My 0.02 worth:
Norton 2004/5 and Win XP SP2 can butt heads and totally screw up a system. Symantec's uninstall instructions can cause more harm than good. Symptoms: too many to list here, but can include an inability to install or uninstall programs, plug and play not working, unable to use LiveUpdate or Windows Update, application crashes, etc. on top of being a massive system hog.
I used to recommend Norton/Symantec over all other a/v programs. Now, after working on three machines with these issues, I advise everyone who will listen to stay far, far away. Symantec so far has not acknowledged this issue. It seems to happen especially if Norton 2004/2005 is installed first, then SP2 is applied later. It also seems to be related to the WMI update that Norton applies. Just do a quick search on "Norton WinXP problems", you'll see all kinds of trouble. Here's a good link: Norton 2004 gripes If you do choose Norton, good luck with your RAID array, and good luck with activation procedures!
While we are at it, in my experience MacAfee is useless. That whole AOL protection suite is useless. Actually, WORSE than useless as it misses stuff and lulls AOL junkies into a false sense of security. I clean more spyware and virii off AOL boxes "protected" by MacAfee than anything else. On top of that, running the stupid AOL software along with the useless MacAfee junk is even more of a resource hog than Norton.
I've DONE the research. Absolute best antivirus available - NOD32. If you're not dual-booting, then Trend Micro is excellent, and about $20/yr. cheaper. Both use minimal system resources and have won consistent 100% awards from Virus Bulletin for years. More important than that, they actually detect and REMOVE infections in the real world. I just used NOD32 to clean a Trojan horse out of Norton's Protected Recycle Bin files on a client computer this weekend. If Norton can't find a virus in its own system files, do you trust it to keep you safe?
Freeware? AVG, by far. Tried them all, AVG is the most user friendly and has a very good detection rating.
There, I feel better. Thanks for a great freeware product, CC is the best!
