Remember when antivirus software came on actual CDs?

I was cleaning out my desk drawer yesterday and found a Norton CD from 2004. Back then you paid $50 a year for a disc that would slow your computer to a crawl. Now free built-in Windows Defender catches just about everything without you even knowing it's running. Funny how the old way felt "secure" but was actually way worse. Anyone else remember those quarterly scan nights?

2 comments

2 Comments

jadew6328d ago

Wait, @parkerp80 - your buddy's dad actually used free AVG and let it sit there? I remember that stuff being a total mess, cluttered with ads and weird toolbars. Norton was expensive but at least it didn't try to sell you a VPN every five minutes. I kept my Norton CD around for years after switching, like a security blanket. Actually ended up using it as a coaster for a while, which is probably the best use it ever got. Those quarterly scan nights were brutal - I'd set them for 2 AM and wake up to a computer that was still frozen at 3% progress.

parkerp8028d ago

Yeah I was one of those people who swore by Norton back in the day. Thought anything free had to be trash. Then my buddy's dad installed some free AVG on his computer and I laughed at him. But man, you're right. Windows Defender is just there doing its job and I haven't thought about antivirus software in years. No more scheduling scans at midnight, no more popups telling me my subscription expired, no more waiting 10 minutes for the computer to even open a browser after booting up. That Norton disc was basically a paperweight with extra steps.