My father has crossed a line. Options

[Centron]

I had recently lost my computer again to a virus and had to reformat and losse all my stuff and games and downloads. I've lost my maps, designs and all mods for a varity of games +24gigs. I've had my friend reformat and fix it for me and instal avast. Now recently my dad found off and he went absolutely insane and threatened to take away my computer if I didn't instal Norton. He also bagged my friend for knowing nothing and Avast as being absolute trash. I absolutely am at a end wioth my dad, any suggestions of help.

[Wi-Ta]

First let him cool down.
Then try to speak with him again.

Some background info on your dad would be nice.
How versatile is he with computers?

[Centron]

First let him cool down.
Then try to speak with him again.

Some background info on your dad would be nice.
How versatile is he with computers?

My dad is a Accountant at TNT airfreight in Australia. He works with computers and believe Norton is the only good anti virus program out there and can be quite violent as he use to scream at me and my brother when we were young. Not easily convinced.

This post has been edited by Centric: 6 Oct 2009, 15:13

[Wi-Ta]

Do you have problems with Norton?
Will he pay you Norton?
Maybe you can try to get him on your side if you ask for his help.
See this is hard for me to give you an advise because i do not now him.
But being self a father i would help my son if he ask.
The virus you did have (i presume this was brand new) even Norton would not have find this one (you have to check this).
If Norton would not have find this one ask for his advise what to do then.
Maybe he will think this over and you both find a solution together.
Again i do not now you father and i do not now also if this works for you and your dad.

I hope this helps you.

[Centron]

Do you have problems with Norton?
Will he pay you Norton?
Maybe you can try to get him on your side if you ask for his help.
See this is hard for me to give you an advise because i do not now him.
But being self a father i would help my son if he ask.
The virus you did have (i presume this was brand new) even Norton would not have find this one (you have to check this).
If Norton would not have find this one ask for his advise what to do then.
Maybe he will think this over and you both find a solution together.
Again i do not now you father and i do not now also if this works for you and your dad.

I hope this helps you.

I find Norton a waste as its quite rubbish in my view and I currently have access to free online ones that just as good such as avast which I've already installed any my friend told me to get(He built my computer) and was absolutely offended by what I told him about what my dad said about him and avast. He did say he would pay for a subscription but I rather not have him waste money for something I don't wont.

[NergiZed]

If he'se gonna pay for a subscription, get Kaspersky or Bit Defender. But lord, avoid Norton and Mcaffee at all costs, those things are such big resource hogs, and the way they protect is mainly by either blocking, or asking if you want to use it or not. The scans take soooo long, which is OK if you're a sub 500 G user, but for me, whom has already ventured into the realm of dual terebytes, the scans just take way too long.

Personally, Avast is completely fine by by. If I have Avast and I wipe my comp every 6 to 12 months and keep all the software and hardware in tip-top shape, I have absolutely no issues.

Although, I don't think this is a virus problem; this is more of a backup problem; you should've bought an external and backed up your most important stuff. You can get a 30G drive for cheap, and you can back up your stuff every now and then.

This post has been edited by NergiZed: 6 Oct 2009, 19:42

[Alias]

[Nameless1]

I can see where your dads coming from you did loose all your stuff to a virus and a rather nasty one at that he doesn't want a repeat of that happening, but both Norton And Mcaffee are what i like to call good viruses. they help get rid of some nasty virus but in the end they are so unhelpful that they end up acting like viruses in the first place, slowing your machine down, not letting you install things correctly, removing perfectly good files because have been flagged as viruses. (ive had my OS stop working due to this on a fresh install hadn't even plugged into the net yet.)

My recommendation is that if someone is prepared to pay for a subscription then go for Eset, Kaspersky or Bit Defender. However if you just want some free anti virus programs then go with Avast,AVG or AntiVir. If your going free software then you should also get some anti spyware like AVG Snti Spyware, Ad Aware or Spybot Search and Destroy and anti Malware like Malware Bytes Anti Malware as well. IMO some of the free anti virus find some that the paid for one dont thats why as a pc technician i use almost all that i have mentioned as a group for virus removal.

Links to the free programs:
Anti Spyware and Malware
Anti Virus

And as NergiZed said get a backup system in place. Dont backup anything that can be easily replaced like games and installed programs, only back up what cant be replaced like pictures, videos and the most important of all, saved game files.

Hopefully you can get your dad to listen to all the great advice in this topic and prevent these things from happening in the future.

[RaiDK]

Find a source which says Avast > Norton to convince him?

[C.o.m.m.a.n.d.e....]

Norton IS a virus

[Frostyarmy]

ive have nortan for years but i didnt have Many problems except , it detects viruses it doesn't do Shit to them but just say you have one and when it trys to remove it it doesn't remove repops with the Warning sign for quite awhile getting you to personaly remove the virus your self which is a hassle

[Shiro]

I use AntiVir and I am quite satisfied with it. Try to convince your father to check this one out (as it is free) before demanding you to use Norton.

[beefJeRKy]

Norton works by slowing your system down to keep the virus in check similar to how you body creates an inflammation when you have an infection. Avast and Avira use better heuristics to hunt and lock away virii.

[NergiZed]

Norton works by slowing your system down to keep the virus in check similar to how you body creates an inflammation when you have an infection. Avast and Avira use better heuristics to hunt and lock away virii.

Wow, somebody busted out the word 'Virii'; that word is so rarely used that my spell checker marked it as an incorrect word.

In fact, it's so unused that it doesn't even appear in Dictionary.com. I like how Urban Dictionary put it though.

This post has been edited by NergiZed: 7 Oct 2009, 21:30

[beefJeRKy]

I feel special when I use it

[partyzanPaulZy]

Every time I go to some heavilly infected webpage, Avast! warns me and blocks it (maybe you can show him ).

Avast! + HijackThis + Ad-Aware are effective combo

However older (wo)man gets, more cautious (or even scared) of new things is.


Maybe your father mistook Avast! with AVG, which is weaker than Avast! (in some version it was crappy AV).

Both starts on av, both are from Czech Republic...


From paid AVs I would recommend NOD32 or Kaspersky.


BTW, google helped me to find these pages about Avast:
http://www.avast.com/eng/search.php?search...amp;x=0&y=0

Well, Avast! or Avira are better than Norton even in quality... Avast! was also one of the fastest...
http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparative...iews/main-tests

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avast!

http://freebies.about.com/od/securityfreeb...t-antivirus.htm


etc., etc.

[wb21]

I use Avast!, Trojan Remover, and WinRAR (to find, rename and delete any hidden malfiles), just make sure that he's really convinced to use better anti-virus programs...

PS: I just had a quick seminar about viruses and taking them out differrent ways in college earlier this afternoon Philippine time...

[Сергеј Иванович]

Well i use AVG 8.5 cause it's very simple than avast!.Additionally ,I use Trojan Hunter and WinRAR which is also good combo. For paid AV's , i agree on top for Nod32.

[wb21]

Yahoo! uses Norton to scan its e-mail for viruses, worms, blablabla... So far I don't find any issues there.

[Shiro]

Just because you think so, does not mean you are, in this case 'safe from viruses.' Most virus programs do not just destroy stuff, they act as spies after all as well.

[wb21]

I'm referring to Yahoo!'s AV [Norton] provider, if it also has issues similar to an installed one, e.g., anti-virus interference, system performance, bandwidth consumption, etc. But it won't really protect you from viruses, however.

Most virus programs do not just destroy stuff, they act as spies after all as well.

Hence the term "spyware".

On our seminar, we were advised to use the older Yahoo! Mail page instead of the new one, as the latter previews messages which could be used by viruses to their advantages.

This post has been edited by D' WRTHBRNGR: 11 Oct 2009, 15:19

[wb21]

Hence the term "spyware".

No pun intended.

Anyway, I've read in the magazine ads and reviews that Norton 2009's has good speed, performance, and features, a "far cry" from its usual problems, albeit has limited tech support so it's a hard time having a 'who-ya-gonna-call' when you need help. Is this really true, or simply deceit? If it's the former, and both like it, then go for Norton '09. I hope that both camps (Centric and his dad) have finally reconcilled in this issue.