I just got Norton Internet Security Suite half price (£25)

[Ponders]

This is not going to be terribly helpful because I clicked on a link to symantec from a PC magazine review section & I can't remember which one it was

anyway when I landed at the Norton page, for the usual 3-user deal on Norton Internet Security 2012 it showed £24.99 instead of £49.99 - it didn't say that on the link

so if anyone was about to get it anyway, have a rummage round the magazine websites & follow all their links!

(Norton gets very good reviews)

Personally I never pay for my antivirus security. There are plenty of extremely good free ones such as AVG and Microsoft Security Essentials.

I've yet to find a compelling reason to pay £25 a year for it let alone £50.

well it's £8.33 per year per user - less than 3p a day

we have been using the free AVG one for ages & periodically our computers have to go to the local geek shop for a clean-up (esp our students' machines, they get into all sorts of strange places) - he always says " get a paid-for one!!! " but never tries to sell it to us, so I trust him. & Norton is a lot less than the clean-ups.

(He says if you use facebook or twitter or youtube you need more than the free ones - & as for file-sharing...)

Well, I use a free antivirus (Avast) and run MBAM and SuperAntiSpyware periodically and have no problems. I also have CCleaner which I use once a week just to erase cookies etc. I use Facebook in secure browsing mode, I don't do Twitter and I don't use BitTorrent sites. I can't say with absolute certainty that my pc is 100% free of issues, but all scans with both antivirus and antimalware come up clean.

My brother had Norton bought for him, and he bloody hates it. It causes his pc to run slow, and isn't very good a detecting Trojans that his antispyware (free) does. He's already decided that he isn't going to renew his license when it runs out, he's getting the same free antivirus his DP uses, which is Panda.

Well given in independent tests, Norton generally only gets average marks and is often beaten in the detection stakes by free competitors, I'd have to challenge what your local computer geek shop says. I especially find the "If you use Facebook, Twitter & Youtube" comment troubling since those are amongst the safest in the world to use.

So if you are getting viruses on a regular basis i would suggest you look at what you are downloading and the less mainstream sites than FB & YouTube.

In short, your local computer shop is talking bollocks.

I was looking at independent tests

it was rated very highly

anyway I have found a link now for any other sucker anybody else who might want to buy it (which is why I posted, not to be told I have done something stupid )

\link{http://antivirus.norton.com/norton/ps/2up_uk_en_nis360t2.html?om_sem_cid=hho_sem_ic:gb:grm:en:c|kw0000001532&om_sem_site={placement}&country=UK&OVMTC=content&site=www.independent.co.uk&creative=7853765548&OVKEY=&adcid=5825370\Norton 50% off}

Hang on a second Ponders, where in either Niceguy2's post or mine has either of us called you "stupid"? All we have done is point out that there are free programmes which are as good as, or better than, Norton.
Incidentally, I just ran a scan with Avast and it came up clean, this just after warning of, and blocking, a dodgy link in an email I tried to open. The email was sent by a friend so I've warned him his account may be compromised. Again.

nobody said stupid - I just inferred it from the notion that there is absolutely no need to pay for it (& niceguy's comment that my computer bloke is talking bollocks) (since I did what he suggested)

Which? rates Norton well above the freebies, FWIW.

until recently I had the free AVG one, then for the last month had the 1-month free trial of the paid-for AVG one, & with both I had a lot of problems with random pages opening instead of what I'd clicked on whenever I used google (& sometimes while I was in the middle of writing something & had clicked on nothing at all). Norton has stopped that dead so I am v pleased so far.

I too had problems with AVG, which is why I hesitate to recommend it. I think we tend to recount our own experiences where pc security is concerned, and I know too many people who feel let down by Norton/Symantec, in that their pcs either run slow or get infected with malware.

This article compares free and paid for antivirus products, and funnily enough the one I use is rated best of the free, and yours is best of the paid for.

I use Avast and really get on with it.

I also use Opera as my browser which is not targeted as much as its less well known.

Norton does slow your PC down as its quite heavy on the system.

Norton used to but doesn't any more - it's having absolutely no effect on my PC speed!

I have Norton but it never seems to complete a full system scan. It just sticks after about an hour so i end up cancelling it and not doing one. Am I doing something wrong? It's really frustrating!!!!

I buy Norton at around half price from amazon once every two years - the disc generally includes a free install for the following years one. So i got Norton 2011 after buying the 2010 one for example. I find it works very unobtrusively and is always under 3o quid on amazon.

got Norton 2011 free from after buying the 2010 one , that should say

oh thanks for that, beachholiday - I'll look out for that next year (is that price still for 3 PCs?)

kelloo, I've no idea - mine seems to be doing an occasional quick scan by itself, & yesterday when I was going out I left it to do a full scan & turn itself off afterwards, which it did

& it does live updates all the time, although you can search for new ones any time as well

(eg when I downloaded Firefox8 it needed a patch for parts of Norton to work with it, & the latest live update sorted that out)