%$#%^%$ norton sucks

[RichP]

What a PIA that that internet security package is, trying to recover a clients win2k box and that #@$#@ norton blows it up every time...

[Ramsey]

would that be security pack 2? if so, it sucks ass. i reformatted after installing it

[casm]

would that be security pack 2? if so, it sucks ass. i reformatted after installing it

No, it's Norton's bundled not-quite-a-firewall, not-quite-an-IDS package that comes with Norton Antivirus. And yeah, it is a true PITA - every time I have to boot into Windows for something the first thing I do is disable it for that session.

Regarding SP2, if you did a format and reinstall of XP, please tell me you installed SP2 after the install - it really does fix a *lot* of things. Usually, When Service Pack Installs Go Bad (coming up next on Fox), it's a result of damage to the existing OS causing problems. On a clean system you shouldn't have any issues, and really should be running it.

[Ramsey]

guess i'll have to reinstall it. when i put it on mine the last time it gave it a world of hurt. well not really, but it was kind of annoying at times. since yall are in the know. what is a good anti-spyware program, htat is free. i have adaware and spybot but they dont seem to be to great, thanks

[casm]

guess i'll have to reinstall it. when i put it on mine the last time it gave it a world of hurt. well not really, but it was kind of annoying at times. since yall are in the know. what is a good anti-spyware program, htat is free. i have adaware and spybot but they dont seem to be to great, thanks

Adaware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/) and Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html) are both good first choices - just remember to update them regularly. Check out http://www.spywareinfo.com/ for a range of software as well as advice on how to remove spyware.

Also, and this bears repeating - don't use IE for browsing or Outlook / Outlook Express for email; they're the medium through which most of this crap gets installed in the first place. You already seemed to be pretty happy with Firefox (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/) for browsing, so I'd recommend sticking with that and using Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/) for your email. If you'd prefer an integrated suite, Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org/products/mozilla1.x/) would be a good fit - it's essentially what Firefox and Thunderbird are based on, but they are different packages.

Oh, and be sure to set them as your default browser and email clients... Nothing's worse than installing them, not setting them as the default, and having something pull up IE and quietly install away. That, regularly running Windows Update, and a good antivirus package (I like Norton; others may have different opinions) should keep you fairly well-secured.

[Glenn B]

Wierd. I have never had an issue with Outlook (not express)... But I guess a lot depends on the user.

But yeah, Norton sucks... even when it comes bundled with new systems, I remove that crap.

Adaware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/) and Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html) are both good first choices - just remember to update them regularly. Check out http://www.spywareinfo.com/ for a range of software as well as advice on how to remove spyware.

Also, and this bears repeating - don't use IE for browsing or Outlook / Outlook Express for email; they're the medium through which most of this crap gets installed in the first place. You already seemed to be pretty happy with Firefox (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/) for browsing, so I'd recommend sticking with that and using Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/) for your email. If you'd prefer an integrated suite, Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org/products/mozilla1.x/) would be a good fit - it's essentially what Firefox and Thunderbird are based on, but they are different packages.

Oh, and be sure to set them as your default browser and email clients... Nothing's worse than installing them, not setting them as the default, and having something pull up IE and quietly install away. That, regularly running Windows Update, and a good antivirus package (I like Norton; others may have different opinions) should keep you fairly well-secured.

[Ramsey]

got norton too. firefox is definetly my default now. f#$@ IE thanks for the link, gonna check that out. maybe i wont have to reformat again.

[casm]

One other thing I forgot to mention that can help keep spyware at bay: don't log on to the machine as administrator for day-to-day work - use that account only for installing software and running updates. Create a regular user (we'll call him 'ramsey' for consistency's sake) with a different password than the administrator account and log on as ramsey for your usual word processing, browsing, playing games, etc. type of stuff.

The reason for this is that when you're logged on as administrator, you're basically God as far as the system's concerned. Any software that you run has the same privileges that the person who is logged on has, so it makes spyware's job a thousand times easier to implant itself when you're in the admin account. As a regular user, it can't (usually) get quite as deeply-entrenched, if it can even install at all.

Oh, and don't neglect Office updates (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdate/default.aspx) - lots of people miss that one and it's a good way to let macro viruses spread.

[Ramsey]

once more thanks for hte new and exciting info