OT: Need help with antivirus software, for 25 Pcs. Norton Sucks! Options

[Qarl]

I have 25 pcs at the office.

They are really just acting like dummy terminals as most of the work (about 90%) involves accessing UNIX servers through a terminal emulation program. There is the occasionaly web browsing session, and some minor Microsoft Word or Excel use. Most of the PCs are Celeron 533 or 700 CPUs, running with 128MB ram on Windows XP.

We do not utilize a centralized e-mail server. Our e-mail is hosted by our ISP. So each PC just utilizes a POP email account.

Anyways, we just area allowing our main employees (hourly workers) to utilize e-mail.

I bought and installed Norton 2004 (Corporate Edition) on all of the PCS and it sucks big donkey di@%s!

It basically makes each PC unusably slow, locks up and freezes when you use programs like Adobe Acrobat reader, and basically slows productivity to a crawl. As soon as I disable Norton (turn off autoprotect) everything is fine.

I did a search on the net and seems like Norton 2004 is not the best choice.

Does anyone else have a better recommendation? Here is what I need.

1. I really just need antivirus for the e-mail that integrates with Microsoft Outlook. I already have a firewall in place, and some anti-popup and spyware on each PC.

2. I need something reasonable in price, or that I can buy a multi-license software package.

3. It needs to be from a reputible company that is hear to stay and has constant updates for the latest viruses

4. It can not under the performance of the PC, or it cannot have known problems for interfering with other commonly used office software.

5. I don't need a Mac or a Unix box. I know you guys love your little Apples or open source machines, but a need to stay with PCs please.

Thanks for your assistance.

As always, you guys rock!

[johnlush]

Karl, one other suggestion would be to check with your ISP to see if they offer virus/spam scanning services at the mailserver level. Most of ISPs in my area use Postini. You might check with Symantec about other/better choices since you already bought it from them. My experience with Symantec Antivirus Corporate has been pretty good but, for what ever reason the Auto Protect in NAV kills network performance. You'd think similar products from the same company would behave similarly! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) Good Luck!