Is it true that antivirus companies like Symantec, McAfee etc spread viruses so people buy their products?
444235
It is True that anti-virus companies develop their own virus and provide patches for it and some really click very well such as the KAMASUTRA virus..It was a home grown virus by some company..There is a collection of some anti-viruses in this page-www.varunhacker.tk..Hope u are satisfied with the answer.
7113
AVAST ------->   Free virus protection for your home PC\n\nNew viruses are being found "in the wild" all the time. Further, the speed at which these new viruses spread is increasing all the time. A key problem is not that antivirus programs do not detect such viruses, but the fact that most users do not use any antivirus program at all or, perhaps worse, the antivirus software and / or virus definitions database is out of date.\n\nALWIL Software, the producer of avast!, decided in June 2001 to help to solve this situation by offering avast! Home Edition free of charge for home users who do not use their computer for profit. To get industry leading antivirus protection for your home PC, download the software, and then register it.
929959
Go to both Symantecs website (norton), and Mcafee, and compare the two products. \nThese are both popular brands, the type hackers most want to break into, so it's a case of the hacker or the security firm.\nHackers may try less with other brands, but the bigger brands put more money into protection
515244
No, I recommend Symantec Firewall/Anti-Virus, Ad Aware SE, System Mechanic and maybe Spy Doctor.  Some catch most, but all it takes is one bad virus or malware etc....
949979
Sure thing \nComputer Associates offers one year free trials of their antivirus software.\nAs other companies sell their software for a years subscription, they are essentially giving it out.\nYou will likely see a good number of people suggesting a myriad of software titles, but CA has a direct partnership with Microsoft, meaning that of all the other companies out there, they are the only ones who really have an idea of what your registry should look like after malware has been removed. \nThere are many titles out there that can get rid of spyware and viruses but from what Ive seen (and Ive tested most of them) CA is the only one that won't leave your system crippled if a virus has embedded itself.\nI have uninstalled Mcafee and Symantic products from customers machines, and installed CA to discover up to 30 virus infected files that had previously been missed.\nAs for spyware specifically, Ive tested and found Windows defender to do a fairly good job. (See second link)\nKeep in mind again that as it is from Microsoft  if any settings are goofed Microsoft does support it.\n\nIn this day and age one has to be carefull of the "anti-spyware" software that they choose.  I have on many occasions found companies which make "antispyware" embedding adware themselves as well as selling e-mail addresses.  They are like bad mechanics.  \n "Yup your brake pads were bad because the rotors were worn"  *clunks with wrench*  (visable dent) "See?"\n\n"You need us ...see all the adware we found!" (inprocess server downloads adware to display) "see?"\n\nIve seen that junk all too often.
155471
thats because the software that you are using is the one creating the viruses. they create newer infections so that you avail a new one (spending $). its their way of merchendising.
511637
Here's he funny thing. Norton and McAfee are the 2 most recognized names for anti viruses. Does this mean they are the best? NO! Both companies give HUGE discounts to computer places to include their program with every new system. Yet both have HUGE problems. Norton installs a bunch of junk you don't need for an anti virus with their default setting. Their System Works nearly destroyed my OS before I got rid of Norton completely. Had to finally get a Norton Remover program to get rid of all traces of Norton in the registry because Norton kept putting traces back I deleted.\n\nAfter that I went to McAfee, the next biggest name I knew. I bought the 5 because McAfee still supported it even though they had just released the 6. About 8 months later I got an Email encouraging all users to upgrade to their 7. This I didn't do. A month later I got a virus right after downloading their upgrade patch. Formatted and redid my Windows. Re-installed McAfee, then upgraded. Another virus. McAfee had included a virus in their upgrade to encourage people to upgrade!\n\nNow I no longer trust either company. I'd say download a few trials and test them. Look for ease of use for you and does it auto update and how often. Once you find a program you are comfortable with and like the way it runs, you'll know what's best for you.
1083515
In all honesty, I think they are equal in terms of what they can/do.  They are both big players in the market and do their job well.  There is enough competition between them to keep them on their toes to provide you the best anti-virus service and definition files.  For me, I would only weigh two things - price and reputation.  If the prices are close, and I would guess they are, I would opt for Symantec's Norton AntiVirus software.  This is only because they seem to be more widely recognized, in my opinion.  How this has any affect on the overall product, I would doubt it would carry any weight.  It just makes me more comfortable going with a product that I feel has a bigger share of the market and, therefore, MIGHT have a better overall product.  Norton AV wins 51% of my vote.
866659
you can, they do work but they always seem to come with viruses
744907
No. You have to buy a license for each computer.\n\nBecause that's the way Norton wants it.\n\nYou can get a free virus scanner at http://www.av-free.com
74480
Hey pal,\n\nKspersky is the BEST!!! believe me with 99.8% of virus detection is the best.\nyou can check the website to select your product.\nwww.kaspersky.com\nthey have everything you need.\n\nCiao,
1050604
I used to run the Norton AV, and I found that it does not find all the bugs that it should.    It can stop a virus as it is trying to come on your computer, but it hardly ever detects Trojans, which is a big problem, and it easily allows hackers to come into your computer and mess around.  or it can simply send all your personal info to a website.  or even worse,  format your system.\n\nI switched over to Mcafee Antivirus...  It has been on my system ever since, and it doesn't take as many resources as Norton does either.
86319
This is only part true.\n\nYes, email is one means of spreading viruses. If an email user opens an attachment to an email, this email may contain a virus spreading to parts of your computer or sending it to everyone on your contacts list so that they can open it.\n\nBut, viruses are also spread by downloading files that you think are safe, but are actually hiding malicious code which can spread a virus around as well.\n\nDon't worry about which email client you use, all of them are succeptible to viruses, even Yahoo. Just make sure that you have a good anti virus program on your system and that you do regular full system scans.\n\nI have listed some good anti virus programs below.
691099
A few years ago you could have argued that most viruses were made to annoy or to prove how smart the programmer is (or isn't as many of them managed to prove to the world).\n\nFor most modern viruses, unfortunately, the kick is money.  The viruses we've been seeing over the last three or four years have pretty much all been designed to take control of other people's computers - to form so-called botnets.  These botnets can then be used for a variety of (mostly illegal) purposes and they apparently can be traded and sold.\n\nTo take a fairly well-publicised example, botnets have been used to extort money from legitimate businesses by threatening to attack and take down their website at a critical time.
560834
Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City... they all carry either Norton or McAfee.  AVG is an excellent product but if you do not know much about these types of products (anti-virus,firewall,spyware)then you should consider getting an all in one internet security suite.  My wife uses Norton Internet Security because it requires minimal input from the user.  You will haters/bashers of every program so take the comments with a grain of salt.
149655
Back in the day it was always rumored that McAfee did this and it's persisted as an unban legend since then. 90% of all bugs you see today are not true viruses but rather worms based on known exploits and in my opinion if the Antivirus companies were actually writting viruses then the virus code would be much better.
408891
HI this is chirag.\n\nif you are willing to purchase Anti-Virus protection software, I recommend you to buy Latest McAfee Antivirus Suite including firewall.. It is the no. 1 Virus spywares, trojan, phising, and other malware and security Protection  suite.\n\nYou may find more info on this from the following web site.\n\nhttp://us.mcafee.com/root/landingpages/affLandPage.asp?affid=101&lpname=linkshare_mis&siteID=qBNKlhsBsB4-DXR%2FOrKSuAT2ua1P8HU0WA\n\nYou may download a trial version to try before purchase from the following web site.\n\nhttp://download.mcafee.com/us/eval/evaluate2.asp\n\nI hope the above info is helpful. If you have additional concerns regarding Microsot products also, please write back to us, I would be glad to assit you further.\n\nChirag\nMicrosoft Support Professional\nIndia.