Blue, when you make the change, make sure you run the
Norton removal tool.
Norton/symantec are pretty bad about leaving program processes in your machine.
I'm thinking there are a lot of programs are like that, though that one may be more notorious than other anti-malware scanners. With things like HP printers, you have to turn several pieces of such crapola off to prevent popups telling you driver updates are available (why? this driver WORKS), and that you're out of ink and you can click here to order HP ink cartridges online.
And if the Norton thing doesn't continue to run in the background after it expires, how else can it tell you "WARNING! WILL ROBINSON! Your Computer now DOES NOT HAVE virus protection! Click Here Now to reinstate virus protection!"
Heh, I was just Googling for the Norton removal tool...
Spyware Doctor detects and removes tracking cookies and occasionally finds and quarantines malware. It does regular daily scans, whereas AVG is constantly running.
-Derek
And there are costs/benefits to each. Constantly running means it takes up RAM and CPU cycles, making your computer run slower, but then it scans every email, attachment and webpage you go to as it's received by the computer (this real-time scan is what really slows down things), and it will stop any virus it detects from running on your computer (allegedly) before it can do any harm. Regular scans just tell you if you've picked up anything since the last scan. If a scanner finds a virus, that doesn't necessarily mean it is RUNNING on your computer, it might only be in an email attachment file that you (or Outlook Depressed -
) haven't yet opened (some file types get opened automagically by some email programs, ahem. I recall about ten years ago was the end of the truism that "You can't get a virus just by reading an email, you have to click on an attachment." And then there's HTML email and webbugs and such).
Trendmicro is free and you can use the online version.
I was about to give a link:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
