Your Windows world is whats at the base of this.

Hi Mike,
Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment.

Norton has steadily gone downhill with each incarnation that has been released since the acquisition of Peter Norton’s company by Symantec. This is one of those things that just baffles me. The problems just keep coming and yet many corporations just keep buying into the name recognition.

Back when Norton Utilities meant something, there was also a company from Oregon called Central Point Software, and between the tools from the 2 of them you could accomplish just about any task you needed to. Symantec bought them, quashed the products, and started pushing out these inferior versions of NU. [It is clear that none of the programmer’s who worked on the original NU or PC Tools [Central Point] were retained, as the stuff is horrendous.

I do have the last version of NU I consider to be marginally acceptable, NU 2003. It has problems with its antivirus component, so on my machines I just install everything but the A-V. I also use AVG, and find it exceptional for its price [free] and daily updates.

Symantec has come to be another MS…they swallow up great small companies, use the name of the product lines they purchase, and destroy any quality in the software.

Hello Marc,
You hit the nail on the head. For those of us who used Norton products back when Peter Norton had the tools it was the best product on the market for keeping a system running hot,straight and normal.

And yes, Symantec has bought up companies then basically destroyed or eliminated the software. Most of us also used products from PowerQuest which also was scooped up by Symantec.

It is irnoic you mentioned NU2003, because that is the last time I used Norton on any of my systems. For the past four years I’ve been using AVG and other free software which not only keeps my system protected, but also does not suck the life out of it! One needs only to uninstall Norton Security Suite from a system to watch the system spring back to life. It is almost like getting a new computer. Plus I have had instances in which Norton failed to detect viruses that AVG later found.

Last year I installed Symantec Corp edition on 33 city governmental computers. I bid the job with two of us installing and basing it on 1/2 an hour per system. BUT I also included a clause because of my previous experience with Symantec products that the bid did not include problematic installs which would be billed additionally. TG I did. Even though ALL the systems were using previous Symantec Corp editions, 11 of the systems were inundated with viruses and trojans which required cleaning before the new installs could take place.

What should of been about 8 hours of work for 2 of us, turned out to be 22 hours. I was actually thinking to myself that if Symantec didn’t make such a crappola product it would not of been so lucrative. But even after I mentioned to management the problems that were encountered, they insisted on sticking with Symantec purely from name recognition.

Thanks again Marc.

Seems to me that some people need to upgarde their systems analysis performance.
As an SE supporting a wide variety of clients with OS’s from Win98 up plus Debian and Redhat Linux, I have good reason to run multiple systems with a variety of protection software.
To date, provided the OS is maintained in a clean and reasonable state, I have found little difference in performance between AVG, Norton IS and McAfee.
Same situation with NIS Personal Firewall, Zone Alarm and Black Ice, very little difference.
11 systems with that much wrong smells like either a site that needs a major user education program (like don’t turn off the protection software to allow some crap to run) or the beginnings of an urban myth.
Sure, I and my clients have been able to turn a perfectly good system into a s***fight pretty quickly. One of the best ways seems to be downloading and installing all these free browser add-on search tools, desktop doohickeys et al.
Need to clean out Symantec products to do a re-install? Go to the Symantec site suuport area and you can get a free download that does exactly that with no interference or BS.
Need to clean out AVG ’cause some idiot has managed to trash it with garbage downloaded? That’s a bit more involved but usually works OK from Control Panel.
McAfee problems? Good luck!!
ZoneAlarm is good but requires a bit much awareness for the average dumbo user.
None are perfect but the comments and original message portray a scenario that doesn’t bear scrutiny.

Symantec has also taken over Partition Magic. I stopped using Norton’s anti virus and then system works because of problems. My final mfury came when I used Partition Magic for the simple purpose of expanding one partition on my external hd taking spare from another partition. Halfway through it came up with an error. Looking up the error code in the manual, basically what is says is “I don’t know what the f..k has happened here, contact Symantec. The anger arose when I was asked for my credit card details as Symantec felt that it was proper to charge me for advice to rectify a simple operation that their product had screwed up. No more Symantec for me ever again. Incidentally, I went on to the internet to see if the problem could be resolved and I found numerous enquiries about the same fault, but no solution.

Although I now use Norton Anti-Virus, I purchased it purely out of gratitude for it being able to remove a particularly nasty virus that AVG didn’t even detect! I am seriously considering going back to AVG or Kaspersky when my subscription expires. Auto updates occur when they feel like it, no matter when you schedule them, and my personal machine at home as well as ALL our computers at work run horribly slow with Norton installed. The free 30 day trial when, and ONLY when, you should need it will suffice. Norton gets its insidious little fingers into every part of your computer and it is the Devils own to try and get it totally removed. You would think that I would know better having used Norton shortly after it’s acquisition by Symantec a few years ago and had nothing but trouble with it THEN!

I wonder how many articles like this it’ll take before people finally start catching on! If Peter Norton was dead he’d be spinning in his grave to see what Symantec’s done with his once-excellent software. Symantec’s been resting on HIS laurels and reputation for far too long now. And yes: their “support” is ghastly to non-existent.

I gave up on NISS a couple of years ago when I discovered it was impossible to make its spam filter component work properly. Bad enough that it allowed 80% of the spam through but PREPOSTEROUS that it rejected email from the people in my Address Book half the time! It should have been the easiest thing in the world to program a simple IF/THEN statement to NOT reject emails from anyone in my Address Book but when that wasn’t happening I wondered what else might not be working properly. Without being privy to the source code to see how the logic actually works (and how it compares to similar applications) a/v protection’s kind of like wearing a garlic necklace to guard against vampires: as long as you’re not getting bitten it appears to be working.

But if the incompetents at Symantec these days can’t get something as straightforward as “do NOT reject emails originating from addresses listed in my Address Book” it makes you wonder what else they’re not doing right that might have even more dire consequences than the quarantine of legitimate emails.

I’ve switched to Webroot Spy Sweeper, which: 1) now includes Antivirus Protection for just a few extra dollars; and, 2) has actually saved my bacon on several occasions. Furthermore Webroot has a highly responsive, knowledgeable staff of competent technicians you can call for free right here in the U.S. (Not being ethnocentric here since I’m sure there are competent techs in India, too. I just wasn’t finding any of them working for Symantec.)

BTW: I agree that the security suites offered by both Symantec and McAfee are pigs from the same blanket but I highly recommend McAfee’s “SiteAdvisor” as a first line of Internet surfing protection. It works, and it’s free.

To borrow a phrase from an old TV commercial for a Beer maker, “It don’t suprise me none”. I’ve known about Norton’s pervasive and intrusive properties for a long time.
What does suprise me it that it took so long for Smith to figure it out.

Three things surprised me when I moved over from Norton to AVG:

- it found more viruses, the actual purpose of the software

- it hogs less system resources

- it is free

Hello Art C.
No urban myth, though it does sound like one. It was incredible that the City was using dialup connections! It was the most bizarre system I have ever encountered. Employees took turns connecting, depending on which floor you were on. Protections never were fully updated because of their size, computers were being used for personally net shopping trips, plus more. And I won’t bore you with the gory details of a network using a 12 yr. old computer with NT. It was like entering into the Twilight Zone!

Hello Peter, Art, Steve, Hal & Matt,
Thanks to you all for your comments and advice. I personally believe people are getting the message about both Norton and McAfee.

Regards, Ron

Ha! I’ve been saying all of this for years. I’m so happy to know that there are others out there that know the difference between pre-Symantec and post-Symantec. Perter Norton ought to sue them for defamation of character. His name is now associated with garbage. In the good ole days Peter Norton was the man. NO OTHER piece of software even came close to what he offered. Then along came Symantec and turned the Norton name to crap. Peter ought to buy his name back. I feel sorry for the guy.

Hello Camphill,
What I find is amazing is that there hasn’t been a class action suit filed against Symantec.
Thanks for the comment, Ron

Never liked Norton and never heard anything good about it. Have tried AVG by Grisoft, but prefer avast! by ALWIL Software (http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html).

Hello agorthog,
Yes, Avast also makes a fine A/V program and they have a free version as well. Thanks for your comment, Ron

I have spent many, many hours installing, uninstalling, reinstalling, and repeat the previous sentence on and one since buying and installing Norton Internet Security 2007. I currently can only update it by going to a nearly impossible to find site to download english updates. This is the same situation on my laptop and desktop. I am just trying to hang on until my subscription expires, and then, with God on my side,I’ll find some way to remove all the Symantec crap off of my computer, and I’ll never touch anything they have anything to do with ever again!

Personally, I’d like to see tat Class action Suite also include the shops and companies that include Norton software on their products. Dell - PC World for example. They’re the ones who give away the software free for the first year to the general public who, with no insult intended to them, don’t know any better.

The PC sellers push Norton for all they can, including it on the PC’s whether it’s wanted ot not and informing the customers that it’s the best thing since sliced bread.

Hi Barry,
Hopefully your subscription will expire soon and you can rid your computers of Norton.

Bo,
Thanks for the comment. Maybe Norton products should be classified as malware!

Ron

Same could be said of Microsoft and how they force Windows on new machines, Bo. Windows is an inferior product and always has been, it causes problems. Do you recall hearing about people who “upgraded” to XP SP2 and after their machine wouldn’t even boot? Think MS bought those people replacement machines for the ones their crap software destroyed?

[…] Matt Hines wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptWhen the new version worked worse than the version it replaced, tech support said I should uninstall all Symantec software, remove all files with Symantec in the name, clean the registry of Symantec files that weren’t removed during … […]

The article and all of these comments are interesting but I have to add one more. I recently made the “mistake” of switching to McAfee because I read somewhere that PC-Cillin which I was using before didn’t catch everything. I was also using AVG (the purchased edition) but I was likewise afraid that I wasn’t getting everything. Thus the move to McAfee. This was a big mistake because not only did I have installation issues, I wound up trashing my OS on two machines in the process. I guess it really does not pay to use software from the “big names” any more!

I totally agre, working as semi pro in France I have also with clients had to do a complete manual uninstall of Norton. I never touch it now myself and always if cleints have problems go through the routine, cast off Norton and use one of the other usually AVG or Avast;
Why is it when any company get big , its boots do not fit!

All power to such good products offered free like Linux, kubuntu, AVG and others. keep up ht good work and let those who think they know how to compute, compute thier falling sales. Notice that Norton now offers only 60 days not the year they used to … does this tell us something we don’t know?

Thanks for the info….

Why hang onto garbage just because you have s “subscription?” As I see it, free stuff is out there that is better, as previous posts have pointed out, so get the bad software off your machines and get yourself reliably PROTECTED. Don’t wait with a slug of a computer that is caused by defective software. DO IT NOW and catch up with the rest of the world!

I`ve read these posts with considerable interest. For many years now I`ve been recommending AVG to my family and friends. I`ve repaired systems which were unuseable simply by replacing their antivirus program (usually Norton) with AVG. Just two months ago I was able to help a senior friend get his money back from Symantec (he hadn`t been able to get the latest update installed for almost a month). Now he`s saved about $60 and has a better product that updates daily (at no cost).
I`ve also used Avast and find it also to be satisfactory. I switched back and forth between AVG and Avast but considered them equivalent and settled on AVG as being easier to use for me. Of the perhaps 20 people who have switched to AVG by my recommendation there has not been one person who has had any problem to date.

Hi Art C:

Urban myth? No …

I am a professional Nerd, and the bulk of my time is spent troubleshooting PCs. There is a definite correlation between Symantec products and system instability. Up until 2003, I used to recommend the Norton products, but the downhill performance since then has forced me to reconsider that habit. It is literally true: Remove the product from a PC (that otherwise has little or nothing wrong with it) and it will seem like a new computer. Instal AVG … and it STILL seems like a new computer (with a very few notable exceptions). The increasing number of times I have seen Norton products TELL me that they have a problem and must be uninstalled just goes to show that even the software knows that the PC would be better off without it.

I feel bad for the folks who are not savvy on the computer and had Norton pre-installed when they bought their system. I have had good luck with Kaspersky. A Little bit of a resource hog, but 99.7% detection of “Heuristic” virii is what the “Virus Bulletin” claims. Works great for me on Linux, and my clients running Window$.. Although, spyware/malware are starting to be a real pain for folks too, but thats a whole other can of worms…no pun intended..

anonymous,
I recall SP2 and you may also recall that SP1 made some systems run very, very slow………….MS doesn’t have to buy replacement machines and neither does Symantec, nor any other software co. The EULA they write makes us all pawns in the software game since we all agree to the terms, that if the software screws up your system, tough.

Robert - McAfee is another can of worms and a pain in the butt as well. What I find humorous is that nobody bought out McAfee. They screwed up their own software all by themselves! Thanks for the info.

m.dodd,
I’ve only used free stuff for 4 years. I have never looked back and [knock on wood] have not had a infection nor any spyware.

Sunshine Kid,
Agree. Thanks for the comment.

Mal,
I’ve taken off Norton and McAfee from over 200+ systems and I recommend AVG to family and friends as well. That is how much I trust it. Thanks for the comment.

Jason,
Thanks for the comment and your confirmation it is not a myth. The hard truth is that Norton and McAfee drag down system performance. And when I say this I am talking about the suites. And like you, once uninstalled the systems are like brand new systems and you can almost hear them saying ‘THANKS”.

fOrw4rd.slsh,
I also feel bad for the folks who get saddled with Norton.

And to everyone,
Thank you all for your comments and information. I know in the forums that many of us preach the virtues of AVG or Avast and frown upon Norton and NcAfee. Hopefully has the word continues to spread more and more folks will become aware of this.

Thanks again, Ron

Between abandoning Norton and switching to Webroot Spy Sweeper I used avast! for about a year and I agree that it’s another excellent, free program. Unfortunately though, sometime around September of last year one of the updates changed the way avast! worked on my system, and not for the better: one of my most frequently used applications (IrfanView) began taking SECONDS to launch instead of the split-second it used to take. Turns out it’s because the sole, half-meg file comprising IrfanView (i_view32.exe) is “packed” and suddenly avast! wasn’t reading such files as quickly as it had been. Call me jaded but I couldn’t get used to the constant delays launching a program I use forty times a day.

I don’t know if Alwil’s engineered around this annoyance but if you’ve experienced a similar problem launching packed EXEs running behind avast!–now you know why.

Hi Steve,
Thanks for the info. I am sure this will help others here. Ron

I used Norton Suite for several years. Then in spring of ‘04, my computer (w. windows)would not boot; or rather, kept re-booting, every 10 seconds to a minute, on its own. A re-install of windows was the the only solution, which was tricky, since a couldn’t get a good bootto begin with.
Then–get this!– I read on a blog that Norton was causing this type of re-boot. This did not convince me not to re-install Norton. The refusal of Symantec tech support to address the problem did.

All of the above horror stories resonate with me. A little over a year ago I upgraded a Norton virus scanner product. After several weeks of following Tech Support’s suggestions, they ran out of ideas and I ran out of patience. I was very, very close to losing all the stuff on my hard drive. I did recover and wiped away every trace of Norton I could find (needed lots on uninstallers and uninstalls to do so). I switched to Bit Defender with AVG as back up. Not a single problem since. They are keeping my machine clean and, unlike Norton, running.
Peace,
Mike

Nothing new to add. Just wanted to add my name to the ever-growing list of disappointed former Norton users.

I’ve been “computin’” since the 1980s. Back then Norton Utils were absolutely essential to maintaining your computer.

But for the past half-dozen years, Symantec’s bloat, unstable software and arrogant customer service attitude has completely ruined a good thing.

These days I won’t even work on a system that has Norton installed. Either I get permission to remove it and replace it with something else (AVG is good, so is F-Protect) or the customer will just have to take his/her system elsewhere. Life’s too short and I don’t get paid enough to deal with the frustration Norton Security introduces into the equation.

Hi all,

I just wanted to say that AVG is by far the best free product around. If you are willing to pay though, there are 2 programs that are the absolute best when it comes to AV. The first is Kaspersky AV, which absolutely has the most runtime unpackers (meaning it can open up any compressed file) of any antivirus and is good if your users are knee deep in dialers, toolbars etc. The one I use myself is called NOD32 by ESET labs. NOD32 is the most lightweight of any antivirus I have seen and will also block malicious downloads before a browser can even create a handle for the file. For administrators the ability to block malicious downloads can be locked so the user cannot change it even if they try.

Now, here’s the catch. I myself believe that antivirus products in general aren’t even supposed to be at the top of your security list. What you should be focusing on are HIPS (Host Intrusion Prevention) systems. These programs block unwanted code execution. Really good HIPS software can replace firewall products like zonealarm. Essentially they block any attempts for programs to run, modify the registry, connect to the internet etc… I personally use a program called System Safety Monitor. There is also a free version of this product, and their multiple-computer licenses are reasonable. As for blocking spyware, well you really should just start with a clean system and install spyware blaster. Spyware blaster doesn’t need to run in the background because it essentially creates “kill bits” in the registry. This fools spyware into thinking that it is already installed, which is a much better idea than scanning all the time.

Anyways, that’s my 2 cents.

Any questions you can contact me: slackwarejosh AT yahoo DOT com

thank you sir … i’ll be 58 the end of april… i took a course in graphics and web page design in 2000 … the computer i was given was an IBM Aptiva with win 98 installed plus norton basic … i had trouble with it from the word go and eventually uninstalled it, going to AVG free … about 6 months ago my wife and i moved to high speed with Rogers, here in Toronto … i thought i would accept their free offer of a norton suite and proceeded to install it … well each time i tried i was told i had to uninstall all other anti-virus and firewalls (zone alarm) before it could install i didn’t like the idea and thought my older aversion to norton was just my own personal opinion and quite possibly wrong … so i uninstalled everything i had and tried again … still no luck and the only support offered was i should take my computer to a shop and pay large costs to fix it … i couldn’t understand how our present pc with XP could have screwed up overnight after working fine before … anyway, i worried about having no protection for a few days, re-installed AVG and zone alarm and never bothered trying norton again … i thought i was biased and am very happy to see i wasn’t … thanks for showing me i’m not as crazy as i thought … all the best … dave; toronto ontario

Hello Terry, Mike and Richard,
Thanks to you all for your comments. They are appreciated.

I am amazed at the response this post has attracted. And I am also glad that there are so many who agree that Norton should not be used when there are so many other fine products available for free.

Thanks again, Ron

Hi Josh,
Good advice. I use a program called WinPatrol and also Startup Monitor. And I even update my HOST files as well. Even when I install programs I want, I immediately get alerted that a change is taking place and have to confirm or deny the change.

Thanks again, Ron

Hi Dave,
Nope - you aren’t biased. Norton flat out sucks. And it just dawned on me why a fellow tech. is having problems setting up a wireless business setup. They are running damn Norton on their systems !

I think I smell another anti-Norton article coming soon ! LOL

Regards, Ron

My two cents are quick and easy. I have SpySweeper with the A-V turned off (although SS is a bit of a resource hog, but I needed more RAM anyway ), Bit Defender with the anti-spyware turned off, and Zone Alarm pro. No problems, no conflicts, no dookie. I constantly warn people about Norton. If you must use a suite, I personally would choose Zone Alarm, but there are several good ones. Norton is evil and stupid.

Hi Mike,
Thanks for dropping by and sharing your thoughts.
Ron

I’ve encoutered problem machines for years that worked OK once Norton Utilities was removed, and this dates back long before any 2003 release.

The latest was my stepdaughter’s Dell laptop, which her dad sent her with the Norton Suite installed. It was running slow, the sound suddenly stopped working.

I removed it all, installed AVG, Zone Alarm and AdAware, and mysteriously, everything was fine…..even the sound was restored!

Norton Utilities hasn’t really worked well since the days of DOS 5.0, as far as I know. I’m surprised that so many people only began to have problems in 2003.

Hi Tad,
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
Ron

I bought a new HP pavilion machine
with Norton Internet Security 2007 installed on it.I had no trouble with it
while it was installed,all of a hole
5 days. I personally have heard a lot of
bad things about Norton and that it is
a horrendous system hog and insinuates
itsellf into your system to the point of
no return usually requiring a fresh install of the OS. I personally wanted to
get rid of it as fast as possible and I
don’t like their pollicy of charging a
subscription fee by the month for updates
to their suite especially when it comes
with a new machine.Most other A/V
vendors would include a full year to keep
new users safe and their name intact.
I went and replaced Norton with
Kasperskys I/S Suite which is according
to some magazines one of the better ones
with hourly updating,and you don’t pay by
the month for a system hog/destroyer.
I’ve also heard good things about AVG
and Avast and their free.
Thanks for reading and take care
everyone.

Hi Mike,
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.And AVG and Avast both have good reps. thus far. All the best, Ron

Nearly the _exact_ set of issues happened when I attempted to update an early version of Norton Systemworks to Systemworks2003. This was required because Symantec could not (would not?) update virus definitions for the older version. The new installation refused to function because of the older version. In order to install 2003 I had to use the Symantec uninstall tool _and_ manually edit the registry to remove all references to Symantec because the removal tool was incomplete. To be fair, Symantec did have instructions describing what had to be done.

I found that Systemworks was bloated and resulted in slowdowns. To me any software that can’t uninstall without performing “brain surgery” (manual registry edits) is a sign of awful programming. After all, the software authors ought to know what they put into the registry. Or does Symantec hire a new crew for each version of their suite?

I once enjoyed Norton Utilities, but Symantec has made it nearly impossible to install that set of tools without installing at least portions of the suite. I now have a free copy of Systemworks 2006 but after the issues with 2003 (which had to be uninstalled laborously), no thanks.

To me it’s absolutely amazing that Symantec survives. They purchase good companies and products only to eventually destroy the product by “improving” it. Sad.

Hello Harry,

“To me it’s absolutely amazing that Symantec survives. They purchase good companies and products only to eventually destroy the product by “improving” it. Sad.”

I like your thinking Harry - this is exactly what they have done.

Thanks, Ron

Shhebang!
Another tale of woe here. Seems there was a recent (4/6 at 10:30am) virus outbreak that Symantec didn’t even have a def for! Thinking it was a connection problem, I spent hours on the phone with my DSL provider only to get down to “there must be an anti-virus problem.” (Verizon was actually pretty good on the consumer side.)
Internet connection was OK. I checked everything I knew to check with “connections” and the network and never dreamed that the A-V would be the problem.
I called my local tech guy when I finally gave up last night and he spent two hours puzzling over it.He found that ports 110 and 25 on my email were blocked in my email program, but there was no apparent reason. Finally, after a replacement email program suffered the same port-blocked fate, he switched my machine to AVG and disabled Norton. My email now cruises and there is definitely less drag. I am writing this as I anticipate uninstalling the Norton bag o’ junk. I am not even gonna ask for a refund as I am now leery of even connecting to their web-site!
PH

Hi Patrick,
Thanks for sharing you your exploits with us. It is appreciated. Ron

Every time I read comments that tell of horror stories with some products, I just smile. I walked away from Symantec products years ago. Not because they didn’t work but that they worked too well. I remember significant performance hits. The utility suites were bloated and strove to take over the OS.

I can say that in the case of Symantec that all of the negatives are part of the past. I purchased an HP dv9030 laptop this last Black Friday. It came with Norton’s AV installed. After 60 days, I had the opportunity to either renew/upgrade or use another product. I upgraded to Symantec Security Suite 2007. I have not had one problem related to this product.

My laptop is very robust with a Core 2 Duo processor and 2 Gigs of RAM. I will admit to installing other utilities for comparisons. The other utilities are gone. For my family and friends with sufficient computer resources I am recommending Security Suite 2007 or Norton 360. They do what they advertise.

After reading all of these posts, I think I know why my system is so slow. I’m gonna follow all of this advice and ditch Norton. When I had trouble installing AV 2005, tech support provided “help” that would have been worse than useless. I ended up fixing the registry problem on my own and have no intention of ever calling them again.

Hello Vince7,
I’m glad to hear that you are finding the new Symantec products better than they have been. I have read where they are not as hoggish as before.

Hi Jack Wilson,
Thanks for sharing your experience as well.

Regards, Ron

Nortons Antivirus 2007

SCORE = 0

I think this software must still be in beta

It cannot complete a full scan
It locks zip files
It will Not uninstall

On the plus side if your seriously thinking about fixing your computer then this software will HELP you attain your goal - yep it will cause you that much more issues that you will now be Forced to - muh ha haha ha haaaaa!

I work in IT and 0800 Technical Help and from my experience from Symantec Help service…

Technical Support - It is truely a class above all and top of the line feactures…
BUT how can you expect them to fix broken software I pity the IT people they have a top quality help tools but cannot fix there useless software! - it takes ages to get nowhere due to this!

Fence at the top of the hill needs replacing. Ambulance at bottom gets a lot of work!

Hi Marc,
No ambulances for me. I’ll stick with AVG & Nod32 for awhile.
Ron

Well, i once had a similar problem with norton, I had to uninstall everything to reinstall internet security, what tech support told me to do was to download SymNRT from their website, an utility from norton that removes everything that is symanrtec on your pc. after that, I was able to install internet security corrwctly. But now after that liscence expired, I was recommended to use Trend Micro PC Cillin, I like it way much than Mc Affee or Norton, now my pc boots faster, scans take less time, and I got full protection with updates everyday. I recomend it to all. Trend micro pc cillin is avaiable on all retails, easy to use, and install, try it at their wensite, and you’ll never use norton again!

Hello Fred,
Thanks for your comments and also your take on Trend Micro. It is appreciated.
Ron

Does anyone know if Peter Norton is still involved with Symantec? My impression is that after he sold, he had no further involvement in the company.

Norton 360 is excellent. Unobtrustive and performs well.

Hello Oliver,
I’m glad 360 is working well for you. Thank you for your comment.
Ron

NRT is your friend, use it wisely and replace all Norton security products with something like Kaspersky, Avira Antivir or Bitdefender. Your computer will thank you.

I join the chorus of Norton victims, singing loudly, “BOOOOOO.”
Pretty interface, with no logic behind the Help. Incomplete directions that assume you’re already looking at the screen that has the buttons they refer to. LiveUpdate scheduler buried deep - in Control Panel, and other places - and yet, when found and adjusted, there is no change in the schedule. I set it for a 24 hour update cycle, it converted it to 1440 minutes (ok, they can multiply - Bravo!) and it still updates every hour, and sucks my resources dry. The incredibly deep rebate I got on a 3-user package (ultimately paid about $10) is not worth the headaches. I used to love Norton - set it and forget it - but I’m ready to jump off this train. You gets what you pays for.

I’m looking seriously at NOD32 - minimal resource use and FAST, or so I’ve read. The question is, what to pair it with? ZoneAlarm?

Thanks for the space to vent/share.
Cheers -
gh

Nod32 is a excellent choice for A/V protection. I use it on my Vista machine and it works perfectly.
I’ve been using AVG on my XP boxes for 3 years with out a problem and you can’t beat the price - free.
Believe it or not, I just use Windows firewall and it has worked fine for me as well.
Regards, Ron

From what I gather from most comments is that there is some reverse logic being applied. Rather than really check the facts, it is now ‘assumed’ that Norton products are not working properly and have a high footprint. I cannot escape the feeling that this feeling is based on versions prior to the latest, mostly the 2005 and 2006 range. I have had Norton products on my systems and most of my customer’s systems from the 2001 versions and can only say that the 2007 range has impressed me beyond words.

Compared to the 2006 version, the 2007 range (and I’m mainly talking Norton AntiVirus and Norton Internet Security here) has a footprint that is incredibly smaller. In fact the Internet Security footprint is a lot smaller than many, if not all, major competitors. People claiming that the 2007 version still hogs down their system need to look elsewhere in their system in my view, or simply do not meet the XP/Vista system requirements.

It is easy to bash the big players in the market. It is harder to look at their products with an open mind and recognize big improvements as they happen. The 2007 version is one of these big improvements, especially when it comes to the reduced footprint, but also in terms of the installation procedure. From my own experience, based on an installation count of approximately 120 customers, the product caused issues during installation in a mere 5 cases. In those cases, the systems involved were, to say the least, messy and had been going through several OS upgrades and had been subject to many AV type ’software tests’. Yes, previous Norton versions showed a higher percentage of installation issues, but yes, the 2007 version, in my experience, is a big improvement. It is only fair to admit that and acknowledge the fact that apparently Symantec has smelled the roses and has decided to improve their products…

I have been a Norton user since its inception. Until this year (2007) I have been a staunch advocate of Norton products having first learned of them in a professional work environment and then, later, purchasing and installing them on my personal computers.

But this year was different. Fortunately, the problems encountered did not start occurring till the end of the subscription period. But, at about 11 months, my family started putting two and two together and when we added all the numbers, the result came to Symantec.

Many of the problems described above were encountered. I recall reading one posting above that spoke of having “sound” problems. I had not made the connection between the “sound” problems we have been having an Symantec until that posting.

The biggest problem was my fiance’s (who does Medical Transcription from home) who had been complaining to me about recurrent “Blue Screen of Death” issues. The Blue Screen referenced “SYMNDIS.SYS” so I had a point of reference to begin my investigation. When I contacted customer service in India, I was given a plan of action. The first step was to go into the Symantec Protection Center and disable all of the Settings under Norton Internet Security. This did not fix the problem she was experiencing. Then, I proactively took the next step without contacting Customer Service again. I deinstalled Norton Anti-Virus 2007. And, as others stated above, I also took upon myself the arduous and time-consuming task of identifying and removing every “Symantec” entry in the Windows registry. When I returned the system to my fiance, she no longer encountered the Blue Screen problem. In addition, she reported to me that everything appeared to be running MUCH faster.

Still not completely convinced that Symantec was the “root cause” and wanting to give them the benefit of the doubt (how’s that for loyalty?), I convinced my fiance to allow me to put a fresh install of Norton Anti-Virus 2007 back on her system, just in case the problem may have been caused by a faulty or spoofed Live Update. But as soon as NAV 2007 was back on her system, the Blue Screen problem and slow performance returned. Another work-at-home transcriptionist let my fiance know that they had been using another product (not McAfee) and had not had any problems like the ones my fiance had been reporting so she opted to purchase and download that anti-virus program. And the problems that she had been having with NAV 2007 have not occurred since. And the performance has improved. And, knock on wood, we have not had any recurrence of the “sound” problems which, as you can imagine, are such an essential part of a medical transcriptionists work (taking dictation from doctors.)

I don’t know about you but I would hate to think that some day I might be in an emergency medical condition and needing to be transferred to another facility but can’t be transferred because the doctor’s ’stat’ orders could not be transcribed because the transcriptionist working on my case was having Symantec sound problems. A pretty scary thought indeed.

We still have two more computers that need to be migrated, (mine and her son’s) but I am now certain that loyalty to Symantec is no longer a reasonable choice. It is sad, too, because, as has been stated so many times above, Peter Norton did such a phenomenal job with the earlier versions of Norton products that it really is a shame that that level of expertise and diligence in producing a quality product was not sold to Symantec along with the software rights.

In all fairness to Symantec, without trying to make excuses for them, let us not forget that virus authors are getting more and more sophisticated in the methodologies they are using to infest our PCs with their poisons. Just as their sophistication evolves, so does the level of checking that needs to be performed by the Anti-Virus folks. So, also, I am not too surprised that there are some “free” software vendors who have figured out how to do these same tasks from scratch that Symantec has been forced to do as add-ons to an existing design. My best recommendation to Symantec would have to be something like, “It is time for refactoring.” Either that or just start over again from scratch because that is what seems to be working for those people who are slowly eroding your market share. Do this, or die.

And to the entrepreneurs who are currently distributing freeware and shareware to fill the gap, “Kudos!” Keep up the good work. And, eventually, you could actually make some decent profits by selling your product at a modest price. They obviously are working better than anything the giants have provided. Supply and demand.

But, in the mean time, thank you for making it possible for people to use their computers the way their computers were originally designed to be used.

I’ve been hearing numerous horror stories from people using Symantec/Norton. Back in the time,Norton and McAfee used to be the best in the market. Surprisingly today,they are considered garbage which are not worth installing. I am now using AVG Free Edition followed by Panda Platinum,and SpyBot Search & Destroy. My system is running alright so far. Also,installing a registry cleaner may improve a system’s speed. It fixes invalid registry keys and at the same time improves performance.

Symatntec Sux up resources constantly running LUCALLBACK PROXY..liveupdate cannot be turned off support is “NOT” any help!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…Thumbs Down. Thanks for reminding me why I threw the disk in trash 3 years ago…And hopefully will be getting a refund on this 1 (2008) that I’ll be spending the next frigging 20 hours un-installing!!

Reading this thread after searching on clues for Blue Screen ‘o Death running registry checkup on Systemworks 2003. Removing it after typing this post.

I saw Steve’s 4/4/2007 mention of poor spam blocking. I started using InBoxer several years ago after suddenly seeing a flood of stock and Rx solicitations that always came from different senders and were tough to filter. It’s great. You watch the Outlook in box start emptying as soon as it starts to fill. It trains well on what to kill, and has white and black lists. Also creates folders where it dumps filtered msgs, and those about which it isn’t sure. I’ll renew when it expires, and will pray that MS, Symantec or McAfee never buy the company!

I hope this helps at least one person spend less time deleting garbage.

Cheers.

Alan

My Norton subscription expired back in Nov 07 and I’d been plotting renewing or searching for a new service, and this blog has told me what I was looking for. I had read a couple months back an article in Consumer Reports that highly favored McAfee. They also addressed things like ad blockers, spyware, Zonealarm and other firewalls, but didn’t even mention AVG. I am going to actively seek them out based on these recommendations.

While I am a moderate computer user, I haven’t had one virus or malware in 6 years of using Norton’s. But what I have had was incredibly sluggish performance, interrupted ‘authorization’ memos ad nauseum, setting changes NEVER take place, and TOO many firewall conflicts to deal with. I can handle dealing with a few of these things, but I would LOVE to find something that’s a little less of a nuisance for all that ‘protection’.

Thanks for this very even-handed advice. It’s hard to find unpurchased opinions these days. You may consider me a new reader here.

Jeb