gHacks technology news » symantec

How To Run Commercial Antivirus Software Without Paying For It

Martin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:54:20 +0000

This article is not about illegal methods of obtaining software products. But read on if you are interested in how you can protect your computer with the latest antivirus software without having to pay for it. The principle is simply. Most antivirus companies are offering test versions of their products. These versions can usually be tested for 30 or 90 days. All you need to do to protect your computer with antivirus software is to install a new product every 90 days. This means that you need four antivirus products, preferably the most reliable ones that are offering 90 days of testing. You start again with next year’s edition of the first antivirus software that you started with. If there are not enough 90 day trials you switch to 30 day trials instead or use a free antivirus software to fill gaps in the 12 month cycle.

The following links point to antivirus software programs that can be downloaded as trial versions. These trial versions can be used for either 30 days or 90 days without payment.

Which antivirus software developers are offering 90 day trials?

McAfee VirusScan Plus [link]
McAfee Internet Security [link]
McAfee Total Protection [link]
Norton Antivirus [link]
Norton 360 [link]

Which antivirus software developers are offering 30 day trials?

Kaspersky Antivirus [link]
Kaspersky Internet Security [link]
Bitdefender Antivirus [link]
Bitdefender Total Security [link]
Bitdefender Internet Security [link]
ESET Smart Security [link]
ESET Nod32 Antivirus [link]
Trend Micro Internet Security Pro [link]
Trend Micro Internet Security [link]
Panda Security Antivirus [link]
Panda Antivirus Pro [link]
F-Secure Internet Security [link]
F-Secure Antivirus [link]

Please let us know in the comments if we have missed a product.

Some notes: This article does not rate the antivirus software programs. There might be free programs out there that are comparable to the listed antivirus products. The only problem with this method is that users need to install different antivirus software regularly. This not only means more work for the user but also the requirement to get used to new software products.

Many antivirus companies are running promotions every now and then that offer longer trial versions for download. This will obviously help tremendously.

Any thoughts or ideas?

Tags: antivirus, bitdefender, f-secure, kaspersky, norton, panda, security-software, symantec, trend micro, virus

Norton 360 Review

Martin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:21:22 +0000

Norton was renowned back in the days when I started using personal computers for resource hungry security applications that could slow down computer systems significantly. I decided to skip Norton products for my whole life like many other users at that time. There are still many tech savvy users who avoid Norton antivirus and other software programs from Norton because of how they performed ten or more years ago. Norton software programs have on the other hand received lots of praise from computer magazines and reviewers. That’s the moment the idea for this review was born. I wanted to know if Norton antivirus and Norton 360 were as good as the press thought they were or if they were still the heavyweight security suites that would bog down a system noticeably.

I contacted Norton with my proposal and they were all for it. I quickly received a review copy of Norton 360 and started the test about a month ago. Norton 360 is Norton’s top of the line product that combines all features of Norton Antivirus, Norton Internet Security and some additional ones exclusive to this version. Users who install Norton 360 get among other features an antivirus solution that protects against all forms of malware (including bots, rootkits, viruses, trojans and spyware), a software firewall, email protection, web browser protection, identity protection, a file backup solution, secure networking and PC tuneup modules.

This can look like overload to some users but the first surprise awaits during the installation of Norton 360. The installation is quick and painless. A system restart is required after installation of Norton 360 which was not noticeably slower than before. One point of criticism that has haunted Norton products for years seems to have been taken good care of by the Norton developers. Both the system start and the system itself do not feel noticeably slower than before (startup and shutdown time is probably in the region of 1-2 additional seconds at the most). That’s great and somewhat unexpected considering the past.

Norton 360 itself runs pretty much automated. It is a good idea to tweak the settings at least once. This includes disabling modules that are not needed (e.g. if you run a firewall you might not want to run another one, same for the backup solution or web browser protection). The purpose of an all-in-one solution like Norton 360 on the other hand is to be the one program that is needed to secure the PC. Users who only need specific modules might want to consider the two other Norton products Norton Antivirus or Norton Internet Security instead.

The interface of Norton 360 on the other hand could confuse some users as it opens several modules and options in new windows. It’s not that seldom that two or even three Norton 360 windows are open at the same time. Uses who are looking for advanced options need to go into the settings of the security software program.

A click on any of the modules in the Settings of Norton 360 will open display advanced configuration options. No direct help or explanation is offered there which can be problematic if the name of the setting does not explain what they do (anyone want to guess what Early Load or Sonar Advanced Protection in Automatic Protection under Antivirus do?). A click on the question mark will open a Windows help file that explains the settings in detail. It would be more comfortable if at least some explanation was given directly in the menu (for example by hovering over a name).

These settings on the other hand are very detailed. It is possible to enable some modules that are not enabled by default (for example Microsoft Office Automatic Scan, Advanced Events Monitoring or enabling Silent Mode). Advanced users should take their time and take a detailed look at the settings provided.

Norton 360 is a security software program that is ideal for users who want an all-in-one protection that requires barely any configuration. It might on the other hand also be an interesting alternative for uses who like to configure their security software programs as much as possible which is something that Norton 360 offers as well. The best part (if you ask me) is the confirmation that Norton security programs are not slowing down computer systems noticeably anymore.

Tags: antivirus software, norton, norton 360, norton 360 review, security-software, symantec, windows software

Anti Virus Software Removal Tools Overview

Martin — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 08:00:36 +0000

Uninstalling anti virus software on a computer system is sometimes not a trivial task as they tend to add their components deep into the system to provide protection from various threats PC users face these days. The need for anti virus software removal tools arises if the default uninstallation fails. This usually leads to a messed up computer system that could throw all kinds of errors at the user. It could also break other anti virus software either during installation or usage.

So called anti virus removal tools have been created to effectively remove traces of anti virus software from the computer system. They usually run a series of processes that delete files, Registry settings and other parameters or options that have been installed by the antivirus software during installation.

Below is a collection of anti virus software removal tools that have been created by the developers of the programs to aid their users if they encounter difficulties uninstalling it.

Did we miss antivirus software uninstallation tools in the list? Let us know in the comments.

Tags: anti virus, anti virus software, antivir, antivirus, avast, avg, kaspersky, mcafee, microsoft, norton, panda, removal, symantec, virus software, Windows

AVG Remover

Martin — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 09:20:00 +0000

Software companies that release specialized tools to remove their software programs from a computer system are usually regarded with suspicion by many users. Many feel that there should not be specialized uninstallers as the regular uninstaller should be able to handle the uninstallation as good. The question that comes up is why they do not make the specialized uninstaller the default one.

AVG Remover has been specifically designed to remove the antivirus software program AVG Antivirus from a computer system. It will remove all parts of the AVG installation from a computer system including all Registry settings and files on disk. The program has been designed by AVG software developers as a last resort. They let us know that the AVG Remover tool “is the least option to be used in case the AVG uninstallation / repair installation process has failed repeatedly”.

The software program could therefor prove to be useful to remove AVG after a system crash or some other catastrophe that rendered the default uninstaller useless.

Similar tools exist for Kaspersky software in the form of KAV Remover and the Norton Removal Tool.

Tags: antivirus, avg, avg remover, kaspersky, kav remover, norton, norton removal tool, norton uninstaller, symantec

McAfee Consumer Product Removal Tool

Martin — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:30:37 +0000

I always used to shy away from companies that provided customers with tools to completely remove their products from a computer system. Two notorious companies that provide those tools are Symantec / Norton with their Norton Removal Tool and McAfee with their Consumer Product Removal Tool. These tools are indispensable when removing Norton or McAfee software products from a computer system.

The last time I used one was when I bought a new laptop which had all kinds of trialware installed. The McAfee Consumer Product Removal Tool removes all 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 versions of McAfee consumer products including trial versions.

The tool works on all Windows NT systems including Windows XP and Windows Vista. The interesting aspect is that McAfee recommends to remove the product from the Remove Programs option in Windows before running the cleanup tool.

After removing the McAfee product from the Remove Programs option in Windows the McAfee Consumer Product Removal Tool has to be used to remove any files, folders and Registry keys that have not been removed by the default Windows uninstallation process.

Windows Vista users have to start MCPR.exe as administrators by right-clicking the file and selecting Run As Administrator from the menu.

If the cleanup fails a Cleanup Unsuccessful notification appears that provides access to a detailed log file. A simple text document that can be analyzed or send to McAfee support for further details.

Tags: cleanup, mcafee, MCPR.exe, symantec, uninstall mcafee, uninstall norton, Windows

Microsoft issues Windows XP Service Pack 3 Update Fix

Martin — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:01:44 +0000

User reports began to spread on the Internet who encountered a blank device manager and network connections after upgrading their Windows XP system to Service Pack 3. The problem was largely attributed to software that was monitoring the Registry for changes, many Symantec customers had problems with a feature called SymProtect that would cause the post-installation problems.

Symantec issued a patch on June 5th and Microsoft released a patch as well a few days ago that should solve the issue for users who are experiencing blank device managers and are missing networks in the network connections menu.

Users now have the choice to use the Microsoft patch or the Symantec fix to correct the issue. Using the Symantec fix however makes only sense if a Symantec product was installed on the system during the upgrade to Windows XP Service Pack 3.

Tags: microsoft, service pack 3, sp3, symantec, windows-xp

Symantec Registry Fix for Windows XP Service Pack 3

Martin — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:34:25 +0000

Users with a recent Symantec product faced several problems after updating their computer from Windows XP Service Pack 2 to the latest version, among them removed network connections, an empty device manager, unusable wireless connections and thousands of bogus Registry entries. This was apparently caused by the toolsymprotect, a part of many Symantec applications, that is protecting those applications against malware. It did that so well that it prevented the Windows XP installation routine from deleting temporary Registry keys which in turn caused the problems for the users.

Initially Symantec blaimed Microsoft solely but admitted that symprotect was involved as well. The tool SymRegFix.exe has been designed by Symantec to remove the bogus Registry entries and correct the errors that have been caused by them on the user’s system. The software has to be downloaded to the local computer and executed from there, it will fix the Registry automatically.

Symantec users who have not updated to Windows XP Service Pack 3 yet will be delighted to hear that Symantec added a solution to prevent the situation to live updates of their products. If the Symantec product is fully updated the problems will not arise and symprotect does not have to be disabled during Service Pack 3 installation.

Tags: service pack 3, symantec, symantec registry fix, symprotect, symregfix, windows-xp

Symantec: Disable SymProtect before upgrading to Windows XP SP3

Martin — Wed, 28 May 2008 10:40:46 +0000

If you are running the Symantec products Norton Internet Security 2008, Norton SystemWorks 2008, Norton 360 or Norton AntiVirus 2008 on a machine with Windows XP Service Pack 2 and want to upgrade to Service Pack 3 you should disable the SymProtect feature before doing so or your operating system could go kaboom. More precisely users would be left with an empty device manager and network connections window. This is apparently caused by a large number of bogus Registry keys starting with special characters that have been added to the Registry during the update.

Reese Anschultz, Sr. SQA Manager of Symantec Corporation, posted information on how to disable the SymProtect feature in all Symantec products in a support forum. Symantec is currently developing a tool to clean the Registry from those extraneous registry keys. Unfortunately no information were posted when the tool will be available but it will most likely be in the coming week.

The problem apparently spawns from the fact that the Microsoft tool fixccs.exe is adding temporary keys to the Windows XP Registry during the update which cannot be deleted due to the SymProtect protection which prevents changes to the Registry.

Below are the instructions on how to disable SymProtect on the various Symantec products.

To help prevent this issue from occurring, you should disable SymProtect prior to installing the Windows XP SP3 upgrade. This setting, in Norton Internet Security 2008 and Norton AntiVirus 2008, can be found within the Options page as “Turn on protection for Norton products.” In this case you should uncheck the box prior to the upgrade. After the upgrade is complete, please remember to re-enable this feature. It should be noted, however, that this workaround only addresses issues with Symantec products. You may still run into similar problems with other products affected by this XP SP3 upgrade issue.

For Norton SystemWorks 2008 you have to go to the Advanced Options UI that is under Settings. Next, click on “Norton SystemWorks Options” and select the General tab. Lastly, uncheck the box that says, “Turn on protection for my Symantec product”.

For Norton SystemWorks 2008 Premier you can use either the previous instructions or the Norton AntiVirus instructions.

What I don’t understand is that companies are always changing the location of the options and menus. That’s not user friendly. Microsoft for instance is always changing the location of the options in Internet Explorer.

Tags: service pack 3, symantec, symprotect, windows-xp

Norton Removal Tool

Martin — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 07:32:37 +0000

I have been using Norton products in the past and was always astonished how resource hungry those products were. They surely looked professional which was the main reason why I did install them but they slowed down the system and were really hard to remove from the system.

Norton Internet Security 2006 for instance slows down system start of the average pc by more than 40 seconds which is one of the reasons why I think that it is not worth it. A lot of great, resource friendly applications exist that can fully replace most Norton applications and I would recommend to make the switch.

The Norton Removal Tool is helpful because it can remove a failed installation or damaged Norton product from your system. I would even suggest to run this application after using the default uninstallation process just to make sure that all files and settings are gone as well.

A lot of computers and notebooks ship with (trial) versions of Symantec or Norton products as well and I would suggest to uninstall them as well using the described method.

Alternatives vary of course depending on the Norton product that you are using. I suppose the antivirus software is the most common one which can be replaced by AntiVir for instance. Just write a comment if you are looking for a recommendation for another product.

Tags: norton, norton alternatives, remove norton, symantec

gHacks technology news » symantec

How To Run Commercial Antivirus Software Without Paying For It

Related posts

Norton 360 Review

Related posts

Anti Virus Software Removal Tools Overview

Related posts

AVG Remover

Related posts

McAfee Consumer Product Removal Tool

Related posts

Microsoft issues Windows XP Service Pack 3 Update Fix

Related posts

Symantec Registry Fix for Windows XP Service Pack 3

Related posts

Symantec: Disable SymProtect before upgrading to Windows XP SP3

Related posts

Norton Removal Tool

Related posts