Norton is the devil.

[HomeLAN]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - Norton is evil.

Symantec Corp.'s leading antivirus software, which protects some of the world's largest corporations and U.S. government agencies, suffers from a flaw that lets hackers seize control of computers to steal sensitive data, delete files or implant malicious programs, researchers said Thursday.

Symantec said it was investigating the issue but could not immediately corroborate the vulnerability. If confirmed, the threat to computer users would be severe because the security software is so widely used and because no action is required by victims using the latest versions of Symantec Antivirus to suffer a crippling attack over the Internet.

Symantec has boasted that its antivirus products are installed on more than 200 million computers. A spokesman, Mike Bradshaw, said the company was examining the reported flaw but described it as "so new that we don't have any details."

Researchers from eEye Digital Security Inc. of Aliso Viejo, California, discovered the vulnerability and provided evidence to Symantec engineers this week, said eEye's chief hacking officer, Marc Maiffret. He demonstrated the attack for The Associated Press.

eEye said it appeared consumer versions of Symantec's Norton Antivirus software -- sold at retail outlets around the country -- were not vulnerable to the flaw, though consumers who are provided Symantec's corporate edition antivirus software by their employers for use at home may be affected.

Maiffret's company -- which has discovered hundreds of similar flaws in other software products -- also produces intrusion-protection software, called "Blink," that he said already blocks such attacks and can operate alongside Symantec's antivirus products.

Maiffret published a note about the company's discovery on its Web site but pledged not to reveal details publicly that would help hackers attack Internet users until after Symantec repairs its antivirus software. eEye said it intends to describe the problem in detail privately for some of its largest customers.

"People shouldn't panic," Maiffret said. "There shouldn't be any exploits until a patch is produced."

The reported flaw comes at an awkward time for Symantec. Its chief executive, John Thompson, has campaigned in recent months to convince consumers they should trust Symantec -- not Microsoft Corp. -- to protect their personal information.

Maiffret said eEye's testing showed the problem affects Symantec Antivirus Version 10, including its corporate editions. He said Symantec's consumer antivirus product, known as Norton Antivirus 2006, and its current security suite -- which includes both antivirus and firewall features -- did not appear to be vulnerable.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/05/25/antivirus.flaw.ap/index.html

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

"People shouldn't panic," Maiffret said. "There shouldn't be any exploits until a patch is produced."

Does the above phrase make anybody else want to pull their own eyelashes out?

 

[Professur]

Only it's users.

 

[Dave]

Maiffret said eEye's testing showed the problem affects Symantec Antivirus Version 10, including its corporate editions. He said Symantec's consumer antivirus product, known as Norton Antivirus 2006, and its current security suite -- which includes both antivirus and firewall features -- did not appear to be vulnerable.

*hoping that is true*

 

[alex]

I just installed NAV 2006 two weeks ago. It's been updating itself most every day since then.

 

[Inkara1]

I put Norton on my dad's machine because he trusts that name. I use AVG myself because it's just as good, probably better, and the price is right.

When I got my laptop, the first thing I did was remove the bundled McAfee software and download AVG.

 

[HomeLAN]

Good luck ever "removing" Norton. You'd best be prepared to go registry-diving. That's one reason I WILL NOT use it unless a client demands it.

 

[chcr]

Good luck ever "removing" Norton. You'd best be prepared to go registry-diving. That's one reason I WILL NOT use it unless a client demands it.

Even then, I'll try to talk 'em out of it.

 

[alex]

Good luck ever "removing" Norton. You'd best be prepared to go registry-diving. That's one reason I WILL NOT use it unless a client demands it.

Oh great, now you tell us *slings NAV CD at HL

AVG? never heard of it. Free DL?

 

[Inkara1]

Free for home users, yes. Businesses still have to pay.

I put my dad's system together for father's day last year, so it's been almost a year. It's nagging him to re-up his Norton Internet Security subscription.

 

[HomeLAN]

AVG is the way to go. It's pretty much what I use exclusively, except for de-contaminating already infected machines.

 

[rrfield]

Problem with being #1 is you always have a target on your back.

 

[highwayman]

Wondered why my NIS had updates over the weekend...
Now with this made public every hack with a cause will be working over time...

 

[rrfield]

If your company IT staff is worth a damn you should be safe, even if you are using SAV enterprise 10.0. IPS signatures are out already.

 

[catocom]

for a couple of years now, I've hated Norton AV. Love the older Ghost though.
I've have to cleanup behind so many infected Norton machines, it's not even funny.
Like HL said too, it's as bad as AOL to get off of there too.
If you can't find the setup disk, sometimes, you're screwed.

AVG is the only way I go ATM.
7 brand new Dell workstations, I just setup on a network, came with
Norton AV, but had McAfee security center, and stuff with it also, but not the McAfee AV.
Not that I'm a fan of McAfee AV, but I thought it odd packaging.
I left the McAfee, but took the main part of Norton AV off, and put AVG on
all of them. (I haven't gone back yet to completely clean out ALL the Norton stuff yet)

Anybody know of a good cheap, or free registry cleaner?

I've recommended AVG since the ver6 days, and only had some trouble
with my customers, when they didn't do the upgrade to ver 7 when it came out.
As long as you keep it updated, AVG will do good from what I've experienced.

You also need a good spyware, and popup blocker too though.
(if you have an older ver of IE, that doesn't have the blocker built-in)

I've been thinking about trying Google toolbar on all the non-xp systems
I have, since the ver of IE with 2000, or less, doesn't seem to support
the newer ver of IE that has the blocker.
(or do they?)

 

[highwayman]

Don't know of any shareware as far as the registry cleaner but as far as the spyware goes I use adware se and ewido I also have spybot but it has gone down hill in the past months or a year...

 

[A.B.Normal]

http://www.ccleaner.com/

Registry cleaner
Advanced features to remove unused and old entries, including File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, Invalid Shortcuts and more... also comes with a comprehensive backup feature.

It seems to be highly recommended at Hardwarecentral and VirtualDr although I've never used it myself.

 

[Winky]

If you have to surf to all of those pr0n and warez sites and get virii
then install AVG for free and quit yer whining

 

[Cerise]

Say it isn't true!

Sorry, for a minute I thought you were talking about "Nawwwton"

 

[catocom]

If you have to surf to all of those pr0n and warez sites and get virii
then install AVG for free and quit yer whining

I've seen some come off good legit sites, that didn't even know they had
one on there.