Norton incompatible with AVG and Spybot S&D... Your Recommendations?

Hi all!

My subscriptions to Norton Internet Security firewall and its twin, NAV, expired a while back and I haven't have had the time to renew subscription by finding a nearby Symantec partner. The pesky alert came up and kept popping up every five seconds so I decided to check out the NIS 2006 Trialware (good for 15 days).

I downloaded the 43MB plus file and as I was installing it, NIS declared itself incompatible with AVG and Spybot S&D (that I regularly update and run alongside AdAware SE and Ewido). Ok, needing the firewall first and foremost, I went to to uninstall both, rebooted, after which it demanded that I also uninstall the previous (expired) version of NIS and NAV. Complied with that, and managed to successfully install NIS (with NAV and other blocker components) in my system.

My questions are:

a. Can anyone point me to any resource that would explain the incompatibility? I've searched symantec and grisoft and even googled it but can't find any explanation at all on why NIS should be incompatible with AVG and Spybot.

b. Can anyone recommend a robust firewall program that can be a possible option over NIS?

My OS is Windows XP SP2 and though it has a firewall, I've seen comments about its possible weaknesses, hence I don't want to rely on it 100% (but it is also enabled). I cannot, however, make do without any firewall at all as I won't and does not intend to be offline forever plus I can't prevent my kids from playing online games and other online activities while I'm out. I have, however, restricted usage to the extent that I will not allow any P2P programs installed--and for that matter, used.

Thanks in advance for the assists I know will be coming.

:D

Hi Goitz ,

Firstly, let me say that I am NOT a fan of Norton in a domestic/SOHO environment. It has progressively become big business orientated, and I speak as one who actually has v1.0 on 360KB 5.25" floppies :D

I actually agree with what they say, although I would argue slightly with how they phrase it. As a general rule it is not a good idea to have more than one application that does the same thing running interactively . There is bound to be a potential for conflict, and there will certainly be a performance degredation.

Norton are well aware of this, and of the fact that helpdesk calls cost them money, so they say "incompatible" when what they really mean is "not a good idea".

I am not aware of any specific "incompatibility" in my understanding of the word.

:)

EDIT: Sorry, forgot to recommend anything...............for AV try Avast! and AVG............for the past 18 months they actually run alongside eachother (not technically recommended, but it works ;) ) because they actually work rather differently at the moment.

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My subscriptions to Norton Internet Security firewall and its twin, NAV, expired a while back

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I see a conflict coming, since you didn't uninstall this version first.

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I downloaded the 43MB plus file and as I was installing it

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Oops. Didn't uninstall the old one first, as you should have.

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after which it demanded that I also uninstall the previous (expired) version of NIS and NAV

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Always uninstall an older version of these types of programs before installing the new one.

I would suggest you look at Eset's NOD32 as antivirus, email and browsing protection. The browsing protection is not a complete spyware program, it's not meant to be, so I would run Microsoft Defender Beta (FREE) also.
You could run AdAware PE and Spybot as you wish.

I would use the Windows Firewall in Sp2, because despite all the bruhaha about how possibly weak it is, it isn't!
I works very well for many uses.
I checked it out, ran scans and exploits against it and it stood the test.
I would not recommend Windows Firewall for a highly secretive corporate environment, but even for small businesses it works well.

If you absolutely need a software firewall that flags outbound connections, then you could try ZoneAlarm. Be warned, you will get lots of popups asking questions you have no idea how to answer. I don't recommend that product, I'd much rather recommend BlackICE PC Protection, which is about set and forget as it's going to get.

I do suggest your router (if you have one), to have an SPI firewall inside it. With that you should be just fine.

Antivirus apps have never played well with each other. The only AV app I've seen that would run side-by-side with another was AntiVir, and that was an older version than it currently being distributed. If you're going to switch AV apps, take out all the old ones first. Or just stay with AVG.

ZT3000 is absolutely correct about uninstalling the previous version of Nortons before installing the newer version. Symantec has an NAV removal tool you may need to completely remove it. Nortons really gets its hooks deep into Windows, which makes it tough to remove.

And, like ZT3000, I've tested Windows firewall, and though lacking in some regards, it does an excellent job of stealthing your computer. I use it on my XP laptop. You might find some add-ons at snapfiles.com that will give you logging and other features.

:D

Thank you, people, about the responses (so far). Right now, I've installed the NIS 2006 Trialware. Am still scouting around.

ZT, I'm a bit wary whenever I find the term "beta" attached to a program/software but I'll take a look at it and your other recommendations.

I do am concerned about outbound "call home" connections since some of these types are found in 1-hour demo games. Likewise, I need robust shield since I don't want anyone mucking around the contents of my HDDs (Heck! Even the technician whom I ask to do hardware troubleshooting must do house visit and under close observation.). I admit, I'm the "jealous type". I don't want anyone else tinkering with my files.

Cheers!

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ZT3000 is absolutely correct about uninstalling the previous version of Nortons before installing the newer version. Symantec has an NAV removal tool you may need to completely remove it. Nortons really gets its hooks deep into Windows, which makes it tough to remove.

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Yes, the Norton uninstaller is a load of crap, and this has been common knowledge in the industry for some time ;)

However, you do not need to uninstall 2004, 0r 2005 to install 2006. The 2006 product will actually do what is required for you, which is a great improvement.

If you have 2003 or earlier you must uninstall it first or you will hit all sorts of problems.

If you have another AV product you should uninstall this as well, to avoid conflicts.

You should be good to reinstall SpyBot S & D AFTER you have successfully installed Norton, but do not activate SpyBot's "Teatimer" as this is another interactive program and likely to cause conflicts.

Similarly, you should be able to load other AV products like AVG and Avast! but do not activate the interactive real time scanning. When you want to use them just manually update them, reboot into safe mode and run them.

;)

nihil,

Thanks for those "after" tips. I was already wondering if I should just let the trial period lapse first before I reinstall Spybot and AVG... Which leads to the next question (but I'll cross the bridge when I get there) on how to unhook NIS 2006 later.

Greeting's

Okay guys I want to make one thing very clear before anyone thinks I'm trying to get an endless argument going. I just want to know any other reason except the fact that norton is a system hog that makes it so bad for SOHO environment. I have seen that many major companies have shifted in last some years to different vendors away from symantec.

OK...................you asked:

1. Resource hog.
2. Incompatibility
3. Conflicts
4. Deadly embraces
5. Instability
6. Expensive
7. Crap/nonexistent support
8. Difficult to properly get rid of

Those issues are important to private and SOHO users because they are going to have to get someone to fix their box. They won't understand the problem let alone how to fix it. Small OEMs don't like it for that reason also...............we have to fix it at our expense.

I can understand corporates moving away from it as well. If you have properly implemented security policies it is probably too invasive. There is also the price consideration as well.

:)

Hi all,

This may, or may not help but I'm running the following systems with no problems or conflicts:

Only one Firewall per machine, and all hidden behind a NAT firewall on the wired/wireless gateway, all except 6 are patched and updated.

1. Win XP Pro SP2, AVG 7.1 Pro with Norton AV 2004 Pro, Zone Alarm Pro, PrevX home, CounterSpy, Spybot SD, Microsoft Antispyware.

2. Win XP Pro SP2, AVG 7.1 Pro with Norton Internet Security 2005, PrevX home, CounterSpy, Spybot SD, Lavasoft Adaware SE, Ashampoo, Microsoft Antispyware, Agnitum Tauscan 1.7, Spyware Killer, TDS-3.

3. Win XP Home SP2, AVG Free with Norton AV 2004 Pro, Zone Alarm Pro, PrevX home, CounterSpy, Microsoft Antispyware.

4. Win XP Home SP2, AVG Free with Norton AV 2004 Pro, Zone Alarm Pro, Microsoft Antispyware.

5. Win XP Pro SP2, Microsoft Antispyware.

6. Win 98SE, AVG Free.

None are allowed to update or run at the same time but all configurations are stable (shouldn't have said that ..........)

Hope it helps

T.W.

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Originally posted here by nihil
OK...................you asked:

1. Resource hog.
2. Incompatibility
3. Conflicts
4. Deadly embraces
5. Instability
6. Expensive
7. Crap/nonexistent support
8. Difficult to properly get rid of

Those issues are important to private and SOHO users because they are going to have to get someone to fix their box. They won't understand the problem let alone how to fix it. Small OEMs don't like it for that reason also...............we have to fix it at our expense.

I can understand corporates moving away from it as well. If you have properly implemented security policies it is probably too invasive. There is also the price consideration as well.

:)

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Brokencrow and Nihil said it best and gave top notch advice.

I'm not sure but to the list of Nihil I would add 9. Slows computer down horribly. Unless this was meant by Resource Hog (I was thinking of high memory usage).

Some people run Norton and say "Hey, it works well for me", so I respond "Try this test, completely uninstall Norton, then run thru your programs again, seems like a whole new machine doesn't it?" The response from the client usually is: As soon as it expires, I'm dumping this dog."

Realize that if Symantec made GREAT software, we'd tell you about it. But Symantec buys the software companies out, tries recoding it, relabels it, and sells it. There is only one product that I know Symantec didn't screw up and that was PC Anywhere.

While I remember, I have one old client and one new client both running Norton. Old client runs Norton Corporate with latest updates, the other runs Norton Internet Security 2005?.
Both of them got their computers and network severly infected, so I updated their Norton and rebooted and scanned and scanned and scanned. Norton comes back "Duh....there's nuthin' dere boss...nuthin' dere!" Yeah right!
Remove drives and run in an enclosure with NOD32 or Panda and 'lo and behold' the little nasties are all over the place. That IS VIRUS and SPYWARE. When I got done cleaning up one network I was over $700 richer.
I would never recommend Norton anything!
But if you have it, I say "stay with it and take my card."