Norton Views on SS&D

[JorgeA]

Hello,

I just came across this thread http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-360/Possible-conflict-with-SPYBOT-SD-and-firewall/td-p/387372 over in the Norton Community.

Any comments? I'm especially interested in the assertion that Spybot might "prevent malware removal that may involve the registry."

Also, but to a lesser degree, the statement that Tea Timer "is known to conflict with Norton products."

Curious to hear any commentary addressing the specifics of these statements (as opposed to general statements of reassurance). I've run Norton and Spybot side-by-side on two PCs for years, with no APPARENT problems, but then if one product is preventing the other from working properly I wouldn't necessarily know.

Thanks!

--JorgeA

[Gopher John]

I dumped Norton products years ago due to bloat and other problems. SpyBot Search and Destroy wasn't one of them, but Norton caused some issues with my HP AIO network printer and some other minor things that all cleared up after completely removing Norton (and what a pain to fully remove).


Norton Internet Security states that our software Spybot - Search & Destroy is incompatible with theirs.
Please have a look at this article (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/news/2006-09-29.html) on our website for more information.
Actually, there is no problem running Spybot-S&D and Norton

[JorgeA]

Gopher John,

I'm happy with both products. I just want to make sure that they do in fact work together without hidden conflicts. Symantec supporters gave a couple of specific ways that Spybot supposedly conflicts with Norton, and I'm looking for details to confirm or refute those claims.

I don't have any experience with Norton's impact on network printers, but I can say that current editions of Norton Internet Security do get high marks for their demands on system resources. (Just saw a review the other day; I can look it up and post the link if you like.) NIS 2005 on my Windows 98 PC slowed it down to a crawl, but Norton 360 on my Vista computer is imperceptible. Apparently they took the hint (all right, tons of 'em! ;)) and shaped up.

--JorgeA

[drragostea]

JorgeA, I'm glad you took some time to reconsider what the alleged accusations Norton had against Spybot.
Sadly, this so called "conflict" has been ongoing for the past year or two; Kaspersky and McAfee were in it too but I have not been keeping up with what was going on with them.

It is disappointing because when the [big] company (like Symantec) states a claim; it automatically appears to be divine/the truth/official/a fact to some members (who do not bother to do some research and investigate). Like you said, Symantec throws some general statements, not specifics such as where the problem is taking place.


Having two realtime scanners running at the same time can cause conflicts and may actually provide less protection rather than more.
True, true. However, I did not like the way they presented their product in a grand way by claiming their product is superior here and there etc.

I have not worked with TeaTimer for sometime, but I do recall it functions by analyzing behavior and denies known malware. I do not see how Norton's "Auto-Protect" is any far better since it practically performs the same functions as TeaTimer under the name of auto-protect. Both are resident shields/real time protection modules/call them whatever you may.

One of my concerns in the past (I think Team Spybot saw this too) was Norton magically chose to pick on Spybot one day and claim alleged incompatibilities to force users to uninstall Spybot (Norton installation refused to continue unless Spybot was out); which is unfair business practices.
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[JorgeA]

drragostea,

Well, if nothing else they sure have caused a lot of confusion and worrying with the repeated warnings against Spybot.

From what you know, is it safe/effective to run both Spybot's Tea Timer and Norton's Auto-Protect functions at the same time, or do they end up interfering with each other? Maybe this is what Norton's warnings are all about?

--JorgeA

[drragostea]

From my knowledge, I can predict that running both components will not cause a problem. TeaTimer behaves different in a way that Auto-Protect does not; I see TeaTimer as a passive Resident Shield because it does not scan every file you modify or download like Norton. TeaTimer oversees system changes and settings, not necessarily every file you download off the Internet.

I still see Norton's so called "warnings" as potential conflicts (I'm still very doubtful about actual [in reality] conflicts); it's a hyperbole.

[Wakefield]

It appears to me that Norton Internet Security has been stopping TeaTimer from doing something that it wants to do inside my 9 year old Gateway E-4000. (looking at the history log in NIS)
I turned off the TeaTimer check mark in my Spybot controls,I guess if Norton wanted to play fair they would provide an option to turn off only the part of NIS that conflicts with TeaTimer so that the TeaTimer could run.
I understand both TeaTimer and part of NIS are "realtime scanners"?

My hope and expectation is that Norton/Symantec would try to make their software friendly with Spybot,I understand that they are newer to the malware/spyware game than Spybot is as opposed to simple virus control.

I am amazed at the stories about how badly you can get hacked just by landing on a bad website without even clicking anything there.