Norton Antivirus Question / New Mac

[Thunderbird8]

Hi,

I am upgrading from an iMac to a Mac pro and my Norton Anti-virus runs out on the 19th April. Does anyone know if I can transfer my existing account using the disk they sent originally?

 

[sash]

Hi,

I am upgrading from an iMac to a Mac pro and my Norton Anti-virus runs out on the 19th April. Does anyone know if I can transfer my existing account using the disk they sent originally?

Yes you can, it only may not be installed on more than one machine at a time. Although quite a lot of Norton's products nowadays are including a 3 machine license...

The problem with AV on Mac is, that you do not really need it. It will only slow you machine down. As far as I know, there still no real threats for Mac out there.

sash

 

[richard.mac]

this may sound a bit ignorant but seriously you shouldnt install Norton AV on your new Mac Pro just let it run out on your iMac. you dont need anti virus apps on OS X as all they do is scan for windows viruses so you dont infect your PC buddies which IMO should be scanning for viruses themselves.

also Norton is notorious for developing apps that slow down your Mac. your Mac Pro will most probably run better without it than with it. you can take this advice literally or with a grain of salt i dont mind but many people here would agree with me.

there is currently no malware that infects OS X but in the event that some do appear in t e future you can be your own AV by not supplying your admin password to apps or installers that you do not recognise.

 

[Neil321]

I second richthomas's statement about Norton,it's one of the worse things you could ever
install on your Mac,take heed it'll turn it into a slug.Try searching around these forums if you have any doubts.If you feel you need a AV try clamxav

 

[pastrychef]

Another vote to dump Norton. It does nothing good for your Mac.

 

[Thunderbird8]

Thanks guys - all very useful. You are right that the reason I had it was not to pass on viruses embedded in Word documents.

 

[Thunderbird8]

Thanks guys - all very useful. You are right that the reason I had it was not to pass on viruses embedded in Word documents.

 

[MacBoobsPro]

Thanks guys - all very useful. You are right that the reason I had it was not to pass on viruses embedded in Word documents.

Norton does nothing but cause problems.

With regards to AV on Macs (at present) think of it this way... you are paying to help protect other peoples computers. There is no advantage for you to have it installed at the moment.

 

[Bobbi Flekman]

With regards to AV on Macs (at present) think of it this way... you are paying to help protect other peoples computers. There is no advantage for you to have it installed at the moment.

Correct, but look at the other end of the stick. ISPs these days are paranoid about botnets, spammers, malware spreeaders, and have gotten to be a bit trigger happy in shutting down accounts when they are doing the above. You can also look at the investment of a "Mac AV" as a precaution to losing your net access.

I do agree though that everything Symantec takes over becomes crap. Under Windows I used to love Norton Utilities (still use Norton Commander in Virtual Machines), but after the takeover that gradually got messier, resource hungrier, and ended up a nuisance. Just as the other programs that are now under Symantec's care that I used to love (CleanSweep, Partition Magic, etc.)