How Did You Learn About WSA and What Influenced You To Adopt It

  • 15 February 2013
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Userlevel 6
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I’m not certain if this thread has been opened previously, but if so, I’m sure someone will let me know.
 
I had been using Norton Anti-virus programs for years.  I had always been reasonably satisfied with them, but was not pleased with the fact that Norton typically slowed down the response time of certain functions, such as booting up, shutting down, loading desktop icons, opening word doc files, opening pdf files, and opening websites.
 
I recently installed Norton 360 2013 Premier and tested it thoroughly.  Not fully satisfied, I ran a search for A/V software on Amazon and, among other products, Webroot Secure Anywhere Internet Security Complete 2013 popped up.  It so happens that I write some reviews on Amazon concerning products that I am interested in, including A/V and A/M software.  So, I decided to give WSA a try and became intrigued by the product.  That, in turn, prompted me to do a head-to-head comparative review of Norton and WSA on Amazon.
 
I installed both products on two machines:  a desktop running Windows XP Professional and a laptop running Windows 7.  I tested them separately and ran them together on both machines.  I downloaded WSA to my cell phone, a Samsung Galaxy SII.
 
I made detailed notes of both products and published a review on Amazon about my findings.  From time to time, I have, to this day, modified that review as I discover more things about the products that are important to me and what I feel are important to others.
 
I concluded that both products are excellent, each having what I believe to be certain advantages and weaknesses.
 
Eventually, I uninstalled Norton and now use WSA exclusively on my desktop, my laptop, and my cell phone.
 
Suffice it to say that I have concluded that WSA is the better product.

23 replies

Userlevel 7
RWM it looks like we have more common than just passion for animals ;)
 
I had been using Norton products since my very first computer. Later I was propelled by desire to try something else and I had found Prevx which had suited perfectly because it could be installed along any A/V solution. This combination, i.e. NIS and Prevx I had on my computers a couple of years. During this coexistance I had been more inclining to Prevx than NIS so I became an active member of Prevx community with even signing up for alpha/beta testing. So when Webroot acquired Prevx in fact they inherited me. Swansong played for Norton last year with NIS 2013 release which is by far worst Norton for past decade. So I gave up on Norton and I am using WSA Complete alone and since then I am more than happy :D
Userlevel 6
@ wrote:
.... During this coexistance I had been more inclining to Prevx than NIS...
Pegas, I am curious to know what it was that led you to be more inclined towards Prevx than NIS.
Userlevel 7
To be fully honest: a free copy. I have had the 'pleasure' of trying out several other products, some I liked and some I don't. I am not an AV software support guru by any means, but I do have exposure to a few different AV/malware solutions through my work. I was curious about Webroot, and a bit concerned too. (How many of us have heard comments or even thought ourselves "how can such a small program, with so little computer footprint, actually work as well as the big memory hogs?") The free copy got me to go ahead and try it, and put it to the test a bit. While WSA is not the only product that I would reccomend, it is certainly in the top 5 (No.. I am not going to rank my top 5 list or say just where Webroot is, so don't ask! My reccomendation for a particular person would depend on the exact needs for them and which solution is the better fit.) Now that I have tried it. I personally am sold. Love it, it works, and I have no plans to go back to a memory hog solution again.
Userlevel 7
Well, just to name a few ...

- completely innovative approach in IT security, i.e. cloud
- small footprint with installation file less 500 kb
- literally no impact on computer performance
- by far more friendly community on Wilders
- possibility to be in daily touch with developer (JoeJ here on the Community) with many remote sessions to help them what let you felt like being an inseparable part of Prevx

No one of the above items have been valid for Norton. So leaving Norton after release of 2013 version wasn't a pain for me at all.

Sorry for my brevity, just being in the pub and having a few beers 😉
Userlevel 6
@DavidP wrote:
To be fully honest: a free copy. I have had the 'pleasure' of trying out several other products, some I liked and some I don't. I am not an AV software support guru by any means, but I do have exposure to a few different AV/malware solutions through my work. I was curious about Webroot, and a bit concerned too. (How many of us have heard comments or even thought ourselves "how can such a small program, with so little computer footprint, actually work as well as the big memory hogs?") The free copy got me to go ahead and try it, and put it to the test a bit. While WSA is not the only product that I would reccomend, it is certainly in the top 5 (No.. I am not going to rank my top 5 list or say just where Webroot is, so don't ask! My reccomendation for a particular person would depend on the exact needs for them and which solution is the better fit.) Now that I have tried it. I personally am sold. Love it, it works, and I have no plans to go back to a memory hog solution again.
David, WSA's small footprint initially caught my attention, as well.
Userlevel 6
@ wrote:
Well, just to name a few ...

- completely innovative approach in IT security, i.e. cloud
- small footprint with installation file less 500 kb
- literally no impact on computer performance
- by far more friendly community on Wilders
- possibility to be in daily touch with developer (JoeJ here on the Community) with many remote sessions to help them what let you felt like being an inseparable part of Prevx

No one of the above items have been valid for Norton. So leaving Norton after release of 2013 version wasn't a pain for me at all.

Sorry for my brevity, just being in the pub and having a few beers ;-)
Pegas, another acknowledgment that WSA's small footprint caught your attention.  Apparently, several of us believe that is a good selling point.  Norton occupies about 123 mb of space on my drive, whereas Webroot occupies only .70 mb.
 
Accessibility is certainly key, in my opinion, as well.  The folks at Norton never impressed me as being terribly accessible, although I think Norton is doing a better job at accessibility in connection with tech support.  I have noticed the same with with Microsoft ... they are making a genuine effort to improve tech support and I think they are succeeding.  I'm a big proponent of 24/7 live tech support/remote access and hope that WSA adopts it in the forseeable future.
 
The idea of having a Community Forum that is part of WSA's web console is very good.  The fact that it is integrated almost automatically makes it more user friendly.  Norton doesn't have it.
 
I'm not comfortable saying that WSA has "literally no impact on computer performance," but whatever impact it has is certainly much less than Norton.  I think Norton's impact on computer performance remains as one of its most significant drawbacks.
 
 
Userlevel 7
Badge +56
Well for me I have been using Prevx since 2004 with NOD32 Anti-Virus as at that time Both were very light on an old Intel P4 as time passed we seen Prevx 1 then Prevx 2 and Prevx 3 came to be around 2008 then I went alone with Prevx 3 then they introduced SafeOnline now called Identity Shield and Webroot purchased Prevx in Nov 2010 but I have known JoeJ since he started at Prevx in 2006 and they had there support forum at CastleCops now gone and Joe got the support Forum over at Wilders Security Forums and I was helping other users out allot so he asked me to be Prevx Forum Helper because it was only him there much of the time. And today I'm glad that Webroot carried on in which Prevx started with the Cloud no need to download AV definitions and a small client to install and Webroot continued to build greatly upon it to this day.
 
1. Norton was first until I started looking for something better.
2. Started using NOD32 AV.
3. I joined Wilders and CastleCops got to know more and started to look at Prevx.
4. Using NOD32 and Prevx from 2004 till 2008.
5. Using Prevx 3 with SafeOnline alone in 2008.
6. Prevx was purchased by Webroot when Joe was working on Prevx 4.
7. Around Feb or March 2011 Joe asked for Alpha Testers for Prevx 4 and only a few of us in which we had to sign an NDA before he would send us the Alpha of Prevx 4.
8. Around June Joe asked for Private Beta Testers which the first group were known as Closed Beta Testers and they came out with Webroot SecureAnywhere in the GUI but it still looked like Prevx 4 but this gody yucky green color and eventually changed to what the finished color for the 2012 version as we see today in the 2013 versions.
 
So my story will be much different than others on how I got to Learn about WSA and it's history. And I have to say Prevx had great support staff but now the Best support goes to Webroot plain and simple.
 
Daniel
Userlevel 7
Badge +6
The old version of Webroot enterprise was going downhill on effectiveness. The writing was on the wall. I'm a hawk on antivirus monitoring and I knew what was going on. I log into my AV console multiple times a day to check things out.
 
I pushed the entire company to move to WSA within 2 months of WSA Endpoint being released. Perhaps risky but I had the clout to do it.
 
Plus I was a PrevX user so I knew the tech worked.
Userlevel 7
I have used Norton for about 11 or 12 years. I've been through the good and the bad with NIS. It was around 2004 when I added Webroot Spysweeper to Norton. I ran that combo until about 2009 or 2010. I tried Webroot Internet Security but it slowed my computer down. When WSA came out I gave it a try. I will be very truthful with you now, I didn't trust WSA when I first started running it. I was use to having security software occupy a lot of space on my drive. I thought how could something so small keep my computer safe. I noticed that my single core XP computer (Yes I still have a single core computer. :$  ) ran faster than it ever has. After reading about how WSA works and how it keeps your computer secure, I trust it now. I no longer use Norton on any of my machines.
Userlevel 6
@ wrote:
Sorry for my brevity, just being in the pub and having a few beers ;-)
Na zdraví, Petr!  😃
Userlevel 7
@ wrote:
@ wrote:
Sorry for my brevity, just being in the pub and having a few beers ;-)
Na zdraví, Petr!  :D
:D That's exactly what we say :D Thanks my friend!
Userlevel 7
Badge +13
I learned about WSA while it was in develepment.I had used Spy Sweeper in the distant past and it was ok.AT other times early on in my digital life i had used Pctools Spyware doctor.I had used Norton a few years and then my wife's pc was infected and then switched us to Kaspersky.Was with them a few years and never got infected,but hated how heavy it was at times.While i was using Kaspersky on my personal pc i had learned that Webroot would soon be aquiring Prevx.As i had used prevx in the past at times i was very much curious.I had always had a huge amount of respect for Joe and the rest of the team at Prevx.They have always been known as some of the sharpest minds in the industry.I swore to myself i would buy WSA when it went final.It's been smooth sailing since.The single biggest factor influencing my purchase was the Prevx development team.That was then followed by Webroot and also Prevx's Customer Centric focus in dealing with their customers.Then the product's lightness,it's reliance on the cloud versus a signature based method,Password Management feature.Wsa had pretty much everything i needed with no negative side effects on system performance.Another great thing,for me,with my wife being a Web designer,she always wanted something that would not get in her way.I had always seen Kaspersky blocking harmless page elements and she found it to be tiresome.Customer service there was always dreadful  and the way i had seen novices treated in their forums was really sad.Exactly the opposite with Webroot:D
I'm happy to say, that counting and following up on over 50 people who i have now installed and configured WSA for,they are all malware free and have been since install.I have yet to have one person not like it and ask me to install something else.I do not ever see myself leaving the Webroot family as from top to bottom i have found them to be an absolutely fantastic company.Must be a blast to work for
Userlevel 4
I was actually using Eset and MBAM Pro together(nice combo), and because Prevx had it's own forum on Wilders I got interested and eventually replaced MBAM with Prevx 3 because it was lighter.(Ran all three of them together for a time, even with Mamutu as well which had been in my setup on and off but that was too heavy, obviously :P) It was light, strong and I liked the SafeOnline addon as well, the support provided by Joe on Wilders and the email support team was always very quick and good, unlike most other AV support. It wasn't tested by any big organization, but from my own experience it could kick ass. Later they got tested in the MRG Flash tests where it was one of the top scorers for quite a while, though they went a bit downhill in the last period when there were no program updates anymore and focus was on Prevx 4 beta and WSA, which was still taking some time before it was finally released. At that time I also frequently posted in the forums and helped out people so like TH I got an invite to the Prevx 4 alpha and later the WSA closed beta. When Webroot took over and we suddenly got the green GUI and webroot logo and they killed off the SafeOnline browser tab as well that was a bit dissapointing, but it turned allright in the end 🙂 When WSA was released I still had a valid Prevx 3 license so I continued using it because I still liked it a lot and in the meanwhile the bugs from WSA could be ironed out, though SafeOnline didn't support Firefox 4 and higher I didn't really care as I didn't like it so much anyway and was still on the 3.6.x fork. When my Prevx 3 license ran out, Firefox was already a few versions ahead and getting faster and leaner and I looked into tweaking some things about the new Firefox that I wasn't a fan of(addon bar, no manual addon updating with the nice changelog window and some other stuff) and through some tweaks and Addon Update Checker I could change most of it to my liking so I stopped being nostalgic and made the jump to WSA and the new firefox. WSA has gotten stronger and it's lighter than Prevx 3 so I recommended it to some others as well.
Userlevel 6
Very insightful reponses,  Superssjdan and BoerenKoolMetWo.  Thanks.  :D It's interesting how most of you folks came from a Prevx background.  I, on the other hand, was unaware of Prevx when I first installed WSA, and it is only through this site that I have learned about it.
 
I would also agree, so far, that this is a very good forum.  I often judge successful forums not so much by the way they accept compliments, but by the way they handle productive, published, criticism.  I've been part of large organizations where the site owner would delete unflattering stuff.  Usually, when that happens, i'm gone!
Userlevel 7
@ wrote:

Sorry for my brevity, just being in the pub and having a few beers ;-)
Don't be sorry. I do some of my best writing after a few drinks!
Userlevel 7
I had been using Norton or MSE (depending on computer) up until early 2012. I wanted to a suite with file backup and syncing as well as excellent protection. At this point I was not aware of Prevx or Webroot. After some searching and reading some AV reviews, I went to Bitdefender Total Security 2012. It did pretty much everything I wanted: good detection, good prevention, and file backup/syncing.
 
Fast forward a few months to early July 2012 when the new 2013 version of Total Security came out. Things came to a sceeching halt. Bitdefender's backup service, SafeBox, took all of my backed up files and renamed them. Let's say I have a folder named "Folder 1". Inside fo that folder I have another folder named "Folder 2". Inside of that I have a file "File 1.pdf". So that makes Folder 1 --> Folder 2 --> File 1. Simple, right? Not for Safebox. It would rename the file in this example "Folder 1_Folder 2_File 1.pdf" and place it in the main folder Folder 1.
 
I launched into a level of anger that I never knew existed. I was able to recover them by deleting the folders and downloading the zip file and placeing it in the proper location for each folder.
 
Bitdefender's version of technical support was of no use. Needless to say, I was done with that.
 
So, I started searching for another suite with everything. Norton had everything except file syncing. Plus, they do not have an Android app to view backed up files. The search continued. I came across Webroot. It looked intersting. I tried the trial and ran it through it's paces and it by far and away exceeded my expectations. Great technical support, quick reaction times to programming issues, and a company that truly listened to it's customers. It rocks!
 
Maybe Webroot can adopt a new slogan: "Rock the web with Webroot!"
 
Userlevel 6
It's interesting and curious how many WSA users, including myself, are disenchanted NIS users.  I mean, Norton is not the only company out there.
 
That's why I did a head to head comparative review of both WSA and NIS on Amazon.  The review, which I have tried to make as objective and unbiased as possible, has been well received on Amazon.
Userlevel 5
Badge +24
I had been a bitdefender fanatic in from 2007 to 2011 and was protected without any attacks.. but I had always felt it as a resource hog significantly slowing down system when i was running a 2 gb ram and pentium 4 machine. Then i changed to comodo.. comodo gave significant protection and i was a fan of its firewall.. but even that was heavy and also gave many false positives.. I used to rely on Top Ten Reviews .. but later felt as if their reviews were a bit biased. I stareted hunting for a perfect complete suite.. read through pcmag, pcworld, cnet and ended up scratching my head... I had once used webroot window washer and loved it.. and came to know wwebroot is up with a new product.. what attracted me was the small footprint and cloud based av.. and read some decent reviews about it and thought about giving it a try.. meanwhile i had upgraded my machine to a 32 gb ram, i7 extreme beast.. and its as if a security suite doesnt even exists and in last one year of my experience with wsa.. i never felt insecure.. it is light, secure, customisable, easy UI, and firewall seemed to work perfectly for me. But wsa.. i want my old firewall back on windows 8! And now this community is an added attraction for me to use this product. Long live WSA!!!
Userlevel 7
I didn't come from NIS. I actually always believed that I could go without paid security and would use MSE and other free solutions. I had infections get past these solutions every once in a while and I would just manually get rid of them or run tools. Once or twice I had to do a restore to get rid of the infections which was never fun.
 
It honestly wasted my time and energy trying to get rid of infections and perform restores. I am also a PC gamer and most of these solutions slowed my gaming down so much that I would need to disable them or activate gamer modes that turned off half of the protection anyways. I wish I would have found Webroot earlier - it would have saved me from quite a few headaches and ruled out "lag" as my excuse for losing FPS and PvP matches. 😉
Userlevel 7
@ wrote:
.....
 
It honestly wasted my time and energy trying to get rid of infections and perform restores. I am also a PC gamer and most of these solutions slowed my gaming down so much that I would need to disable them or activate gamer modes that turned off half of the protection anyways. I wish I would have found Webroot earlier - it would have saved me from quite a few headaches and ruled out "lag" as my excuse for losing FPS and PvP matches. ;)
In the past I would keep av software on my computer, but shut it down when gaming.  The hit to performance was far too great for a mediocre gamer like me... 
Userlevel 4
@ wrote:
Very insightful reponses,  Superssjdan and BoerenKoolMetWo.  Thanks.  :D It's interesting how most of you folks came from a Prevx background.  I, on the other hand, was unaware of Prevx when I first installed WSA, and it is only through this site that I have learned about it.
 
I would also agree, so far, that this is a very good forum.  I often judge successful forums not so much by the way they accept compliments, but by the way they handle productive, published, criticism.  I've been part of large organizations where the site owner would delete unflattering stuff.  Usually, when that happens, i'm gone!

Yes, handling of criticism is a better way of judging forums. Like people used to say: Don't judge a man on the way he treats his equals, but on the way he treats his subordinates.
Userlevel 5
Badge +5
I've personally been using Webroot for a long long time.  Since around 2004.  I was able to bring in spysweeper in our current environment at work and it worked well. (it ended up phasing out Symantec)  Then we added the Webroot Web Security to our layered approach.  I first learned about Secure Anywhere when it was in development.  It sounded like an interesting concept and waited patiently on any news I could get my hands on about the progress.  We were running a local Webroot server and were looking through the costs of replacing equipment, maintenance, etc.  Then WSA was released and we jumped at the chance to phase out the local system.  We took a slow approach to the conversion to make sure we didn't cause any business/workflow interruptions.  The deployment was pretty easy and after customizing one or two exceptions we had fully changed out to WSA.
 
I can't say that I would ever want to go back to the "classic" A/V programs...they seem heavy and scheduling the scans was interesting because they took so long to complete we had to figure out when to avoid user complaints...now it's install and pretty much forget.  Not to mention the freeing of equipment and not worrying about maintaining yet another server.  Frees me up to do the work I'm supposed to be doing instead of worrying about A/V software.  Webroot is a company I trust to take care of my systems and WSA was just one more great innovation that makes my life much easier.
 
Two words: Life Saver!  :D
Userlevel 7
As a Webroot employee, perhaps my story isn't quite so interesting as all of these others.  However, one of my friends here asked me to post in this thread, so I will be happy to tell you how I learned of Webroot.  Truth be told, my history with Webroot started back when I was working at IBM when I saw a job posting for tech support specialists that seemed like a better fit, and I applied.  I knew very little of Webroot at the time, and most of what I had been doing before was a mix of ID administration, greenscreen terminals, active directory, and some hardware work.  I was just starting to get to know the old RETAIN system shortly before I left - a system created in around 1970 that is still in use today!  When I arrived at Webroot, I started off supporting SpySweeper and Window Washer in our call center.  Window Washer was particularly fun for me because I enjoyed doing some basic forensic work on hard drives just as a personal hobby. 
 
Up until discovering Webroot, I'll admit I was not so keen on computer security programs.  Even only a couple of years ago, most computer security programs were bloated and slowed down your system.  A great deal of them still are.  Plus, as a particularly tech-savvy individual with exceptionally good browsing habits, I very seldom ever encountered an infection, and I removed malware myself, by hand, from those friends' and family members' computers who ended up infected.  I'll also admit I'm one of those strange people who finds that kind of challenge appealing and kind of fun.  (Weird, I know!  Most people aren't like that!)  Even so, eventually it got rather tiring, even for me, removing malware from my relatives' computers, particularly when they managed to somehow reinfect themselves with the same one, over and and over, on quite a few occasions!  It's almost like they realized they knew they had a computer tech just a phonecall away, so their browsing habits got even worse!  Needless to say, I have better things to do than remove the same infections over and over after already warning them not to visit that site they keep wanting to visit.  So, when WSA came out, I installed it on all of their computers.  The centralized console makes keeping an eye on the security state of their computers incredibly easy.  Now I don't get phone calls asking me to fix their computers so much anymore, and they don't complain to me that the computer is suddenly running like a lead factory. ;)
 
Even back during the SpySweeper days, Webroot was relatively lightweight in terms of resource usage.  Even so, the improvement presented with WSA was lightyears beyond anything else I'd ever seen in terms of performance and efficacy.  Two-minute scans were simply unheard of, and no other program did anything like journaling and rollback of unknown files that are later determined as threats.  It's a product I can stand behind and happily load on my personal computers at home, as well as my family's computers.  The tradeoff for me personally is no longer "slow down all the computers!" in lieu of "remove a single infection from Mom and Pop's computer every so often," which was inevitably the case with the run-of-the-mill, lumbering, resource hog antivirus solutions of the past.

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