PC Security - Part 1: Adventures with Anti-Virus Apps This diatribe began life in 2006 and, as of this writing, is now being updated for 2010. I could start with newest material at the top, but the comments are sometimes more relevant if you read the newer comments in the context of what came before. © 2010 Tim Stevens PC SECURITY RELATED INFORMATION WORTH CHECKING OUT: NORTON'S AND MCAFEE'S PRODUCTS ARE WELL MARKETED, BUT DO YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR? Personal experiences (from 2006): McAfee (which includes its own adware) pushed an update that wrecked the machine it was on and, one week into using NIS2006, the machine had a virus due to the program's poor updating. These are examples of why the Big Two are not the best options. Before choosing a product, always research it and other available options. Read information from around the world, not just US publications. 2008 UPDATE: Norton 360 is less abusive of system resources than other Symantect/Norton products in recent memory, but only if you leave a number of the additional advertised features disabled (the default installation). So, can you even use everything you paid for without having to endure the significant impact to performance? In a test of 360 on my primary computer, the system froze during the installations of additional features - twice, necessitating complete removal and re-installation just to get the basics. Eventually, I took it off and put it on a machine I don't much care about. I was happy to go back to NOD32.