Internet Security

I'm just about to build my new PC now, with the graphics card figured out and all my components ready to go. But one thing hit me...internet security.

I've always used Norton, but I've never thought about how many resources it takes up. It takes up about 10% of my RAM on a 1G system. I'm a big gamer, and anything taking up my resources is bad.

Now some advice has told me that I don't need any internet security, I just need to be careful what I click on. They also just monitor their computers and check out any suspicious activity. But they are very technological people, and I am not THAT smart to be able to be my own antivirus.

I feel I need something to protect my computer, but cost efficient and not as resource taking as norton. My brother watched a TV show online the other day with activex, and ended up getting over 15 trojans which totally wiped out his computer...we are still in the process of getting it cleaned up. I also deal with many offers daily online, which would be another reason to have an antivirus.

So, does anyone have some advice for a gamer who does not like resource taking antivirus', but is afraid to leave his computer unprotected? Anyone currently game like me with a non-resource taking solution? Any ideas, advice, or solutions would be great

avg
spy bot
microsoft defender

all free

nod32 for a pay one

but above all common sense is the best protection

DMorris needs to weigh in here fo' sho' however I'll give you my 2 cents. I use Windows Live OneCare on my lappy (AMD Turion 64 X2 1.6Ghz) and my Vista CPU/RAM widget shows me at 4% utilization at rest. My point is my lappy is entry level and still handles MSFT Live OneCare without a problem.

...for what it's worth )

Kaspersky Antivirus 7.0

End of Discussion.

Norton is horrible. Get rid of it and anything else with the Norton name. I've cleaned up so many client PC's of that crap and replaced it with free alternatives that perform far better.

I recommend AVG Free. I'm a big gamer, and it interferes with nothing I do. The early days of Bioshock had a problem with AVG, but AVG was updated within a few days. They have daily database updates too.

Many consider a-squared to be the single best anti-spyware product, but the free version doesn't offer real-time detection (you have to manually scan). So I usually combine it with Spybot S&D's real-time detection.

People can say you don't need anything -- I used to be one of them -- but these days you can't be too careful. All it takes is one minor slip, somebody borrowing your PC, doing ANY sort of P2P activity, etc. to put yourself at risk. These tools I mention are all free and have very low impact on your system, so I consider it foolish and reckless not to protect yourself. Not doing so is akin to saying you don't need health insurance because you don't plan to do anything to get sick.

I use Symantic antivirus. It's basically the corporate version of Norton.
Is this ok?
It doesn't include all that extra crap, but you can regularly scan and it includes live scanning too, which is why I use it.
Currently it's using 4,200 k memory when in the system tray.

[quote3b9fedaa68="samz465"]I use Symantic antivirus. It's basically the corporate version of Norton.
Is this ok?
It doesn't include all that extra crap, but you can regularly scan and it includes live scanning too, which is why I use it.
Currently it's using 4,200 k memory when in the system tray.[/quote3b9fedaa68]
Symantec AV is more resource friendly than the consumer Norton line. I'm forced to use it here at work, where it's our corporate standard. I can tolerate it, but I still don't like it. If I could I would have ripped it out long ago (and used to, replacing it with AVG, until it became something like a terminable offense).

[quote031d2f95fd="dmorris68"][quote031d2f95fd="samz465"]I use Symantic antivirus. It's basically the corporate version of Norton.
Is this ok?
It doesn't include all that extra crap, but you can regularly scan and it includes live scanning too, which is why I use it.
Currently it's using 4,200 k memory when in the system tray.[/quote031d2f95fd]
Symantec AV is more resource friendly than the consumer Norton line. I'm forced to use it here at work, where it's our corporate standard. I can tolerate it, but I still don't like it. If I could I would have ripped it out long ago (and used to, replacing it with AVG, until it became something like a terminable offense).[/quote031d2f95fd]

Lol...Oh David, you so crazi.

[quote73b30920e2="samz465"]
Lol...Oh David, you so crazi.[/quote73b30920e2]

Naw, David's amazing D

Thanks for the info guys, it really helps.

[quoted575c06604="samz465"][quoted575c06604="dmorris68"][quoted575c06604="samz465"]I use Symantic antivirus. It's basically the corporate version of Norton.
Is this ok?
It doesn't include all that extra crap, but you can regularly scan and it includes live scanning too, which is why I use it.
Currently it's using 4,200 k memory when in the system tray.[/quoted575c06604]
Symantec AV is more resource friendly than the consumer Norton line. I'm forced to use it here at work, where it's our corporate standard. I can tolerate it, but I still don't like it. If I could I would have ripped it out long ago (and used to, replacing it with AVG, until it became something like a terminable offense).[/quoted575c06604]

Lol...Oh David, you so crazi.[/quoted575c06604]
I'm not joking -- several years ago they implemented new corporate software policies that said tampering with company standard software on company PC's, to include installing unauthorized software, was an offense punishable by (up to) termination. It's a quite common policy in large corporations like ours.