Upgarde to Norton 360 FROM NIS 2004 can Home XP handle it ?

Hi all !
I'm STILL running Norton Internet Security 2004. I haven't updated it in 2
years! Still seems to work! I have and run Ad Aware, Reg Cure, Malware Bytes.
My question IS!
I'm running XP Home with SP 3, I have only 1 meg a ram. Plenty of room on my
HD. I have a Dell Dimention 2400, 5 years old, YEP 5 !
I have the opertunity to upgarde to Norton 360. My buddy has the keycode for
three systems, I can use 1. My current NIS uses 29 Meg of space on my HD.
Norton 360 uses 140 Meg. YES it does alot more things! But will it BOG down
the system I have! Will it run slower than my current NIS 2004??

Many thanks, Ted

 

My suggestion:
Get rid of all Norton Products and any 'all-in-one' products (Not just from
norton - but any.) They are mostly produced by AntiVirus vendors trying to
start into a different path which they are still not very good at (after all
this time - IMO.) They use more resources than is necessary to give a
normal home user the protection they need.

In other words - remove NIS, do not install Norton 360 and just get an
antivirus solution like Avira AntiVirus, Avast! AntiVirus or AVG - or if you
are willing to spend a few bucks - eSet NOD32. Use the built in Windows XP
Firewall. Scan - on occassion - with the freeware antispyware applications:
SuperAntiSpyware and MalwareBytes. (No need to have them running resident.)

In other words your system would run best and still be sufficiently
protected if you had a decent AV only solution that stayed up to date
(freeware is fine), the Windows XP firewall enabled and as few exceptions as
plausible in your situation, a high-speed Internet NAT router (so you get
IPs on the machine itself like 192.168.xxx.xxx) with a good password and if
it has wireless - using WPA2. After that - it is merely maintenance like
consistent periodic backups, periodic malware scans with freeware
applications, CHKDSK, defragmentation and making sure you uninstall anything
you don't use and keep up to date everything you do use.

You may want to cleanup the machine a bit - make sure it is updated, clean
and really ready for any changes - also a really good backup of at least
your important stuff (documents, spreadsheets, pictures, music, Internet
bookmarks/favorites, contacts, emails, etc) is a great idea before removing
NIS - as Norton has a bad habit of keeping its claws in your machine and
even 'ruining' it if you uninstall the product. In other words - horrible
uninstall routines, to say the least.

Follow these steps exactly - even if you already have done some of them
(which is a good thing!)...

Fix your file/registry permissions...

Ignore the title and follow the sub-section under "Advanced Troubleshooting"
titled, "Method 1: Reset the registry and the file permissions"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949377
*will take time
(** Ignore the last step - you said you have SP3 installed.)

Reboot and ...

Download/install this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

After installing, do the following:

Start button --> RUN --> type in:
"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Installer Clean Up\msizap.exe" g!
--> Click OK.
(The quotation marks and percentage signs and spacing should be exact.)

Download, install, run, update and perform a full scan (separately) with the
following two applications (freeware versions are the ones to use for this):

SuperAntiSpyware
http://www.superantispyware.com/

MalwareBytes
http://www.malwarebytes.com/

After performing a full scan with one and then the other and removing
whatever they both find completely, you may uninstall these products,
if you wish. Or leave them installed. Or uninstall them and download
and install the latest versions when you feel you need them.

Download and run the MSRT manually:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx

Reboot.

CHKDSK
How to scan your disks for errors
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265
* will take time and a reboot

Defragment
How to Defragment your hard drives
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314848
* will take time

Ensure your hardware drivers are up to date (from the hardware
manufacturer's respective web pages.) Never get hardware drivers
for hardware that was not created/sold by Microsoft from Microsoft.
Installing the latest drivers may have you rebooting several times,
which is fine - but after you are sure you are done - still...

Reboot.

Download/Install the latest Windows Installer (for your OS):
( Windows XP 32-bit : WindowsXP-KB942288-v3-x86.exe )
http://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/details.aspx?familyid=5A58B56F-60B6-4412-95B9-54D056D6F9F4&displaylang=en

Reboot and...

Download the latest version of the Windows Update agent from here (x86):
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=91237
.... and save it to the root of your C:\ drive. After saving it to the root
of the C:\ drive, do the following:

Close all Internet Explorer windows and other applications.

Start button --> RUN and type in:
%SystemDrive%\windowsupdateagent30-x86.exe /WUFORCE
--> Click OK.

(If asked, select "Run.) --> Click on NEXT --> Select "I agree" and click on
NEXT --> When it finishes installing, click on "Finish"...

Reboot.

Then follow the instructions here:

How do I reset Windows Update components?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058

Reboot.

Log on as an user with administrative rights and open Internet Explorer
and visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and select to do a
CUSTOM scan...

Every time you are about to click on something while at these web pages -
first press and hold down the CTRL key while you click on it. You can
release the CTRL key after clicking each time.

Once the scan is done, select just _ONE_ of the high priority updates
(deselect any others) and install it.

Reboot again.

If it did work - try the web page again - selecting no more than 3-5 at a
time. Rebooting as needed.

The Optional Software updates are generally safe - although I recommend
against the "Windows Search" one and any of the "Office Live" ones or
"Windows Live" ones for now. I would completely avoid the
Optional Hardware updates. Also - I do not see any urgent need to install
Internet Explorer 8 at this time.

Seriously - do all that. This is like antibiotics - don't skip a single
step, don't quit because you think things will be okay now - go through
until the end, until you have done everything given in the order given. If
you have a problem with a step come ask and let someone here get you
through that step. If you don't understand how to do a step, come back and
ask here about that step and let someone walk you through it.

In any case - no matter what - when you are done doing whatever you decide
to do - please - come back here and let everyone know what you did and
how things turned out.

 

Is your NIS 2004 subscription current or has it expired?

I would strongly recommend that you (1) uninstall NIS 2004, LiveUpdate, and
anything named Norton via Add/Remove Programs and then (2) download/run the
Norton Removal Tool before (3) installing N360 or any other anti-virus
application/security suite.

Norton Removal Tool
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039
[Related discussion: http://windowssecrets.com/comp/080207#story1]

I would even more strongly recommend doing #1 and #2 above and then
installing ANY other anti-virus application other than a Norton or McAfee
application!

PS: What happens when your buddy's subscription expires and he decides not
to renew it (assuming he's still your buddy at the time)?