Author Topic: Whats a good Norton replacement for Windows 8.1 (Read 16121 times)

rum · « **Reply #15 on:** December 04, 2015, 09:09:08 AM »

Microsoft Security Essentials is free and no pop-ups. AVG isn't open source (ClamWin is), they just have a free edition.

Mithrandylan · « **Reply #16 on:** December 04, 2015, 11:09:42 AM »

Quote from: MariaCatherine

Do you suppose they'll leave my father alone if he has a paid subscription? If so, then it would be worth it.

Hehe, he *really* doesn't want pop ups, does he?

I'd assume that with a paid subscription yes, there'd be no regular popups. Except when he's up for renewal.

MariaCatherine · « **Reply #17 on:** December 04, 2015, 12:05:19 PM »

Quote from: rum

Microsoft Security Essentials is free and no pop-ups. AVG isn't open source (ClamWin is), they just have a free edition.

He has Microsoft Security Essentials and I'm trying to liberate him from that as well as Norton.

Do MSE and Norton work just as well alone, or do they work better together?

Quote from: Mithrandylan

Hehe, he *really* doesn't want pop ups, does he?

I'd assume that with a paid subscription yes, there'd be no regular popups. Except when he's up for renewal.

We just want whatever works best and stays well in the background. I think I'll go with a paid subscription since they're about half of what he's paying now.

rum · « **Reply #18 on:** December 04, 2015, 03:12:33 PM »

What's the matter with MSE? It's all you need. Just uninstall Norton. If you want to get rid of Norton completely, and not leave any traces behind, this is good for that: http://www.glarysoft.com/absolute-uninstaller/

I haven't used Windows in a while, but I remember having to use that program to remove all traces of programs that leave a lot of crap behind after they're uninstalled using the less robust Windows uninstaller.

Stubborn · « **Reply #19 on:** December 04, 2015, 04:19:53 PM »

Quote from: MariaCatherine

Would you reccomend both AVG and Webroot? Shouldn't one or the other be enough?

Only one. If I were going to pay for either, I pick webroot because I've had it for 3 years now and am ready to renew for another year - I like it. So imo, if you're going to pay for one, pay for webroot. . It works excellent and has zero pop ups.

MariaCatherine · « **Reply #20 on:** December 04, 2015, 07:49:17 PM »

Quote from: rum

What's the matter with MSE? It's all you need. Just uninstall Norton. If you want to get rid of Norton completely, and not leave any traces behind, this is good for that: http://www.glarysoft.com/absolute-uninstaller/

I haven't used Windows in a while, but I remember having to use that program to remove all traces of programs that leave a lot of crap behind after they're uninstalled using the less robust Windows uninstaller.

Thanks for that link.

The computer had a nasty virus once, that neither MSE nor Norton detected, never mind fixed. Junkware Removal Tool got rid of it.

Mithrandylan · « **Reply #21 on:** December 17, 2015, 01:24:41 AM »

After my recommendations, need to add a word of warning.

I've been having trouble with my hard-drive lately-- as in, I've been running out of space, and FAST. I have a Tb (931 useable space) and really don't do much-- a few games, docuмents, PDFs. Between my wife and I, at any given time I'd ballpark us at around ~300GB combined.

But over the last month, I've found myself with less and less space-- the other night, there was less than 10GB left on the C drive. How?! I went through and deleted as much as I could, maybe 75GB. Still couldn't figure out what was taking up all the space.

Tonight, I checked my disk space-- and there was NONE. Not a single byte. A few minutes later, 18MB. Then 6MB. So I hit google and started researching this phenomenon of disappearing space. Lots of support articles later, and still no resolution. Most of what I found were people who'd lost less than 50GB, immediately on the heels of a Windows update. And in my case, we're talking a missing 600GB+ of space.

So I went through all of my folders and took notes about how much space was taken up. On my profile, about 150GB.

Then I went to my wife's profile, and found that the users folder was taking up a remarkable 750GB. I dove into the folder and after quite a bit of searching, discovered an AVG Web Tune Up Folder... it was 630GB. It was in users>username>appdata>local>packages>windows_ie_ac_001 (appdata is hidden by default).

I honestly haven't the slightest clue what "AVG Web Tune Up" *does*, or how it's different than just AVG (evidently, both are installed). But the amount of space it was taking up was simply ridiculous, and inexplicable. Not sure why it was only on my wife's profile and not mine, either. But I just finished uninstalling every trace of AVG from my computer, and am about to delete this monstrous folder.

I've never had an issue with AVG until this. I don't know how it happened, but in case anyone on the internet ever runs into the same issue-- there you are.

Stubborn · « **Reply #22 on:** December 17, 2015, 05:08:10 AM »

Quote from: Mithrandylan

After my recommendations, need to add a word of warning.

I've been having trouble with my hard-drive lately-- as in, I've been running out of space, and FAST. I have a Tb (931 useable space) and really don't do much-- a few games, docuмents, PDFs. Between my wife and I, at any given time I'd ballpark us at around ~300GB combined.

But over the last month, I've found myself with less and less space-- the other night, there was less than 10GB left on the C drive. How?! I went through and deleted as much as I could, maybe 75GB. Still couldn't figure out what was taking up all the space.

Tonight, I checked my disk space-- and there was NONE. Not a single byte. A few minutes later, 18MB. Then 6MB. So I hit google and started researching this phenomenon of disappearing space. Lots of support articles later, and still no resolution. Most of what I found were people who'd lost less than 50GB, immediately on the heels of a Windows update. And in my case, we're talking a missing 600GB+ of space.

So I went through all of my folders and took notes about how much space was taken up. On my profile, about 150GB.

Then I went to my wife's profile, and found that the users folder was taking up a remarkable 750GB. I dove into the folder and after quite a bit of searching, discovered an AVG Web Tune Up Folder... it was 630GB. It was in users>username>appdata>local>packages>windows_ie_ac_001 (appdata is hidden by default).

I honestly haven't the slightest clue what "AVG Web Tune Up" *does*, or how it's different than just AVG (evidently, both are installed). But the amount of space it was taking up was simply ridiculous, and inexplicable. Not sure why it was only on my wife's profile and not mine, either. But I just finished uninstalling every trace of AVG from my computer, and am about to delete this monstrous folder.

I've never had an issue with AVG until this. I don't know how it happened, but in case anyone on the internet ever runs into the same issue-- there you are.

That's insane but good to know. Must be something new with AVG.

I just extended my subscription to webroot for $29.00 for the next year and I just checked the folder size, it's only 1.37mb.

McCork · « **Reply #23 on:** December 27, 2015, 09:00:32 AM »

Quote from: Mithrandylan

After my recommendations, need to add a word of warning.

I've been having trouble with my hard-drive lately-- as in, I've been running out of space, and FAST. I have a Tb (931 useable space) and really don't do much-- a few games, docuмents, PDFs. Between my wife and I, at any given time I'd ballpark us at around ~300GB combined.

But over the last month, I've found myself with less and less space-- the other night, there was less than 10GB left on the C drive. How?! I went through and deleted as much as I could, maybe 75GB. Still couldn't figure out what was taking up all the space.

Tonight, I checked my disk space-- and there was NONE. Not a single byte. A few minutes later, 18MB. Then 6MB. So I hit google and started researching this phenomenon of disappearing space. Lots of support articles later, and still no resolution. Most of what I found were people who'd lost less than 50GB, immediately on the heels of a Windows update. And in my case, we're talking a missing 600GB+ of space.

So I went through all of my folders and took notes about how much space was taken up. On my profile, about 150GB.

Then I went to my wife's profile, and found that the users folder was taking up a remarkable 750GB. I dove into the folder and after quite a bit of searching, discovered an AVG Web Tune Up Folder... it was 630GB. It was in users>username>appdata>local>packages>windows_ie_ac_001 (appdata is hidden by default).

I honestly haven't the slightest clue what "AVG Web Tune Up" *does*, or how it's different than just AVG (evidently, both are installed). But the amount of space it was taking up was simply ridiculous, and inexplicable. Not sure why it was only on my wife's profile and not mine, either. But I just finished uninstalling every trace of AVG from my computer, and am about to delete this monstrous folder.

I've never had an issue with AVG until this. I don't know how it happened, but in case anyone on the internet ever runs into the same issue-- there you are.

Avast is a great free alternative to AVG. I have never had a problem with it.

However, best to just move away from Microsoft and go to Linux.