It's funny to me that advanced users (the type found in this forum) mostly seem to hate Norton AV, yet it is so massively popular in general. So, I'm not sure exactly if Norton is really "good" or not. But I do know it apparently has one of the best marketing campaigns for anti-virus software and the fact that it is often bashed here and elsewhere only helps to advertise it, as ironic as that may seem. 5 years ago I was a novice at the PC. Norton and McAfee were the only AV programs I knew existed and this is true for a LOT of new users because their pc manufacturer included a version of one of the two with the system. I ended up using Norton, and it seems to have worked just fine since I've had no major anti-virus issues. Now I am a bit more advanced, however, and one item in particular comes to mind that I dislike about Norton: it consumes resources beyond what I am willing to tolerate, making the PC sluggish for many tasks as well as extending boot-up time. Now I am trying Trend Micro's PC Cillen simply because it came with my Asus P4P800-E Deluxe motherboard and I must say I enjoy how lightweight it is compared to Norton's AV. My PC is simply faster with PC-Cillen installed. Another difference: updates with PC Cillen are more frequent that Norton (almost daily in fact), and to my understanding, this is probably one of the most critical features one should assess when choosing anti-virus software. Isn't it true that most AV programs are adept at catching problems (virii) but some are much faster at updating the definitions than others? Correct me on that if I'm wrong. That kind of leads right back to my original point for posting. What makes one AV program "better" than another? The average user doesn't really know what to look for in anti-virus software except for "user-friendliness". Unless a virus does slip by, shouldn't the AV software in question be assumed to be "good", be it Norton or MacAfee or whoever? Even now, after using Norton for several years, I'm not convinced it is any worse or better than PC-Cillen or the free AVG or any other anit-virus software. I just know it makes my PC slower. So I am always curious to see what people have to say when they have actually tried different programs long enough to make a fair comparison because I am still trying to figure out what makes one AV program better than another.