Solved Norton/Avast merger

So Norton have bought Avast: presumably, this means that there will no longer be a free version of Avast

To be totally honest this merger would have meant something to me at one time. However, the way that both of the companies have developed means that I am very unlikely to deal with either again. Avast is using tactics from the "wrong" side of the dividing line and although not as bad the same could apply to Norton.

If looking for free Virus and malware protection, this is available from a few good companies, as I still deal with some clients, and their data, I use a Pro Level Paid solution that includes Bitdefender Pro, and such things as a Hardware VPN (but mostly a good backup system as Data is the most important part of any business digital security system).

barman58 said:

Avast is using tactics from the "wrong" side of the dividing line and although not as bad the same could apply to Norton.

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Well, not recently, but they certainly have "been there, done that" on the wrong side of the line in their Symantec days.

Leopard ... spots .... ?

EDIT : Although their predatory marketing tactics still exist - requiring a credit card number to activate a product even though it was already been paid for. Then the installation process activates the auto renewal without telling the user what's going to happen in 12 months time ....

I've been using Bitdefender Internet Security (AV and Firewall), for 9 years.
I guess my only complaint would be that it does TOO much.
It has 13 modules and I only use the three is RED rectangular boxes.
There is a free version as well.






Free version (AV only)...

I don't feel comfortable with BitDefender being based in Romania. But that's just me.

Avast also own AVG so presumably that will get swallowed up in the Norton empire as well, won't be using any of them, strikes me that unfair competition might be involved with this.

The trouble these days is some of these AV companies add too much additional baggage that most of us don't need or want.

clam1952 said:

Avast also own AVG so presumably that will get swallowed up in the Norton empire as well, won't be using any of them, strikes me that unfair competition might be involved with this.

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The final nail in the coffin for Ccleaner .... good on its own > went bad when taken over by Avast/AVG > somewhat repaired its reputation > now taken over by Norton !!!

It's certainly a doomed product now.

With, potentially, the best of the "free" antiviruses about to be swallowed up - Good news for defender!

I wonder who works for free at the free antivirus to keep it updated and competitive?

davehc said:

With, potentially, the best of the "free" antiviruses about to be swallowed up - Good news for defender!

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Que ?? The word "best' should never be used in any sentence that also refers to Avast and/or AVG. Ineffective abominations.

clam1952 said:

Avast also own AVG so presumably that will get swallowed up in the Norton empire as well, won't be using any of them, strikes me that unfair competition might be involved with this.

The trouble these days is some of these AV companies add too much additional baggage that most of us don't need or want.

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How about ClamWin?

idgat said:

Que ?? The word "best' should never be used in any sentence that also refers to Avast and/or AVG. Ineffective abominations.

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Based on?? The AV test companies disagree...consistantly


A Guy

A Guy said:

Based on?? The AV test companies disagree...consistantly

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LOL Agreed - especially when the authors/owners/vested interests of those reporting web sites either have
- a close connection with the products that are consistently rated high
and/or
- no credentials to support the efficacy of any results presented

However, more independent and/or authorative reviews often have much significantly different and more realistic results.

idgat said:

However, more independent and/or authorative reviews often have much significantly different and more realistic results.

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Not disagreeing but care to share a link?

idgat said:

when the authors/owners/vested interests of those reporting web sites either have
- a close connection with the products that are consistently rated high

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What evidence is that claim based on?

Denis

barman58 said:

To be totally honest this merger would have meant something to me at one time. However, the way that both of the companies have developed means that I am very unlikely to deal with either again. Avast is using tactics from the "wrong" side of the dividing line and although not as bad the same could apply to Norton.

If looking for free Virus and malware protection, this is available from a few good companies, as I still deal with some clients, and their data, I use a Pro Level Paid solution that includes Bitdefender Pro, and such things as a Hardware VPN (but mostly a good backup system as Data is the most important part of any business digital security system).

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Many customers now use the cloud exclusively to provide their I.T infrastructure and desktops where laptops essentially logon to the cloud service. Things like Ms's AZURE already have almost military strength protection against mal / spyware etc.

With rising energy costs etc particularly for businesses maintaining an independent I.T infrastructure in smaller offices will just become uneconomic, even opening the office itself for 5 days a standard week and a decent commercial cloud service becomes more economically justifiable in every way. Many of these cloud service providers have their servers in places where energy costs are small or negligible e.g Iceland with virtually unlimited geothermal and hydro electic generation so there's no reason to think these costs will go up any time soon. Cloud servers also have decent backup systems, and much easier to set up for increasing remote working usage. Some data will always need to be held locally in case of network failure etc but around 95% of the work could be off loaded to the cloud.

@barman58 - could be interesting for you perhaps to recommend some of your clients looking at cloud possibilities. I think the economics have changed hugely in their favour. Most clients are always interested in saving money. !!!! Cloud servers can also be "OS" agnostic so it doesn't matter what computer or OS is used to access the infrastructure. I can logon to SAPs cloud HANA service from Linux or Windows without any issue at all, and it probably works with a Macbook too -- I don't have one though to test it with.

For domestic users, WD is based on the security system built into AZURE and comes with windows. At a domestic level there's no need for any extra security. Basically as above backup important data, be sensible with not storing personal info on social media sites and watch out for scams as these are far more likely to affect home users than corporate clients,

Cheers
jimbo

Try3 said:

What evidence is that claim based on?

Denis

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In the case of the example you selected, it's a very simple process to run a "whois" search on the URL of a review website, and even if a connection is not obvious, subsequent business searches reveal an obvious connection.

Comparison tests are usually totally rubbish as they can only be valid on the actual time they were taken. Any new threat can appear at any time - even during the running of the tests themselves so reading in some sort of magazine which presumably is selling things and may be sponsored by some of those companies whose products they are testing will probably have a biased view and certainly the data is about to be at least 6 weeks out of date before a reader sees it.

Cheers
jimbo

idgat said:

when the authors/owners/vested interests of those reporting web sites either have
- a close connection with the products that are consistently rated high

Click to expand...

What evidence is that claim based on?

idgat said:

In the case of the example you selected, it's a very simple process to run a "whois" search on the URL of a review website, and even if a connection is not obvious, subsequent business searches reveal an obvious connection.

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When I ask somebody for the evidence to back up their allegation & they tell me to search for it instead, I conclude that they just made it up.


Denis

If anybody is worried about AVAST being deprecated or charged for, I would like to suggest a good alternative. It is free and will never be charged for, and is built into Windows - it is called Defender.

...I did my research...

A Guy