# Forum Home Renovation Television, Computers & Phones  Norton Virus Protection

## Marc

I had Norton Premium for 5 devices for many years and never had a problem with either my computers or phones.  
Yesterday i got this email. from reply@secure.norton.com  We are including the _New_ Norton Security iOS app, with great new features like Web Protection and Wi-Fi Security in your Norton purchase. The New Norton Security iOS app is a replacement for the old Norton Mobile Security iOS app at no charge to you. As a reminder, your Norton Mobile Security iOS app that includes Anti-Theft and Contacts Backup has been discontinued on *April 1, 2019* and is no longer supported. In order to help your devices stay secure, please take the following steps on your iOS device:   Click HERE to get Norton Security iOSAfter app completes installation, proceed to login with your Norton AccountCongrats, you now have the latest Norton Security for your iOS device       –Your Norton Team 
I wrote to Norton on Facebook to get a quick reply, only to find out that it is not a joke nor a scam. My yearly subscription expires in 5 month. They have taken away part of my subscription and when I go through the link provided I get asked to pay additional $29 yearly in order to get back what I already had.
It does look like an elaborate scam but it is not. Norton candidly tells me it is a promotion and if I don't want it to ignore it. Yet my app is no longer functional. 
The new app I downloaded states it is a 30 days trial.

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## r3nov8or

You run an iPhone, so you must be rich.  :Wink:  
Anyway, what do you think they are providing which isn't already built into modern operating systems and the Microsoft, Apple and Google ecosystems?

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## John2b

Gee Marc, it's just free-market capitalism at work creating wealth for (some) people.

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## toooldforthis

> Anyway, what do you think they are providing which isn't already built into modern operating systems and the Microsoft, Apple and Google ecosystems?

  exactly.

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## Whitey66

I've  used Avast free on both my PC and phone for several years and have never had any issues.
I used to pay for Norton till I knew better.

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## Bros

Gave Norton away yrs ago when it became impossible to completely remove it from your computer when you change your anti virus programs. 
They ended up realising that and put out a cleaner but many were burnt and never went back to Norton. 
Now I just use the one that comes Win10 and every month just run Malwarebytes, but I don't visit the dark web where you can get all types of unmentionables on your computer entirely free.

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## r3nov8or

> Now I just use the one that comes Win10 and *every month just run Malwarebytes*, but I don't visit the dark web where you can get all types of unmentionables on your computer entirely free.

   How much *actual* bad stuff is Malwarebytes finding these days? Windows Defender is doing this silently for you... No harm having both, but haven't run a 3rd party malware cleaner since going to Win 10.

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## Bros

> How much *actual* bad stuff is Malwarebytes finding these days?

  None in all the scans this year but it is just a belt and braces approach.

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## Marc

Well ... I don't know about you, but as opposed to global warming, computer virus are real, and they can get you on the computer just as on the phone. 
Not everyone experiences a virus attack so if you didn't and don't have a good virus protector, count yourself fortunate but don't think for a moment that they are unnecessary because you didn't get one. ... unless of course you are an anti vac enthusiast. For that I have never heard of any solutions ... actually yes, a good dose of smallpox or polio would do the trick I suppose  :Rofl5:  
As for Norton, I agree that I will give it a wide berth from now on. 
Having said that, Last year I thought I go for Kaspersky, but found it cheaper than the retail price yet way dearer than the online price for norton and Kaspersky does not have 5 devices with one subscription ... and no, I don't buy just the license, I get the disk posted.
Still, no Norton for me next year. 
Their on line help told me to uninstall and reinstall norton and sent me a link for Android phones.
Finally sent the right link and it consisted of the following instructions:
"Go to your app icon", press and keep your finger on it until it wobbles, press the X on the corner, and that is it, you have done it.
When I asked how do I reinstall it now, the line went silent permanently  :Smilie:

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## Marc

> Gee Marc, it's just free-market capitalism at work creating wealth for (some) people.

  That is where you are wrong my dear John to be ... free market is not _that_ free, it has rules and laws and this is clearly on the fringe of being an illegal strategie.

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## Jon

> I've  used Avast free on both my PC and phone for several years and have never had any issues.
> I used to pay for Norton till I knew better.

  Another Avast Free user here 
Along with a sensible and skeptical approach to using the internet. 
I have it running on the kids gaming computer too and they are very carefree with their clicking and I have never found anything severe on their computer when I have done periodical serious checks. 
----

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## Marc

Avast? No Kaspersky users? I read somwhere that Kaspersky writes all the code for antivirus and sells it to the other brands ... but most likely Bill S ... I mean BS ...  :Smilie:

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## chrisp

Marc, I think what others are saying is that you have been paying for a service/product (Norton) that is essentially already provided on your devices by Microsoft and Apple. It’s a bit like insuring your car twice - it might seem sensible for some reason but it is a waste of money. 
Dump the Norton and move on!

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## Marc

Are you saying not to use anything and rely on whatever Apple provides? Actually there are many people who still believe that Apple does not get virus, but I know that not to be true. I had a few myself. 
As for my desktop that gets little use this days, it is a PC and has had more virus attack than a Ganges dweller in summer. Relying on Windows or Microsoft would be suicide. I agree with Malware software being a rather useless appendix if you have a proper antivirus software.
Not having anything at all seems a strange thought. 
According to reviews, Avast is free, but relies on selling you other products and will pesterise you in all manners possible. Not interested, get enough of that from everywhere else.

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## John2b

I moved across to Apple computers and OSX back in 2006. I simply use appropriate security options built into the operating system and never installed an antivirus program. I have never been infected by a virus, trojan, spyware, worm or malware, and I rarely turn off the computer - maybe once every few months. I run Windows on my Macs as well as OSX. The interesting thing is that Windows has always been stable on a Mac, but of course I needed antivirus software for the Microsoft operating system. I use Avast now for Windows. It's good and free, but pops up lots of annoying "buy extras" screens, which can safely be ignored.

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## John2b

> That is where you are wrong my dear John to be ... free market is not _that_ free, it has rules and laws and this is clearly on the fringe of being an illegal strategie.

   That was the very point of my post Marc, what is incorrectly called the 'free market' needs externally imposed constraints to function. Back to Nortons, a supplier that behaves like that will lose customers. You are a case in point.

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## fredgassit

Just try Avast free. Used it for 12 years -- faultless.

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## Uncle Bob

I just use the built in 'Defender' software.
The secret to avoiding infections and other nasties on Windows is to not run as a user with administrative permissions and only elevate when you need to.

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## r3nov8or

Good stuff UB

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## YoungBolt

Paid top-notch Anti-virus were a necessity in the days of XP and Vista where the OS had huge vulnerabilities and not everyone had high-speed internet for regular virus & OS updates. 
These days, W10 is very secure and the inbuilt antivirus (Defender) is good enough for 99% of users. It is a free low resource program that auto updates and keeps ahead of most virus. Unless you download and use heaps of torrents, and programs from sketchy websites, youll be fine with basic W10 defender. If you want extra security get Bitdefender firewall and Malwarebytes.  
Tell norton to feek off and never buy their products again. 
They suck. Overpriced, screw over customers regularly and dont offer all that great security over others. Always perform sub-par in the tests. Their programs are usually over zealous too - I had to once completely reformat my computer to get rid of their antivirus. 
And if you have an stock iPhone or Android, your online security is fine. iPhone & their apps are most secure, but android is pretty strong too. Apple and google are happy
To sell your browsing history, location, profile etc but are at least committed to protecting users security. 
Norton for phone is a dud product anyway.

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## YoungBolt

> That was the very point of my post Marc, what is incorrectly called the 'free market' needs externally imposed constraints to function. Back to Nortons, a supplier that behaves like that will lose customers. You are a case in point.

  I disagree. The true free market allows anyone to enter, succeed and thrive. Controlling the market always ends up worse for the customer in the long term. It needs to be left for consumers to punish and reward those companies & suppliers who best suits their needs. In a true free market, dodgy companies could not survive well.

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## PhilT2

> I disagree. The true free market allows anyone to enter, succeed and thrive. Controlling the market always ends up worse for the customer in the long term. It needs to be left for consumers to punish and reward those companies & suppliers who best suits their needs. In a true free market, dodgy companies could not survive well.

  Don't know of anywhere where this has worked out in practice.  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Economics-T...lighteconom-21

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## Marc

> I disagree. The true free market allows anyone to enter, succeed and thrive. Controlling the market always ends up worse for the customer in the long term. It needs to be left for consumers to punish and reward those companies & suppliers who best suits their needs. In a true free market, dodgy companies could not survive well.

   You are correct. Yet rules and regulations are in place precisely to allow the market to be fair to all. Controlling the market is a different matter. Governments intrude on the market and attempt to control and influence it for different social engineering exercises and to harvest votes, and most of the time make a mess of it. 
Perhaps one good example of a savage intrusion on a market was the closure of the live cattle exports and another, the attempt at banning the greyhound races. Both politically motivated, based on dubious or patently false and fabricated "proof", and both short lived. Yet the damage from government intrusion lasted years. 
If introduced, the ban on tax rebates from franking credits, will be as stupid and braindead as the ban on cattle exports. In the spirit of punishing the bad rich to be seen as defender of the (virtuous) poor. 
It will in fact punish the little investor and retiree with no income the most, and do nothing to the truly rich (evil) with other sources of income.  
A true free market self regulates with supply and demand, but needs rules to prevent abuse from the stronger players. The temptation to use rules to produce outcomes that are popular with one sector of the population that will reward such government with votes is overwhelming and hard to escape. The problem is that invariably such actions will damage the market with unforeseen secondary consequences.

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## havabeer

Don't goto dodgy sites or download dodgy email attachments and you don't need any antivirus. 
And when was the last time you heard of someone getting a virus on their iPhone. It's actually one of the really good things about them.

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## fredgassit

Just     try    Avast.

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## Uncle Bob

Just run you session as a regular user, then if something wants to make changes to the PC you will get a prompt to elevate (use an admin user). Then you don't need any extra software that slows your PC down and adds crap all over your emails.

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## DavoSyd

> Just run you session as a regular user, then if something wants to make changes to the PC you will get a prompt to elevate (use an admin user). Then you don't need any extra software that slows your PC down and adds crap all over your emails.

  people sometimes like to "feel" protected... fear of the unknown is deep within the human psyche. 
it is lucky you know what to be fearful of  :Wink:

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