For several years, Office Suites PLUS had been standardized on Symantec for their virus protection needs. Then two years ago, another leading anti-virus software provider offered a special price incentive to switch to their enterprise product. But after only one year in use, Beauchamp’s overall experience with the product was less than positive.
“We had workstations that were getting infected even though they were running a managed, enterprise product,” he recalls. “What started happening is that every time a computer started acting crazy, my network administrator would download the Free version of AVG, clean the system, remove AVG, and reinstall our enterprise product.” (Emphasis added.)MUCH MORE
Working in the IT industry has been easier using a multitude of Norton Diagnostic tools. I don’t know what happened to their lead in the anti-virus industry, but at this time, AVG beats Norton hands-down, and I’m not the only one who shares that opinion. Since I couldn’t reach Norton via regular email, I’m hoping they read this article and contact me to resolve the situation. I feel sure that Norton will work overtime to catch-up with their competitors, but that’s based on years of history with their company. Companies DO change - and I hope that’s not the case with Norton.
I was also surprised by being sent to so many departments when I called Symantec support. I supervised a team at Digital Equipment Corporation, and when a called was escalated from tier one to second level, that’s where it stayed until the issue was resolved or it was escalated to level three, the end of the line for call-in support. Symantec’s philosophy seemed to keep transferring me to a department that was attempting to charge my son for viruses that had already got past Norton’s defenses which I believe they were responsible for was their problem, not ours. If your home is protected by Orkin, and termites gain a foothold in your home, they will repair the damage at no cost to the homeowner. If a virus sneaks past Norton Anti-Virus, their current philosophy seems to be to generate revenue by claiming that no virus protection program is perfect, and occasionally a system can become infected before they have the time to change and update their virus database - all of which is true. While the above statement is true, Norton used to help when viruses got past their system, but now - perhaps because of the economy, Symantec seems more intent on generating revenue than taking care of “number one,” their customer base.
One question has always fascinated me; if a virus makes it through Norton’s Virus Protection program, and you call for support, how do they “fix” an infection that is not in the most recent update from Symantec? Is their update process so complex that it takes weeks to complete, or is it a fairly quick response to the multitude of viruses that course through the Internet on any given day? If it is a fairly quick process, which it should be, then how do their technicians fix a Trojan Horse or other viral infection if the company is unaware of its existence? HMMMM, maybe they are using the free version of AVG Software to correct what their company hasn’t seen fit to add to their virus database. (Heavy on the sarcasm…) What surprises me is that most anti-virus companies keep a close eye on each-other, making sure they haven’t missed something that another company has caught. Since AVG is a free program, I have to ask myself why the industry leader in virus protection can’t even equal what is offered for free?
In this age of identity theft and massive hacking. purchasing a virus protection program that covers all of the bases without the consumer constantly having to make decisions is vital using the Internet when viruses are becoming more sophisticated and have the ability to cause severe financial damage to a family. Symantec has been one of the leaders in the anti-virus arena for years. Let’s hope that they get the wake-up call and make their money the old fashioned way - by providing their customers with the best virus protection available; until then, it might be time to look at another company when it’s time to pay your annual fees.
I haven’t written a software review in years, and when I evaluate a new piece of software it is based on months of use and it’s ability to work as advertised. I look for ease of customer use, reliability, and keep a careful eye on how often the program updates itself - which is often. Viruses and Trojan Horses can often cause problems at our banks and other sensitive areas, and in this age of identity theft, an anti-virus program would be ideal if it included all of those components coupled with a firewall that actually works. The incident with my son substantiated my belief that Norton Anti-virus was missing too many viruses and I believed it would serve the public interest to alert those who may not have adequate virus protection.
William Cormier
NOTE:
I use AVG Internet Security, and these are the features that come with the program:
Anti-Virus - Anti-Spyware - Anti-Spam - Firewall - Anti-Rootkit - System Tools - E-mail scanner - License - Link-Scanner - Web-Shield - Resident Shield - Update Manager
(In one of the above categories is the Identity-Theft Module.)
AVG isn’t the only anti-virus software out there and I’m sure other companies perform just as well. From personal experience, any anti-virus program that incorporates a firewall worth its salt, there are usually a host of decisions the consumer has to make while surfing the Internet. I chose AVG because it operates in the background, and even during the time that my Son’s infected system was connected to my network, I came out of the situation unscathed except for the charges on my bank account.
If you’re running Norton Anti-Virus, the time it takes to install AVG Free Edition and scan your system could improve the speed of your system and potentially, heal a trojan horse or virus that could lead to identity theft. For the consumer, it’s a win-win situation.
If you have a question, I can be reached at wjcormier@windstream.net .
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