Is Norton Antivirus necessary?

probably nothing is 100% malware proof other than not turning on your machine

Hey Husker,
Not looking for 100%. Just don't want a lot of redundant programming eating up space. Guess I was wondering if anyone discovered they could get by without Norton and not subject themselves to unnecessary risk.

On the computer I'm using right now we use AVG free addition and on this pc I make my kids also use firefox browser

no pop3 email onlt webbased "Y, MSN, or Gmail"
these are family kid rules

Glad we were able to help you, and welcome to A2K. An antivirus by itself should not be relied on to protect you from yuckware; while some do offer some adware/spyware protection, that's not their primary focus. Any of the major antivirus apps, properly configured, updated, and deployed, will serve most folks perfectly well most of the time, but none are, or can be, "bullet proof". While its not a good idea to have more than one active, real-time antivirus running at one time, a "Second Opinion" antivirus, set up not to monitor and protect but to be available for on-demand scan, is a good idea. Most antivirus software doesn't play well with rival antivirus software, so if you don't know how and why and what to configure or alter to make two or more of them get along with one another, I recommend you don't even bother to try. The various free online virus scans from the major vendors serve most folks just fine for a "Second Opinion" - few folks ever will have much use for a resident 2cnd antivirus.


Antispyware/adware apps, such as Ad-Aware SE, Microsoft Antispyware, and Spybot S&D each have their own particular focus, and none will catch every single thing every time. Its a good idea to use a combination of them in tandem. I recommend Microsoft Antispyware for real-time protection, with Ad-Aware SE and Spybot S&D kept on hand for regular scans. Ad-Aware SE Free offers no real-time protection (it only scans and removes, on demand and essentially "after the fact"), Spybot S&D can be configured to provide protection of your registry, host file, browser and search settings, and some other stuff, though its "Teatimer" feature can be problematic with some folks's systems.

Short answer: both an antivirus and a team of anti-adware/antispyware apps are the way to go, IMO. I also think a properly configured, updated, and deployed firewall is a must, whether you're on dial-up or broadband. If you're on an "Always On" broadband connection without a firewall, you're damned near actively advertising for someone to come hit you.


And all that said, Norton is resource-hungry; it can and generally does render a performance hit on any system. MacAfee gets the same criticism. However, if you have a newer, relatively fast machine - 1,5 GHz or better, with plenty of RAM - 512 or better, neither Norton nor McAfee should be a really objectionable drag on your sustem unless you're really into multi-tasking.

Hi Husker,
Thanks for the feed. I will add it to my list of "set up" targets. Again, greatly appreciate your time and consideration

Hello again timberlandko
It was you who bailed me out of the ABI mess back in July. Thank you for the input on anti-malware resources. I will try to put together a worthy community of protection software ( most of which I acquired in July for your ABI fix) and keep Norton as my primary anti virus software( I did not get the impression you oppose this).
Again, thanks for the insight. I will try to use it well.