a chance against it. I don't care what reviews say. I've serviced the machines.. I've seen the effects, and Norton is about as effective as a fart in the wind.
On the enterprise level NOD 32 will spank Norton as well. Norton has an informative website. That's about it.
On a home machine that is light on resources I can only recommend Avast! It has a small footprint, takes up very little resources, eliminates threats that Norton doesn't and it doesn't cost a thing unless you want the pro version. You get free live updates for life (unlike Norton) as long as you register every 19 months or so.
There simply is no reason to use Norton. It has no advantages, especially to the home user.
For the corporate admin, I recommend Panda Businessecure for small to medium sized businesses (that's the one I have), or Enterprissecure for large corporations. You'll never look back.
Diamondsleeper
New Member
Ok let me clarify since I have not noticed exactly what anybody is talking about when they say Norton. The Norton System Works I am running does not pull spyware that gets on my computer after I've been surfing the net. I know this because Ad-aware pulls all kinds of crap off of my computer even while Norton is running. It may detect stuff and remove it during file transfers and from email. It sure does not remove all the stuff that my computer gets bombarded with if I visit a lot of internet sites.
computerhakk
VIP Member
^
No need to have a digressed debate over Norton over Avast or AVG. Keep on the original topic. Everyone can host their own opinion and if you want to debate, start a new thread.
As far as your processes and such, what does your yahoo widgets do? I assume it is running those widgets on your desktop. If you can, maybe you can get an alternative as no one program should have 6 same instances running at once even though it doesn't seem like it's taking up resources.
If you don't use msn messenger, you should remove it (msmsgs.exe) from your startup via Add/Remove>Windows Components. Or, through a registry entry you can do through RUN.
As far as your startup in msconfig, it doesn't look like you have much, but if you can take another screenshot of it and expand your "command" tab (drag the right side more over to the right) so it's bigger, it'll help because we will have a more general idea of where it's coming from.
No need to have a digressed debate over Norton over Avast or AVG. Keep on the original topic. Everyone can host their own opinion and if you want to debate, start a new thread.
As far as your processes and such, what does your yahoo widgets do? I assume it is running those widgets on your desktop. If you can, maybe you can get an alternative as no one program should have 6 same instances running at once even though it doesn't seem like it's taking up resources.
If you don't use msn messenger, you should remove it (msmsgs.exe) from your startup via Add/Remove>Windows Components. Or, through a registry entry you can do through RUN.
As far as your startup in msconfig, it doesn't look like you have much, but if you can take another screenshot of it and expand your "command" tab (drag the right side more over to the right) so it's bigger, it'll help because we will have a more general idea of where it's coming from.
Diamondsleeper
New Member
As for myself I was not the one harping on Norton. All I know is when I remove all the spyware crap off of my computer it noticeably speeds up.
tlarkin
VIP Member
agreed I was running webroot's spysweeper for a while and after disabling it from running my system did perform faster.
You can always try the MS anti-spyware as well
At my job we use and have deployed etrust ITM on over 10,000 desktops and for the most part it runs pretty well and doesn't cause too much of a system decrease.
However, any process you run in the background will eat up memory so if you wanted to, just run msconfig and disable everything under start up and only run the essential security items.
You can always try the MS anti-spyware as well
At my job we use and have deployed etrust ITM on over 10,000 desktops and for the most part it runs pretty well and doesn't cause too much of a system decrease.
However, any process you run in the background will eat up memory so if you wanted to, just run msconfig and disable everything under start up and only run the essential security items.
Diamondsleeper
New Member
No man...What I meant was when my spyware software pulls all the spyware off of my computer. The spyware itself is what slows down the computer because those litte suckers are running in the background. Ad-aware the way I have it only runs when I go to clean my system of spyware. My spyware software does not run in the background.
tlarkin
VIP Member
that is probably how you are contracting spyware. I don't go to any site that uses spyware nor do I use any peer to peer app like limewire or worse, so my machine is pretty much virutally spyware free. I ran spysweeper on my system for two years and all it ever removed was a few suspicous cookies. I don't think ad aware by lavasoft really does that much compared to other spyware products. The only thing I really use it for now is to scan emails. I did one time contract spyware though (before I was using webroots product) and I was running ad aware and it didn't catch it. I just ended up using hijackthis and deleting the processes that were spyware completely off my system.
I was agreeing with you about processes running in the background, we agree on that, and it was a general statement I got what you were saying.
There are tons of options to go for spyware and there are lots of ways to prevent it. Securing your network is a good start.
As for the norton thing, I am not advocating the use of norton over other products I was simply saying the new version is not that bad, but I do agree with some posts here, there are better products.
Ad aware is mediocre in my experience, and you have to watch out for the free ones sometimes, they are actually spyware themselves.
I was agreeing with you about processes running in the background, we agree on that, and it was a general statement I got what you were saying.
There are tons of options to go for spyware and there are lots of ways to prevent it. Securing your network is a good start.
As for the norton thing, I am not advocating the use of norton over other products I was simply saying the new version is not that bad, but I do agree with some posts here, there are better products.
Ad aware is mediocre in my experience, and you have to watch out for the free ones sometimes, they are actually spyware themselves.