I switched to AVG Antivirus last month, and i am very satisfied with it.
i was since years with Norton, but it was heavy on my machine, AVG is much faster (faster = the machine run faster)
 
AVG is at http://www.grisoft.com/

In the past I would agree that Norton AntiVirus was a CPU hog, but I haven't noted that as a problem since I had 450MHZ or higher CPU. The task of auto-protection no longer requires such a large fraction of a CPU regardless of whose program we're talking about. That being said I think getting Norton SystemWorks Pro 2003 with NAV included for 10 bucks including shipping is the way to go. Sure you'll have to buy 2004 in a year for 10-15 (Since NAV only offers free signatures for 1 year after the date of purchase), but heh why not I've done the same thing since SystemWorks 2001 and their product line keeps getting better and better.
 
Buy Norton SystemWorks 2003 using PriceWatch
http://castle.pricewatch.com/search/sear...mp;mi=N&m=N
 
You can also get the same price using Half.com, whatever you prefer. I'd rather go with an online store than wait for a home user to ship .
Cheers,
Christian Blackburn

well NOD32 worked well for me as did Avast4 pro. For some reason I like Avast 4 pro better but it seems to really slow my system down more than NOD32 does when I have the resident scanner on. Can anyone else confirm this?

Hello. A word about antivirus software. There is a very good reason why some antivirus apps are CPU hogs and others aren't. Antivirus software is supposed to scan files for viruses. This scanning is an application like every other app, with a big difference: AV 'touches' every file, scans it and releases it. It is completely normal that this action slows your machine down, I'd say it's abnormal if it doesn't. But your machine has to stay workable, of course. If it's getting too slow when AV is running, you should consider buying a new pc...
 
Some antivirus manufacturers choose to scan for all possible viruses, others choose to scan for generic viruses or for virus families. The latter slows your pc down less than the former, but in my opinion the first is more secure (my experience has proven me right on this one).
 
And to call names: though they're not the cheapest, Norton and McAfee are still the most popular AV choices, and there's a good reason for that.
 
I would NEVER install some free AV on my pc.

pr-man -
 
Haven't you asked this question before?

pccilling 2003 mt uncle uses and it is fast and efficient and works great
 
 
Also if antivirus slows down my system ona p4 2.4 - then i think there is an issue with the program,
 
 
i use symanten copr 8.01 and i have it on highest heuristic - scan,create ,modify files it scans it and i show NO slow down - how ever i had 2004PRO norton - and it just stank!
 

Quote:And to call names: though they're not the cheapest, Norton and McAfee are still the most popular AV choices, and there's a good reason for that.

 
So their is a good reason why Intel is in more computers then AMD? Even though AMD new CPu's are better then intel in many cases.....?
 
has little to do with whether it is a good product or not now-a-days - it is all about marketing and making deals with other companies.