As someone who looks after about a dozen PC's and Laptops for friends and family i have come across a wide range of Anti Virus Software and how effective they are.
One of the common threads i see here has been repeated on pc's and laptops that i had to fix and sort out when i was first brought them to look at.
The common denominators? 1. All infested with Virus' and Trojans... 2. Each machine was running Norton!
In my experience, not only is Norton one of the least user friendly pieces of Security Software i've come across but it also regularly fails to detect virus's until long after they have installed themselves,compromised security and let in others so that the system is well and truly infested. I believe part of this is down to it being overly complicated and not very user friendly. This can lead to users inadvertantly letting the bad stuff in without realising. I wont even get started on the cost of it! Save to say that i refused a free Norton package when i bought my latest Windows Vista Business Laptop and went on to persuade the salesperson to ditch it from their own PC!
Uninstalling can also be a nightmare too.
I always recommend AVG Free Anti Virus and Zone Alarm free firewall, along with Spybot Search & destroy, also free. 3 of the best pieces of security software u will ever find and all user friendly.
to those using Norton and whose pcs were infested and had to wipe it all and start again, - the chances are that you were already infested but only became aware of it because you were suddenly aware of the problem with Auctiva.
This is a good time for everyone to review your security practices, and also avoid most of the file sharing sites too which are infested. keep your eye on things, review security and employ the best defence and u should get earlier warnings and be able to take action to stop anything ending up on your PC.