Norton 360 due for renewal should I
 

Hi

My Norton 360 is due in 14days to be renewed is there something better cheaper or not that maybe I should be using on windows Xp using firefox and Eudora

Cheers

Jxc

Anything! In my experience, that is. There are plenty of free AV programs, all listed in the useful free software thread. However, I use Kaspersky which seems good and doesn't slow either XP or Vista noticeably.

I gave up on Norton AV after many years of trouble free use when it got too clever by half as well as slowing the machine down. I now use a paid for version of AVG.
I do have Norton Save and Restore, have had to use it once for real and it worked perfectly.

ZoneAlarm and Avast have worked well for me for years and cost me nothing.

BitDefender, all day. The real-time protection is the best. Lots of features, and very configurable to your own needs. Can be had on a 30 day trial, and not too expensive to buy afterwards, including cover for up to three computers. Doesn't hamper the system at all either. Read up on it.

Depends a bit on how involved you want to be in your computers security. Norton 360 (as implied by the name) claims to pretty much take care of everything. It is also a bit bloated and slow in my opinion. I'm pretty much put off by Norton, especially since finding a real good alternative at the right price, but have read good reports about all the 2009 offerings, as being much less bloated and system resource hungry.
Some names with good reputations to throw out there (not all contain the "suite-style" applications, like firewall/antispy) include Avast, Avira, Bit Defender,Bullguard, Eset (NOD 32), F-Prot, F-secure,Kaspersky, and there are plenty of others.
Any reputable AV should have a trial period. Usually between 15 and 60 days. Whatever you get, try before you buy. You have to be able to understand it, get help when needed, know if it needs a different configuration, will work when gaming etc, and after you've forked the dosh over is not a good time to discover some significant shortfall.

Kaspersky anti-virus suits me and has done for 15 years. Try it free from their website.

Antivirus Software & Internet Security - Kaspersky Lab

If Norton 360 hasn't given you any problems in the past, why not keep it? It's not the same beast as in the past.

Overdrive

Is that the same BitDefender who have gotten into the habit of kinda posting subscribers' personal details on their site? It's happened twice recently so I wouldn't be keen on them!

As far as the software goes, I am happy with Avira AV, Comodo Firewall and I've started using Malwarebytes Anti-Spyware. All 100% free, non-bloatware software which is a piece of pee to remove if you decide to change your mind, unlike Norton. Also, the stuff I use was rated higher than things like Norton, etc, for detection/protection so I think it's the better option

I do notice my pc takes forever to load up when turned on is that probably norton ?

i do have a problem that norton wont work the firefox 3

Could be, could also be related to the number of items set to start with Windows, how much junk is installed on the PC, how mauch RAM it has, and the operating system.
Norton is a high-suspect item in this regard.
What do you mean by the second question?

I download the new firefox 3 and I don't think it is compatable with norton 360 as everytime I start firefox it open then close

I've used Norton for years and never had any problems even running firefox.

If you do decide to renew it don't do it by Norton's online renew. Do a search on amazon and play etc. and you can usually find upgrade software a lot cheaper than Norton sell it for.

I think you might have other and possibly quite unrelated problems.
This is not usually a symptom of a Norton problem, AFAIK.

Really? ULP!

I didn't know of that; tell me more. I'm off to check the website!

I can't argue with the performance of the product though.

Norton used to cause probs for me on early versions of windows but since a changed to XP for the PC and Vista for the lap top all has been fine. As I use BT internet its also free.
Any slow boot up times I resolve by hibernating, just doing a full shut down once a week.

Just a quick word of warning on hibernating.......

When your working on your pc the longer your on the more fragmented your memory will get.

Simple way to look at is when you use 100k ram and then release it when your program shuts down your next program looking for 200k will use the next contiguous block until all contiguous blocks are utilised and then it will fill the gaps.

When you hibernate - it copies the memory verbatim and loads it back up verbatim - thats why its so quick. You will still be left with the fragmented memory.

I am pointing this out not as a problem but the longer you do it the more performance degradation you will experience.

btw - norton 360 I use and I dont see any performance hit and it does not nag like others. I personally will renew mine, it does what it says on the tin with no intervention.

Anti Virus
 

I have tried most of them in my time.
For the past year I have had Kaspersky Internet Security installed no problems at all,light on resources etc.
Hope this helps.

I had Norton on my laptop and after a certain period after it expired and I was getting pop-ups every couple of minutes from it.

Couldn't remove it from the add/remove (as it isn't all listed there) so had to download a program to remove it then decided to go AVG free which so far so good.

I have McFee on my desktop which, every time I start, pops up a box about renewal. This seems to be because after the trial period I purchased a lesser version.