McAfee or Symantec??

Are these two programs basically the same...OR is one better than the other?
I just got Comcast Internet service, adn McAfee is free..and in 30 days my Norton Anti Virus subscription is up...

The money isn't an issue...I'll go with whatever is better. But so far I have had no problemos w/Symanetc at all. And I would hate to change over to McAfee, only to find out I will have issues playing video games..as I have none w/Symantec.


What do people think? Input based on the merits of each program (btw I have Norton 2003 Professional Edition) and not because McAfee is free are useful to me....Telling me to get McAfee cuz its free..doesn't help at all.

i was a user of symantec. i loved the features it offered.. but i found it to be a little heavy on resources.. not to bad but noticeable compared to McAfee..

i have been using McAfee security center for about a year now and it is an awesome suite of tools.. the firewall is excellent and very user friendly. the antispyware is among the best available. there are alot of features depending on what you get but all in all if i had free subscriptions to either one i would shoose McAfee..


if you do plan on keeping norton i would advise on upgrading to the newest release.

I cant stand either. Started with Norton when I got my first internet computer in 99. Even though I updated it every day, it still let a nasty one through which screwed my pc up. Then I went to Mcafee AV. For 3 yrs (on dial-up) I never had issues with it and it was quite excellent in catching viruses. Finally got broadband. Bought Mcafee ISS 6.0 (Spam killer, firewall, AV and privacy service). Ran GREAT for 2 weeks then after one update, WHAM. CPU usage jumped to 100% for 10-15 minutes. Couldnt get in edgewise other than shutting the pc down with the switch. After it settled down (but still was using 30%), I started disabling each program to see what the heck is going on. Finally found that the spam killer and privacy center were teh culprits. Got on Mcafee's help forums and there were ALOT of people with the same issue and Mcafee wasnt doing squat other than telling you to "uninstall and reinstall" or call our tech line @ $3.99/min or whatever they charged. Finally after dealing with this garbage for a couple months, I posted again if they actually FIXED ISS6.0 or are they just gonna screw us that bought it by not fixing this issue. Post was deleted and ID was banned. Should had known. There were ALOT of customers who were upset about this that got banned from their forums. Personally now I use Avast AV with Zonealarm firewall and have very good results.

Xtreme Barton said:

i was a user of symantec. i loved the features it offered.. but i found it to be a little heavy on resources.. not to bad but noticeable compared to McAfee..

i have been using McAfee security center for about a year now and it is an awesome suite of tools.. the firewall is excellent and very user friendly. the antispyware is among the best available. there are alot of features depending on what you get but all in all if i had free subscriptions to either one i would shoose McAfee..


if you do plan on keeping norton i would advise on upgrading to the newest release.

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The only reason I haven't updated NAV is because later versions became very resource hungry..thanks..I'll look into it

Trend Micro, better than both of them. IMHO

jstutman said:

Trend Micro, better than both of them. IMHO

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Thanks but that wasn't my question

Viper69 said:

Thanks but that wasn't my question

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I know this doesn't answer your question either, but...

I now use Avast and Ad-Aware on all of my computers. They use very little resources and are very effective. Plus there are constantly new updates nearly every day, sometimes even more than once a day.

I'll never use Norton, McAfee, or any of those other shmucks ever again, especially Norton! That one tries to take over your entire computer like AOL does, which I have NEVER used.

Yeah, Avast and Ad-Aware all the way for me. Plus you can't beat the price.... FREE!

Same thing here switched over to McAffe for free when norton was due for renewal. Lated about two weeks started asking me to confirm my subscription???But would not connect with the website.
Free AVG now.End of story

To answer your Question I had much better luck with Norton until I tried to uninstall it.Then it turned into HAL from 2001 A Space Odessy.

I used Norton for years. But even when up to date it seemed to miss things. Now I've been running Mcafee for a while now and I gotta say. I like it much better then Norton.
I never run the system works for any program. Just virus software and maybe antipsyware as well. I run behind a router so I don't see the need for a software firewall. Maybe it would add a level of security. But my PC always seems to run fine. Atleast I don't have a fraction of the problems others have that run broandband with no router. I guess it helps knowing what not to do and what to do on the internet as well (no porn :})