Atom processors and antivirus??

Wind Chaser · « **on:** 25 Feb 2010, 03:00 pm »

An Atom prosessor should be enough for email and web browsing, but would it choke if expected to run Norton Internet Security in the background?

timjthomas · « **Reply #1 on:** 25 Feb 2010, 03:10 pm »

I can't speak to the Atom processor, but I've found Norton anti-virus to be a resource hog. I switched to Avast a few years ago. It's gotten good reviews from cnet (and other similar sites), has a smaller memory foot print, and isn't a processor hog. It's also free.

Just a thought.

AVG also gets good reviews.

bpape · « **Reply #2 on:** 25 Feb 2010, 03:14 pm »

Agreed. Norton can bring a full size, full power machine to it's knees at times. I moved away from it, also to Avast. Much happier, much cheaper, much smaller.

Bryan

jmc207 · « **Reply #3 on:** 25 Feb 2010, 03:18 pm »

I worked on a Lenovo S10 netbook a few months ago that came with Norton Internet Security installed and it was slow. Removed Norton and put Avira on the system and it was much peppier. I think the firewall part of the Norton packages slows them down more than necessary.

mgalusha · « **Reply #4 on:** 25 Feb 2010, 03:46 pm »

I use an atom net top as my music player running win 7 and avast, no issues but I have nothing installed except for firefox, foobar and avast.

bregez · « **Reply #5 on:** 25 Feb 2010, 04:23 pm »

I use an Atom N280 (1.66 GHz) with 1 GB of RAM. I am running XP with AVG and ZoneAlarm. I have no problems. The only time it stumbles is when I am using wireless to stream music from last fm and they have some kind of animation playing during the music.

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #6 on:** 26 Feb 2010, 12:30 am »

The guy who sold me Norton 2010 said that in the last two years it has been much improved and is much lighter on system resources, so I bought it. But having read the comments here I'm returning it.

Thanks for all your input.

gerald porzio · « **Reply #7 on:** 26 Feb 2010, 01:17 am »

I found Norton to be very invasive. Then went to Trend Micro whose cust. support sucks. Now using Avast. Just renewed w/ them.

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #8 on:** 26 Feb 2010, 01:20 am »

I listened to these guys and use Avast now on 5 computers in the house with zero issues. Glad to say bye bye to Norton.

jqp · « **Reply #9 on:** 26 Feb 2010, 03:00 am »

AVGFree here - it is great on Win 7 64 bit

First thing I did when I got my Toshiba and later Dell laptops was to uninstall Norton360, even though it was free for many months. They (Symantec)have bought many companies over the years since Peter Norton came out with the original Norton Utilities. I feel it is bloated and also attempts to sell add-ons as much as do the job you have already paid for it to do

Mike Nomad · « **Reply #10 on:** 26 Feb 2010, 03:17 am »

I have an ASUS EeePC (1.60 GHz Atom, 1GB RAM) running Windows XP (Home - SP3). I'm running Norton A/V 2009, with no problems. My A/V benchmark is Sophos, so I don't find Norton to be any better or worse than everything else out there, with one exception. McAfee is an absolute piece of cr@p, and should be used only as a last resort.

WGH · « **Reply #11 on:** 26 Feb 2010, 03:20 am »

Microsoft Security Essentials is getting good reviews and one site rates it higher than the free AVG.

AVGFree vs. MSE
http://windows7review.com/avg-anti-virus-vs-microsoft-security-essentials/

I use NOD32, it is small and fast but it isn't free.

Wayne

mshan · « **Reply #12 on:** 26 Feb 2010, 03:25 am »

For a basic web-browsing netbook, I would say use the Windows firewall and either AVG Free or Microsoft Security Essentials.

I also like CCleaner to get rid of all the cookies that accumulate over time. You can configure it to clean the cache every time the computer starts, but also save select cookies (for saved passwords) so they are not deleted everytime computer starts.

Mike Nomad · « **Reply #13 on:** 26 Feb 2010, 03:45 pm »

A couple of people posted after me, suggesting Microsoft Security Essentials. I messed with it when it first came out, and ditched it: A real resource pig. Seeing the posts had me wondering... So I installed it on my netbook.

So far so good: MS must have fixed a few things, because the resource overhead is _low_. I suspect because the interface is clean, and the app doesn't Try To Be My Friend. The app stays out of the way. And the price is right. I only had a couple of months left on the Norton license. Looks like I won't be renewing that...

ctviggen · « **Reply #14 on:** 26 Feb 2010, 04:46 pm »

Quote from: WGH on 26 Feb 2010, 03:20 am

Microsoft Security Essentials is getting good reviews and one site rates it higher than the free AVG.

AVGFree vs. MSE
http://windows7review.com/avg-anti-virus-vs-microsoft-security-essentials/

I use NOD32, it is small and fast but it isn't free.

Wayne

I use NOD32, also. However, I now have three computers and only two licenses, so I may try Avast.

gerald porzio · « **Reply #15 on:** 26 Feb 2010, 05:37 pm »

When my previous computer was infected w/ the Windows 2008 virus, AVG was unable to get rid of it. However, millions love AVG because it's free & semi decent.

Thump553 · « **Reply #16 on:** 27 Feb 2010, 02:16 am »

I hated the bloatware that was Norton in the past. Comcast just switched their free antivirus suite from McAfee to Norton. I had previously dumped McAfee because it slowed my computer down, but have had no problems at all with the new Norton. Let's hope they continue to reform.

BTW, as I indicated if you are using Comcast cable you can download Norton suite directly from them and try it out.

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #17 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 02:48 pm »

Thanks to everyone who replied. After a little research based on the recommendations here I am going to try MSE, and pending the outcome, I may try Avast.

Why MSE over Avast? In a RECENT POLL that asked Which of these AntiVirus Software programs is better ... 95% chose MSE over Avast. So for what its worth........ also I am under the impression that MSE includes a firewall and that the free version of Avast doesn't. Got to have a firewall.

gerald porzio · « **Reply #18 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 04:08 pm »

I don't remember whether the free version had a firewall. The one I have now sure does.

ctviggen · « **Reply #19 on:** 28 Feb 2010, 04:20 pm »

Quote from: Wind Chaser on 28 Feb 2010, 02:48 pm

Thanks to everyone who replied. After a little research based on the recommendations here I am going to try MSE, and pending the outcome, I may try Avast.

Why MSE over Avast? In a RECENT POLL that asked Which of these AntiVirus Software programs is better ... 95% chose MSE over Avast. So for what its worth........ also I am under the impression that MSE includes a firewall and that the free version of Avast doesn't. Got to have a firewall.

If you're on cable/dsl with a router that has a firewall, why do you need a firewall on your computer?