Does Avast do a comparable job to Norton 2005 with the standard shield detecting malicious spyware? I know other spyware tools should be used but I had Norton 2005 and it would at least give some minimal real time protection against certain spyware threats.
Avast! Antivirus can detect some spywares but strongly recommend getting a antispyware like Spybot and Ad-aware SE
No one software is perfect or could detect everything.
avast! is mostly an antivirus and not an antispyware. Maybe you should use SpyBot, Ad-aware, a2, SpywareBlaster for better spyware scanning and protection. TeaTimer (of Spybot) and Ad-watch (of Ad-aware) could be residents.
Also PrevX promisses to avoid infections 8)
From what i have seen Norton Antivirus 2005 DOESN’T detect spyware/adware On-Access (Real-Time). You have to do On-Demand scan in order to detect such nasties. avast! on the other hand doesn’t make any differences in On-Access/On-Demand scans so spyware/and adware can be detected at entry point where Norton doesn’t even scan for it.
Ah thanks for clearing that up, sounds like Avast is a real winner. I was wondering though does Avast require less memory/resources than Norton 2005?
I have no experience of Norton 2005, but these forums are full of praise at avast’s low resource requirements, certainly in comparison to Norton.
Coincidentally, I just helped my sister remove Norton 2005 from her brand new laptop (Norton was pre-installed) and install Avast Home instead (and Kerio 4.1.3 to replace the Norton firewall). Both Avast & Kerio are very lightweight, and I’ve been using the combination on 2 of my PCs for a good while now, with very nice results.
Well, Ι’m not exaggerating by saying that the poor laptop looked like it just heaved a huge sigh of relief! ;D 
My experience is the same: avast! uses less resources of Norton (2004) (the last version I could see running… now my parents forbide me to see these things ;D).
Norton is a resource hog, Norton is like running 17 programs at once. >:(
Hi,
A quick note to say Norton’s is not that great. Don’t depend on it.
I have gone into a lot of detail about defending yourself against spyware and malware in another topic - go here and read what I’ve said. You’ll find it helpful.
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=ef388bf8311857077a690eb75bbd153f&topic=13312.0
Rygle.
Yup I use various antispyware tools but it just gives me some peace of mind knowing that my antivirus is also trying to keep watch as well, since these days spyware are pretty much virii.
Always use Ad-aware or Spybot first cause not only they are free, they have very powerful scanning engines to detect spywares.
yup also installed spyware blaster to block known threats
I also hear that MS Antispyware is doing good as well. Remember, before you buy stuff like McAfee Antispyware, think of the free possibilities that works even better. ;D
Yup I prefer free antispyware stuff, its kinda sad that you must pay money to block advertisers :s