SillyDog701

[Wai_Wai]

Any alternatives to Norton SysmtemWorks

Decision to completely remove Norton
I would like to completely remove this program because it is becoming really annoying recently. This program continues making troubles. The last time I got problems with Norton was when I upgraded to Wins XP Pro SP2. Norton Anti-virus suddenly couldn’t startup anymore (even after I installed all Norton updates!).

Before removing it, I have to find substitutes. Or my computer will be in danger. Does anyone have good recommendations relating to:
- Anti-virus
- File Recovery
Requirement:
-- I would like it to work like what Norton Utilities do
-- It will backup all deleted files, items, entries etc.
-- I can tell the program how long I should keep the file
-- It has an exclusion list, so I can exclude some file types or folders which I don’t wish to backup
- Wipe File Permanently
-- so I can safely delete a file which cannot be recovered forever
- Installation Monitor
Requirement:
-- Can record changes made during installation (eg provide snapshots before/after installation);
-- Can remove installed files and reg.
-- Can undo changes made to (overwritten) files/dll/reg etc.
NB: Norton CleanSweep is limited. It cannot really undo a lot of changes. If a file is being overwritten/updated. There’s no way for cleanSweep to help me with that. And I sometimes spotted the program deleting wrong files (and it says it is safe to delete. It is not indeed!)

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.8a5) Gecko/20041122 MultiZilla/1.8.0.0a

[Don_HH2K]

For virus scanning, my favorite easily became NOD32 after I switched from VirusScan.

For file recovery, I use HandyBackup, which copmresses to ZIP files. If one ZIP file is too big, though, you can have it span multiple archives.

For file deletion, I would previously have reccomended Torvalds Eraser, but it turns out that recently it "erased" more of my WinME machine than I would have liked. Spybot Search and Destroy has a built-in feature called Secure Shredder, which will do just that.

As for an installation monitor, I've never seen any good ones that are free and not spyware.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (Donzilla/0.2)

[Wai_Wai]

For virus scanning, my favorite easily became NOD32 after I switched from VirusScan.

For file recovery, I use HandyBackup, which copmresses to ZIP files. If one ZIP file is too big, though, you can have it span multiple archives.

For file deletion, I would previously have reccomended Torvalds Eraser, but it turns out that recently it "erased" more of my WinME machine than I would have liked. Spybot Search and Destroy has a built-in feature called Secure Shredder, which will do just that.

As for an installation monitor, I've never seen any good ones that are free and not spyware.

I don't mind if it needs to pay as long as it is good.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.8a5) Gecko/20041122 MultiZilla/1.8.0.0a

[Don_HH2K]

Well, I've found one that's Microsoft-backed, so it's probably not spyware. If you run either Windows 2000, XP, or Server 2003, you can use the Windows 2000 Installation Monitor, a command-line tool that tracks changes in installed programs. It's command-line based, so if you don't have any experience with DOS, you might have a hard time with it.

On the other hand, if you want something with a user interface, you might try Epilsion Squared's InstallWatch. I'm not sure if that's spyware or not, so be careful.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (Donzilla/0.2)

[Wai_Wai]

Well, I've found one that's Microsoft-backed, so it's probably not spyware. If you run either Windows 2000, XP, or Server 2003, you can use the Windows 2000 Installation Monitor, a command-line tool that tracks changes in installed programs. It's command-line based, so if you don't have any experience with DOS, you might have a hard time with it.

On the other hand, if you want something with a user interface, you might try Epilsion Squared's InstallWatch. I'm not sure if that's spyware or not, so be careful.

Hi. Thanks for your suggestions.
How can we know if a product has spyware/adware/malware or not?

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041217 MultiZilla/1.8.0.0a

[Don_HH2K]

Well, you could always check a spyware database for it. Try searching on Google for the product name as a literal ("program name") along with the word Spyware, outside of the literal.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (Donzilla/0.2)

[Mandrake]

- Anti-virus
- File Recovery
- Wipe File Permanently

The easiest way to do this is through individual apps:


AV software: I reccommend Eset NOD32. If you're after a free program, AVG 7 Free works well.

File Recovery: I've found these program use tons of hard disk space and ram needlessly, just make regular backups of your important files to CDs or DVDs and there shouldn't be any problems.

Wipe File Permanently: Try a small program called Privacy Guardian. There is a free version, but it is lacking some of the nice features of the full version.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0

[Wai_Wai]

I found some excellent sources relating to anti-virus:
- http://www.av-test.org/
- http://www.icsalabs.com/index.shtml
- http://antivirus.about.com/cs/softwarer ... /bybav.htm
- http://antivirus.about.com/od/antivirus ... rotect.htm

Especially av-test, they have tests and comparison among anti-virus programs in the world. Surprisingly, AVG and avast (although many recommendations) do not do their work well.

Unfortunately Norton crashed me system badly, so I still need to make a switch even its anti-virus ability is not bad.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041217 MultiZilla/1.8.0.0a

[Wai_Wai]

- Anti-virus
- File Recovery
- Wipe File Permanently

The easiest way to do this is through individual apps:


AV software: I reccommend Eset NOD32. If you're after a free program, AVG 7 Free works well.

This anti-virus seems great. It has good anti-virus ability. One problem is it generates more false positives (ie something it says it has virus, but it is not in fact) than some others (eg Norton)

File Recovery: I've found these program use tons of hard disk space and ram needlessly, just make regular backups of your important files to CDs or DVDs and there shouldn't be any problems.

In fact, the only kinds of files I wish to recover most often are accidentally deleted files. So I just need some protections against these accidents.

Wipe File Permanently: Try a small program called Privacy Guardian. There is a free version, but it is lacking some of the nice features of the full version.

Thanks.

By the way, I found a product called tune-up utilities. Some people highly recommend it. Just try to see how great it is.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041217 MultiZilla/1.8.0.0a