A brief note from Lavasoft support today:
"Ad-Aware is not compatible with Norton 360 and it will conflict with Ad-Aware so in order for Ad-Aware to work properly you need to uninstall Norton 360
Kind Regards,
Göran - Lavasoft Support"
It only cost me the price of Ad-Aware Pro to verify this fact. And some unnecessary work, of course.
Most products that act in real time and perform all of the same functions are going to conflict with each other. Security products are all deep into the operating systems and are not made to coexist with each other.
Hello illyax
If you want other programs to check up and run as on demand scanners, you can use the free versions of Malwarebytes and the free version of SUPERAntiSpyware and update those programs each time you want to run them. These 2 programs will not interfere with your Norton product. You use them as on demand scanners. Thanks.
Some more ramblings about Norton 360 and Ad-Aware Pro:
Since today, I had Ad-Aware running on two laptops, one with Windows 7 Pro and Ad-Aware Pro, the other with XP and Ad-Aware free. Both have Norton 360 v4 installed. The latter combination works fine, but the one with W7 started having serious start-up problems last week. Mind you, I have the Ad-Aware virus scanner disabled.
I finally pinpointed the problem to Ad-Aware, but what the exact reason is, that is beyond my capabilities.
@delphinium:
Lavasoft say on their site that "most professionals" consider using more than one real-time anti-malware software unnecessary. Well, I find exactly the opposite. It may seem funny to wear both a belt and suspenders, but we live in a world, where your pants are being pulled down all the time. A solution like they suggested, “ditch the competitor” is banal, a sign of not willing or able to bend their own code. They should be made to coexist with each other. A basic user like me is looking for easy usability and the best protection without any extra hassle like updating on-demand scanners.
An example: I am traveling in India right now. I use one of the local mobile operators, Airtel. They block VPNs, and when I tried to use mine, they attempted to plant AngryIPScanner on my machines. Norton was the only one to detect and block it, of which I am terribly happy. I am of the opinion, that no software should be planted on my machine without my consent. I do hope that Symantec continues this policy. By doing so, they will have at least one very loyal customer.
Another example, possibly for Ad-Aware's favor: I use torrents, and not all the sites are safe, of course. Ad-Aware Pro blocks my bittorrent client access to a couple of IP addresses, which others do not. Is this really necessary, I have not been able to confirm that.
In my opinion it really is a ridiculous suggestion from Lavasoft's technical support to ditch Norton 360. I do not believe that Lavasoft has the resources to compete with Symantec. I believe Lavasoft still uses outsourced virus detection. Ad-Aware is slow and leaves you with a feeling that the old code has been patched too many times. Norton 360 is by no means perfect either, but it works for me. I was going to abandon Norton a couple of years back because of its troublesome usability, but then they streamlined their products. After that I did not see any reason to switch to any of the other majors, even though I went through the trouble of testing some of them.
I disagree with Lavasoft’s “most professionals” and say that using different anti-malware programs is a necessity in the present environment. An internet security software company should keep compatibility in focus to prosper. But I am a total layman, I only do what I deem sensible, seen through my peephole.
@floplot:
Thanks for your tips. I already use the Malwarebytes free version occasionally, so I am familiar with it. An ok piece of work. I had never tried SUPERAntiSpyware, so I downloaded the free version and the portable one and quickly tested them:
Clean install, no registry problems after installation. Full scan was fast enough, a number of files resulting in more than a TB on two hard drives, one external USB hard drive and a USB stick in one and a half hours when I had CPU intensive applications running in the background. No false positives. Definition update worked fine even though I had two competing downloads consuming the whole bandwith. An extra plus goes for the info on what was included in the updates. Updates seem to be done on frequent and regular basis. SAS also provides a download manager capable link with resume capability for manual updates, which is handy in case you are using a slow internet connection. But – it made Ad-Aware Pro crash – now what on earth does that tell you? An on-demand scanner? It did not have any problems with Norton 360, though, as you said. SAS looks very much okay, however, I am not going to continue using it, because I do not really know how good it is in its basic job.
As a natural solution to my problems, I uninstalled Ad-Aware Pro. The start-up problems disappeared and my laptop (HP HDX 18, T9400, Intel Centrino Duo 2.53 GHz, 4 GB RAM, W7 Pro, nothing special) functions much faster. An extra plus is that I do not get annoying Ad-Aware Pro pop-ups when the software was not able to do something like automatic updates or a scheduled scan in the background during the use of full-screen applications like watching a movie.
However, I miss the improvements Lavasoft claims to have implemented in their software.
Bottom line: Looks like Norton 360 is going to stay on my computers for some time, so far nicely coexisting with the rest of the members of my security software palette.
You know what? The Lavasoft Support forum is down now. I mean, I have a valid license, but I cannot get in. They have a loop running. How low can these Swedish experts on internet security go?
Time for the local ombudsman to step in. What a fraud!
I re-installed the flawed Ad-Aware and contacted Lavasoft paid support for explanation as per my valid license. The computer still works, but I do not know for how long. Just waiting for the Lavasoft support to come alive. If I stop messaging, the corrupted Swedes have taken over..
The automatic response I got said "Thank you for contacting Lavasoft support. Our representative will contact you shortly by EMAIL.
These suckers say they have an internet security solution, but no live support, forum down, NO WAY TO GET HELP IN REAL TIME AND THESE GUYS PROMISE YOU REAL-TIME PROTECTION!
Kill Lavasoft. I mean, I have seen low things, but these guys override it all. Jävla svenskar, nu har ni gjort det. Fan, vilka idioter!
Forget them suckers.
Here it comes brothers and sisters:
Welcome to Lavasoft!
This is an automatic reply to confirm that your request was received and a new ticket has been created.
Your ticket number is #NUZ-f0YAD-826.
We will respond to you as soon as possible.
NOTE: Technical support for Ad-Aware Free is only available at support forums
Best Regards,
The Lavasoft Support Team
Who in their living nightmare would expect such ultimate crap for support for a paid license. This is what you get for your money with the Swedish Lavasoft, the people that say: "Ditch Norton 360"
illyax wrote:
Lavasoft say on their site that "most professionals" consider using more than one real-time anti-malware software unnecessary. Well, I find exactly the opposite. It may seem funny to wear both a belt and suspenders, but we live in a world, where your pants are being pulled down all the time.
Hi illyax,
It is true that you should not have more than one resident antivirus program running. They do not complement each other, but will instead fight each other as each tries to perform the same task. That is why it is not possible to design a good antivirus program that is compatible with others - the antivirus needs to evaluate each file as it is accessed and when two programs try to do this simultaneously they can interfere with each other and cause performance issues on the PC.
Your belt and suspenders analogy is not applicable because belts and suspenders are passive. Running two antivirus programs is more like using two toothbrushes at the same time - on the same teeth. One will interfere with the other making it more difficult to actually get the job done. Sure, one's bristle design might remove plaque that the other might miss when used alone. But when used together, neither brush is effective.
Well, for you who have managed to stay up with the happenings, I am leaving now. I have done more than my share. If there are no consequences, it is your blame.
Happy holidays and - always yours - illyax
---
No. It does not mean that I will not be coming back.
"But who do we trust then?"
**bleep** all I know
"Ricky Gervais?"
Hell, how stupid can a single world get. You do not have to trust Ricky.
(Evil compelling voice from behind:) Trust Stephen...
Both; "Never!"
(Wishfully) "Karl Pilkington, then?"
You bloody idiot. Have you ever been abroad?
"No, is it important?"
No. Not really. Not at All. Not At All. I wish Ricky would get off his lazy bum.
I hate the way he is losing his life.
Anyway, I need to find that girl in the Extras, what a talent.
Ok, the rest of you just follow me.
"Oh you mean Ashley"
No, I mean Maggie, Hey are you playing with me?
"Sir, Are You In Love With Her.. or Something?"
What the hell, no, of course not, she just...
"Sir, you may have a problem.."
This story will go on, probably as the Sky One Bestseller of all times.
Brgds,
illyax
Oops,
looks like I signed off a bit too early. I must say that I appreciate a Norton Fighter, SendOfJive, giving a comment to my humble ramblings.
Now I must go back to my old and dark past, the time when I did actual coding. Fortran, Algol, bits and pieces, whatever.
You are right, this story is not about belts or suspenders. It is about what we want. Eventually, the code will have to bend to our will. Looking at it from a basic programmer's point of view it is not at all impossible, it used to be our question: "What do you want?"
I believe that I can instruct a group of programmers to make a showcase out of it, but it is not the point. By bringing out this stupid Lavasoft case, I want people to understand that software is made for people, not the other way around.
There is nothing more that I really want to say. I only regret that there are so few to hear it right now.