i was going to buy norton antivirus 2004 this week when i came across an article in computer shopper about avast 4 home. is the free download program that good or should i just spend the $50 for the norton program?
its that good. and if you dont beleve me TRY IT!
We all used Norton (NAV) in the past… No more chance for it. avast! rulez 
clyde,
You can also download a 60 day trial of the PRO version of Avast which is presently in release version4.x
Both are excellent prorams. Home is great for general applicatons at home. If you are a busy user with wide needs, then the Pro might be well worth the cost…about $39 US for 1 year.
Techie101
yeah…i would rather spend my $$ on avast pro… ;D
Avast has two great things going for it – the product itself, of course, plus the support on the forums here. Beats the heck out taking your chances getting through to an 800 number for service any old day.
With specific regard to Norton, let me add another comment. Aside from the difference in price, if you install Norton it literally takes over your computer, and if you then decide you don’t want it after all, it’s a major job to get it all properly cleaned out so you can use something else.
Best,
Mike
thanks to all for the quick replies
no worries clydeb11…
after all these replies…you should know how ‘helpful’ we can be!!!..
so please don’t go back to norton!!!.. ;D
Wohooo … I’ve just made the change from Norton IS 2004 to a combination of Outpost Pro and Avast. What a stunning breath of fresh air!
I’ll agree wholeheartedly about getting rid of Norton though. What a royal pain in the rear end!
When it was installed, it was slooooooow, and to get rid of it took the best part of 2 hours! It’s a tragedy that Symantec seem to be buying up the rest of the workd (e.g. Powerquest).
Anyhow, I’m now in the brave new world of Avast! and, so far, so good. Setting up mail with Thunderbird, with 3 POP accounts, was a bit of a pain, but ultimately successful.
So, to the OP, I’d say you’re well rid of Norton and, so far, Avast! looks like it may just be the answer.
cjtc…welcome to the family of avast… ;D
Hey thanks ;D
Just got my referrer problems sorted out in Firefox. Tricky, but not impossible 
Stunning response here. Looks like I’ll be purchasing a license from you. RIP Norton, you’ll not be missed.
cjtc…Avast! is that good!!
and, from my own, experience, Norton will mess up your system.
besides, you can try us, hang around the forums and see the support you get here, then if you want to spend money, upgrade to Avast! Pro ;D
cojo
yes, I add my welcome and…hooray for making the right choice ;D
cojo
Yup. That’s what I plan to do. I’ve got the 60 day trial of Avast! Pro, and first impressions, both of the program and of this board are excellent.
Got a couple of questions, but this thread ain’t the right place for them.
TTFN
Though I haven’t used Norton since late 1999, I can tell from the above posts that it is still up to it’s old tricks of embedding itself securely into your computer. It took me for what seemed like forever to get rid of all the referrences to it. 
My next av was AVG and at the time, it gave my computer a fit, and so, I had to get rid of it after a few months. I understand it is better now but don’t know from personal experience. :-\
After that, I went to McAfee and the first version I had worked well. But, with each succeeding version, McAfee began to be problematic to the point that I got rid of it with discuss early this year. McAfee is almost as bad as Norton about worming it’s way deep into your computer. It took much time with regedit to finally remove McAfee from my computer AFTER the normal uninstall. >:(
Avast! is without a doubt much, much better than McAfee. On the first scan with avast!, 3 bad entries were found that McAfee missed.
Way To Go Avast! Team for the best av I’ve used yet !!! 
8)
Welcome to the world of avast and the best help forum on the net.
You made the right choice… ;D