On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 10:36:54 -0500, in <alt.privacy.spyware>, "little
johnny" <missb93@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> I have some info on an AV program from Kaspersky. Does anyone here know
> anything about it? Is it reliable or is there something better out
> there.
[snip]

It has a fairly decent rep for catching new and/or obscure virii that some
of the others occasionally miss; but it's also a resource hog that has been
known to destabilize some of the systems its running on (mostly, but not
exclusively, older/slower systems).

There was also a major "falling out" between the (Swiss) developer and the
(U.S.) distributor a few years back, which eventually resulted in several
VERY different products being offered under the same/similar names by the
various entites. IIRC (it's been awhile), the U.S.-sourced versions were
pure crap in several ways. Not sure if they're even still around.

> I have always used Norton but we just got a new puter and would like to
> get away from all the extra Norton has.
>
[snip]

While Symantec is sort'a on my s__t-list now after dipping their toe into
the "invasive DRM" arena, it *is* possible to install at least some versions
of NAV in a "safe and stable" manner. The key thing to remember is that the
scanning engine itself has not changed in several years; so you DO NOT need
the "latest and greatest" marketing-driven "version update" to get full
protection; you just need the current definitions files, which remain freely
downloadable from
<http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/download/pages/US-N95.html> (if/when that
URL goes away, so does NAV, AFAIAC).

So the upshot here is, since you apparently already own a semi-recent copy
of NAV (anything from v5.0 up will do; tho' v6.x and later have a couple of
features which make them mildly preferable), you can safely use that on the
new box _provided_that_ you install it correctly -- and you'd still not be
putting money into Symantec's pocket.

OTOH, if you (quite understandably) still want a non-Symantec alternative,
you might want to check out <http://www.avast.com/>. I've not (yet) used
it; but I've heard good things from folks whose judgement is generally
pretty good.

--

Jay T. Blocksom
--------------------------------
Appropriate Technology, Inc.
usenet01[at]appropriate-tech.net


"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.

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