Fair enough. All I know is I've never gotten a single virus or infection with Norton (which considering the amount of downloading I do is miraculous) and my computer is still "lightning fast." All the computer gurus I know would never use AVG. But I myself have never tried AVG. I had McAfee for a long time and that one did slow my computer down quite a bit. But as it is, I stand by Norton (especially since it's free for me :D ).

Don't get me wrong, I am no fan of AVG. I tried it a number of years ago and wasn't really happy with the way it worked, and found it slow at scanning.

I think the problem with Norton is that they add so many "features" if you get their internet security pack. Eg phishing filters, transaction security etc.

All these processes have to use some of your system's power.

If you have a basic system, it can really slow it down. If you have a high end system, you have probably bought this for a reason (eg high end gaming etc) and you will be sensitive to things hogging CPU cycles.

The antivirus portion of Norton's probably isn't too bad in itself (I believe it passed the recent VB100). But it's all the extra stuff that they bundle along with it that causes the problem. And most people don't just buy/install the antivirus program - why would they when for an extra couple of dollars you can get all these other features ;)

IMO there are many better choices for paid antiviruses - eg Nod32, Kasperski. But if you are getting Norton's for free and only using the antivirus component that isn't a bad option.

As far as the free ones go, I don't mind Avira Antivir, or Avast. But I still think some of the paid solutions are better.

That's a good point. I don't use the extra features as well as my computer has a lot of memory, which helps.

I use AVG and Malware Bytes. I have had no problems at all in the 2 years I have had my current laptop.

Yeh thats whats been happening with mine. I liked the older version better.