I am a kid still living with my parents. Several years ago, my parents decided that they no longer wanted to buy antivirus and firewall software for the family because our ISP started giving away a protection suite. I didn't want to switch away from Norton, but seeing as I didn't have a choice, I gave the program a shot.
The suite was called eTrust eZ Armor, and it contained four programs:
eZ Antivirus
eZ Firewall (which I'm pretty sure is just a rebranded version of Zone Alarm)
eZ Anti-Spam
eZ Pest Patrol
I didn't bother with the anti-spam program, since I was using Mozilla Thunderbird and already had such features, but I installed the other three.
Ever since I've started using this suite, it's been nothing but trouble. Here's the problems with each one:
eZ Antivirus - A good antivirus is one you know will be working the next day. eZ Antivirus, however, seems to randomly stop working. One day it will be disabled, the next it will work fine, etc. It also deosn't seem very good at detecting viruses, and is really bad at removing them.
eZ Firewall - This program is insane. It doesn't ever seem to remember my settings, so every time a program tries to access the internet, I have to tell it to trust it, even though the remember box is checked, and it will even ask me twice, sometimes three times before I can use the program. Same with the network. Every time I start my computer, I have to configure all my settings for my network. The program also causes my system to become extremely unstable, causing my programs to randomly crash. I know for a fact this has to do with this very component because the crashes will immediately start or stop depending on whether this thing is installed.
eZ Pest Patrol - This program is utter trash. Just about every file I download it detects as some kind of malware, even when it's obvious its not (like Firefox and OpenOffice.org). The program has thus left me in the habit of just bypassing all warnings, making it useless. If there was ever real spyware, I would just bypass it like everything else. And why bother running the cleaning app if it wants to delete my video card drivers....
I've dealt with these programs for a long time how, and my situation hasn't gotten any better. My Mom isn't willing to pay for decent protection, so I'm stuck with this program for eternity until I do something about it. This isn't a problem specific to my computer - I recently purchased a laptop, and the laptop has the exact same symptoms. So does my Dad's computer, as well as my brother's. My Mom claims that she experiences no problems with the suite, but I've seen enough of her computer to know that that's not true.
I've started classes at a local college now. I don't have the time I used to to be reinstalling the suite and fixing its problems. For the past 3 days, eZ Antivirus decided to stop functioning, leaving me with no anti-virus for that time. Maybe back in the day where all my computer was for was to play video games, I could afford to have my system randomly left open to viruses, but now its crucial that my computer remains both protected and stable especially given that most of my work is done on my laptop, which has a wireless connection...
My parents have given me some money devoted to college, and I am in control as to how to spend it. I have been, in my opinion, very responsible with it thus far, and have many times had to convince my parents that I didn't need to buy something that they believed I needed. I'm thinking I should just take my college money and go ahead and buy a real antivirus and firewall, but it apparently isn't that simple anymore. Norton always worked well for me, but I keep hearing horror stories about the latest version, so I'm not so sure I want to deal with them anymore. That doesn't really leave anyone I know.
I understand that requests for what protection software to use are quite common, but I'm not looking for just anything. I'm looking for something that meets specific criteria; I don't want to buy something because it was the best choice for someone else only to find that it doesn't suit my needs. I'd need something with the following:
Integration - I would much prefer an antivirus and firewall that are by the same company and are integrated with eachother. eZ doesn't do this, as I have to update each program separately. I liked how my old copy of Norton updated all of its components just by running its "Live Update" app, and I liked how the software worked together. The integrated suite would need nothing more than an antivirus and firewall. I'm confident enough in my judgment of files to not think I'm going to get spyware, but a spyware app, as well as other software, would be a nice addition.
Reputation - I don't want a suite that's known for messing up your computer. It's why I've avoided the new Norton (though I could be wrong about my assumption here), and it's why I don't like the eZ suite. The whole reason to avoid a virus in the first place is loss of your system. If you have to worry about that from your protection suite, then there's a problem.
Security - I want the suite to detect as much as what it should, and I want to have an auto-protect feature in the antivirus. I also want to work with a company that will give me updates in a timely manner when a new threat emerges, and will update automatically without me having to manually check for these updates. However, I don't want the security to go so far overboard that it significantly limits what I can do with my computer. I'm not a tin-foil-hat guy, I just want enough protection that with some safe internet habits, I shouldn't have to worry about infection.
SP2 - I don't know if its even worth saying this at this point, but I need it to work correctly with Windows XP Service Pack 2. I've heard a lot of antiviruses and firewalls don't work with this, and I don't want to have to disable the security center just to get things working.
System Tray icons - The program icons should run in the system tray so I can monitor what's going on.
Uninstalls - The programs must uninstall. I don't care how cleanly it uninstalls as long as the remains won't interfear with another protection suite. I just want to be able to get rid of it if I don't like it.
Things I don't care about:
Money - I don't care if the program is freeware, as long as it does what I need it to do. Likewise, I also don't care if the program is expensive, as long as its something a home user can typically afford, and not some big corperate thing. If I have to pay a lot of money to protect my work, I will do so.
Market Share - I would like it if the program was less popular, since that would mean it would be more likely to detect new viruses correctly, but I am willing to go with anything in this regard.
Is there anything that has all this? Is Norton as bad as what I've heard? I would really appreciate your help because these days it's so hard to find a suite I can trust.