How important is Norton's' Internet Security Online offered by Earthlink? I have an old ve

I'm a home computer guy that does buy on line. I have a DSL connection.

How important is Norton's' Internet Security Online offered by Earthlink? I have an old version of Norton.

Okay, let me be blunt. Norton Internet Security is horrible. I work in the IT field, so this is coming from hands on experience. The problem with Norton is that it does not catch all the viruses that even the free software does, the firewall is very poor, and the spyware software only does a fair job. Meanwhile, it uses up a lot of system resources.

That being said, if you are running an old version of Norton, you are even less protected.

Let me offer a suggestion:

1. Un-install your old version of Norton. This means clicking Start %26gt; Control Panel, then opening up Add/Remove Programs. Remove the old Norton Anti-Virus / Internet Security program.

2. Download and install Avast! Anti-Virus. It's free for home use, and catches far more problems than Norton's anti-virus. I use it at home. To download it go to http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-... .

3. Download and install Zone Alarm. Again the home version is free. This is a really good personal firewall, works better than Norton and doesn't hog your system resources. Go to http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/c... and click the "I only want basic Zone Alarm protection" button at the bottom of the screen.