Oh Symantec ...

I see what you did there LOL

Symantec is just mad that nobody wants to pay for their crappy product anymore especially with all the good, free, options available.

I will agree that just an av is no longer ideal protection with all the new types of malware floating around these days.

 

Microsoft hammered the nail into anti virus software's coffin with Security Essentials IMO.

 

Correct me if my perception is not reality.
Hackers used to write viruses, they spread slowly enough that anti-virus precautions could be taken. Now malware hides better, spreads faster and through more avenues making the anti-virus paradigm obsolete.

 

Why can't someone come up with an AV program that scans downloaded software, toolbars, etc. and recognizes/blocks the threat before the malware installs and the damage is done?

I clean or reformat between 12-15 infected PCs per week. About 75% of them have the same s**t such as PC Optimizer Pro, MoBo Genie and Conduit toolbars that piggyback on the installation of "free" software.

Version of Windows? Doesn't matter. I'm getting in a few Windows 8/8.1 PCs with these issues. In a worst possible case, the malware will block the "Reinstall Windows" option. Browser? Doesn't matter. Brand of AV software? Doesn't matter. I've seen malware installation get past every major one. By the time the AV software detects the issue after the install is completed the damage has already been done.

Seriously. How hard would it be to develop and update a database of known malicious programs/websites that blocks (or at least warns) users that what they're about to install is bad news?

Those of us posting in this thread likely know enough and use common sense to avoid these issues. Novice users don't. If an AV software company wants to stay alive, this is the issue to address.

 

I'm so glad my Dad now has an iMac; I never get any repair, help related phone calls from him anymore. I was kept busier with his Win 7 laptop.

 

When I got into computers (seems like it was just after the Civil War) my first AV software was Symantec (Norton Antivirus) and I loved it . . . then over a few years it became more and more bloated and had a bigger footprint on my computer. When they started charging an arm and a leg for virus updates I'd had it. Went with Avast and never looked back.

They just can't keep up with all the new net-nasties that are floating around . . . and it's more and more important for the "software" in front of the keyboard to modify the way they surf on the internet, instead of just blind reliance on any security program.

 

I don't get malware infections. My router does, apparently.

 

As far as I can remember reading an article was that drive-by's are the thing to be mostly concerned about.