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Tags : Desktop Software, Microsoft Windows Phone Software

What Anti Virus Application do you Use?

Posted on 23 May 2007 by


Over at Smartphone Thoughts I posted about Symantec coming out with Norton like security software for Smartphones. While I think this is silly, it also made me remember how bloated and clumsy Norton had become. I have been using NOD32 on my PC’s for about a year and like it a lot. It is lean and you don’t even know it is there, until it finds something. So am am curious. What anti virus solution do you use and why do you like it? In addition, is anyone using anti virus software on a Pocket PC or a Smartphone?

This post was written by:

- who has written 18 posts on Gear Diary.

Jerry Raia is a full time Airline Captain when he is not playing with all the latest gadgets he can get his hands on. He is also a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI-AIM). His primary interests are with Smartphones and more recently, Photography. He was a Unix programmer in the 1980s and wrote assembly for HP proprietary handhelds like the HP71B. His interest in handheld devices led to being a beta tester for Windows CE (Pegasus), the first incarnation of the Windows Mobile operating system. He is also a Contributing Editor on Smartphone Thoughts. Jerry’s interest in handheld computing goes all the way back to the HP25 calculator that came out in the mid 1970s and was one of the first programmable calculators.

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  • http://www.magnusson.ca/blog.html Chris Magnusson

    I use OneCare. It’s awesome. When it kicks in to do a scan (not just an antivirus scan, but it also defrags, checks for temporary files, and a few other things) the only reason I know it’s running is because there’s an additional icon in the system tray. As for AV on mobile devices, I’d consider it but not from Symantec.

  • http://www.geardiary.com Judie Lipsett Hughes

    I’ve always used AVG Free, but I’ve recently been enjoying Windows Live One Care, courtesy of Jerry. Thanks hon. :-)

  • http://pocketnow.com Christopher Spera

    NAV or NIS (which incorporates NAV) I’ve also used McAfee, but only for a few months and that sucked.

    I don’t run AV software on my mobile devices because I haven’t seen anything yet that compells me to do so…

  • http://thtech.spaces.live.com Civisi

    I too use Windows OneCare Live on my XP desktop and my Vista tablet PC.

    My work laptop has McAfee, but that’s not my choice.

    I don’t have an AV solution on my RAZR :-) or IPAQ. Don’t need one, either.

    Something that home users should check out is Blink from eEye security. http://www.eeye.com/html/products/blink/personal/index.html

  • http://www.geardiary.com Allen Hong

    Nokia Communicators have had the Symantec Security Suite software since 2004. I use it on my Nokia 9500 and admit that I usually only have the firewall portion enabled. The resident anti-virus monitor seems to noticeably slow down the device.

  • Lex

    I love the opportunity to share how Norton stopped supporting and providing online updates to my -two- separate licensed copies of NAV /before the subscription had expired\. Their support could have cared less and offered no recourse. I was incredulous, and I can barely spell that word ! I’ve been a happy AVG Free user ever since and I’ll never use another Symantec product. (Other than that I’m having a good week. :-)

  • http://www.jaysjerseys.com blueshockey69

    I usually use Corporate NAV 10.1 on any PC, except for server setups that I have running at the house.

    Also, I have been testing the Norton Mobile Security Suite for the last 2 months almost, the new system does have its good points and bad points, granted I am only looking at this from business standpoint from a mobile security standpoint for handheld devices. The one thing I love about the corporate standpoint is a device management tool from Hades, from a corporate standpoint of course, this new suite does run better then the 4.0 version they had. Still some quirks though.

  • http://www.geardiary.com Mitchell Oke

    I think Norton went off the road after 2003. Norton Internet Security 2003 was the best version that they shipped, and subsequent versions just have gotten worse and worse.

  • Elo

    I agree with Mitchell. I was a big fan of Norton suite. NIS 2003 was great and I was waiting with anticipation the next installment thinking that it would be lighter on the resources and better. That day never came and after installing NIS 2004, I was so angry: it was worse than 2003 and such a hog. I installed AVG free and never looked back. AVG is still running on my XPS M170 notebook and on my Toshiba R400 Tablet PC.

    I don’t run an antivirus on my PPC yet.

  • Jerry Raia

    The strangest part of all of this is Symantec seems oblivious to it. Every new version is more bloated than the last.

  • http://www.geardiary.com Mitchell Oke

    Norton has become more of a resource hog than some viruses and spyware :P

  • http://www.magnusson.ca/blog.html Chris Magnusson

    There could probably be a phrase coined for Norton containing the terms “anti”, “antivirus”, and “virus”.