Customer Reviews

Norton AntiVirus 2006 [Old Version]

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(24)
1 star:		(90)

 

 

I have used antivirus products since the DOS and Windows 3.1 days when antivirus protection was still an "option". Today you not only need AV protection for your PC but you also should have good antispyware and a software firewall. In the old days McAfee AV used to be free and Norton AV used to be a premium AV program that worked well at a reasonable price. These things are no longer true today and the software security industry has become a multi-billion dollar Godzilla type of monster that mostly cares about their own profits before customer interests. Unfortunately Symantec's Norton Antivirus 2004, 2005 and 2006 are evidence of one of these Godzilla monsters out of control and on the loose.

What happened to this once great antivirus program ? The answer is a combination of "bloatware syndrome" and "product activation". Norton AV 2003 and previous versions did require a faster computer with allot of system resources but they were recognized as some of the best antivirus security programs in the world. This reputation as being number one and the popularity of the internet made Norton Antivirus a prime target for the software thieves to copy, distribute, and profit from one of Symantec's best product. Unfortunately Symantec's solution, namely product activation combined with poor programming, has created a cure for Symantec that is worse than the illness. I have personally never seen, read about, or heard of a software program released on a large scale by a major software company that has corrupted and damaged more working computers than Norton Antivirus 2004, 2005 and 2006 products have. When I say "damage" I don't mean that the computer hardware is effected but what I mean is that at least ninety percent of the time when the Norton Antivirus installation does not go well then a complete restoration or reinstallation of the operating system is required. Since the Norton AV 2004 release I have heard and seen this happen over and over to people of all skill levels from regular users to advanced computer technicians. If you think you are immune to this happening to you if you upgrade or install the latest Norton AV 2006 then I wish you the best. Maybe this could be your lucky day.

I am not here to bash Symantec or the Norton brand of products. Remember that I have used and been a fan of Norton Antivirus up until Norton Antivirus version 2003 of which I have an updated subscription and I still use on my computer today. I really hope that Symantec gets its act together and improves Norton AV for future versions before it loses most of its Antivirus customers for good.

Here are some possible solutions. If you still want to use a Symantec AV product then look into purchasing the latest "corporate version" of Norton Antivirus. I have read that the corporate version is still and excellent program without all the bloatware and bugs of the retail versions. You could also simply use Norton Antivirus 2003 or SystemWorks 2003 which can still be purchased inexpensively online as an OEM version. But if you have had it with Norton for now and want to jump ship before it completely sinks then I recommend you try McAfee VirusScan 2006 or TrendMicro's PC-Cillin 2006. There are some other antivirus choices that are also supposed to be good including Kaspersky, Panda, and Computer Associate's E-Trust and EZ-Antivirus. Don't forget to install a good antispyware program such as Microsoft Antispyware or Webroot's Spy Sweeper and use a good software firewall or at the very least make sure that the standard Windows XP SP2 firewall is enabled.

Before you install any antivirus alternatives to Norton AV remember to completely, totally, and properly uninstall any and all versions of Norton Antivirus from your computer. You can find some helpful information regarding the proper un-installation of Norton Antivirus products on Symantec's web site. The sad truth is that there are so many hidden and discrete files that the retail version of Norton AV installs on your computer that some people have reported it to be harder to completely uninstall Norton AV than it is to get rid of a bad computer virus.

PROS: Program interface is attractive, the latest version has many new security features including spyware detection, the Norton Antivirus brand has traditionally had a very good reputation for computer virus detection and system security.

CONS: Serious installation problems have been reported by many users relating to product activation and authentication. It often disables or damages previous versions of Norton's security products. It ties up system resources and often causes a dramatic system slowdown. It is difficult and seemingly impossible to completely remove it from your computer once it has been fully installed. Product support is expensive and time consuming.

CONCLUSION: Norton has had three years to correct the flaws in their antivirus software and it seems like every year it has only gotten worse. I wrote most of this review for version 2005 and here we are in 2006 and it is the same story. Therefore I have only needed to change the product years from 2005 to 2006 from last year's review. To make things worse I actually would recommend the Norton Antivirus 2005 product over the 2006 version. Last year I actually saw the 2005 pre-installed product working on several new computers but everything I have seen so far from this 2006 version tells me that it is more resource hogging and more buggy than ever. Most other computer technicians that I know no longer recommend Norton Antivirus at all. If you have an older version of Norton that is working ok and you can still update the subscription for the latest definition files then maybe consider doing that until you decide to switch over to another antivirus program in the near future. This problematic Norton Antivirus software is not worth any more of our time or effort. Therefore I must conclude that at of the time I write this review the retail version of Norton Antivirus 2006 is NOT RECOMMENDED for most computer users.

The bottom line...One Star.

MY FINAL SUGGESTIONS: If you are looking for a good antivirus program take a look at McAfee VirusScan 2006 v10, Kaspersky Personal 5, CA EZ Antivirus 2006 release 7, or PC-Cillin 2006. Advanced PC users, serious online gamers and network administrators should take a good look at the amazingly efficient but more complex NOD32 antivirus software by ESET. Don't forget to use a good antispyware program such as Spy Sweeper 4.5, Microsoft Antispyware beta, or McAfee Antispyware 2006 v2. For a software firewall simply use the Windows XP SP2 firewall enabled or McAfee Personal Firewall 2006 for more protection. Advanced power internet users should take a look at Zone Alarm Pro 6 (version 6.1.744 is the latest version as I write this review). If you have any Norton product on your computer and want to change make sure you completely uninstall it as much as you can or you will run into serious problems trying to install any new security software. Read the Symantec support site for the detailed uninstall instructions beyond just using Windows XP add/remove programs method.

I always use Norton AV on my computer, so I'm a fan of it. I was torn this year between just paying the $30 for updating my Norton 2005 for a year, or buying the new NAV 2006. Well, I wound up buying NAV 2006, as it said it has anti-spyware now, even though it was a few dollars more than just buying another year on last year's NAV. Well, I run both Spybot and Ad-aware on my computer regularly, and I haven't seen any decrease in the number of items they find! I thought with NAV 2006 keeping spyware off my computer, Ad-aware and Spybot wouldn't find anything anymore - I was wrong. My advice - just spend the $30 to update last year's version online - paying even a little extra for this year's version isn't worth it.

I have installed it, removed it and re-installed it. It finally said the product was activated. but it was not as the subscription was marked as expired before I began. By calling an 800 number I was finally able to get an unlock key and the activation/subscription issue was resolved. It has never managed to register the product key on their server. I tkeeps sayning cant do that now try again later.
If you allow it to scan for some of the things other than virus, worms, adware and spyware, it get hung up in scanning the _Restore directory.
Some of their earlier products were more user friendly.

The worst software - EVER. I wish there was a zero star rating. Antivirus keeps telling me to renew even though I have six months left on my subscription. When I use the dialog box to report that my subscription is active (or even to renew) and endless stream of browsers to Symantec open.

Symantec charges you for telephone support but online live chat "support" is free. Once you explain the problem to Raji, he will tell you to go through a series of steps that you have already tried. Unfortunately, those steps require you to reboot, you lose your connection to Raji, and the problem remains. So you log on again and get Shaktar. Shaktar insists you go through the same exact process that Raji required.

Eventually, if you don't kill yourself first, you learn to cut, paste and save your chats so you don't have to retype the whole thing. At this point you're thinking, erroneously, that the next Indian you chat with will see that you have already tried the scripted response twice (or more) and come up with a different suggestion. But no, even after reading that you have already gone through the same process three times, Narayan insists that he cannot help you unless you do the same thing again.

I am now trying to remove every remnant of Norton Antivirus which I now consider to BE a virus.

I had several annoying adware programs that I wanted to get rid of, so I purchased Norton, thinking that since they were the big kid on the block that their software would be able to handle some run-of -the-mill adware programs. Wrong. It takes a very long time to run, and even though it would say that it found the offending software, it was unable to delete it. A friend told me about AVG Anit-virus software by Grisoft (which for some reason Amazon does not handle) and it did an amazing job and it runs much faster. I ended up removing the Norton program from my computer since it was not providing any real useful service.

Norton Antivirus 2006 can potentially destroy Windows! As a computer technician, I have had to repair several PCs that were wrecked by this product. Like its predecessors, NAV06 is a bloated nightmare that interferes with the operation of Windows and affords inadequate protection. Still, Symantec makes the program bigger every year; this year's release is particularly burdensome. This year, Symantec claims to prevent spyware; after ignoring this growing threat for the last five years, they have no credibility in this area. Get Trend Micro's PC-cillin and Webroot's Spy Sweeper; you'll be protected, and your PC will not be bogged down nor ruined.

The only reason I'm giving it one star is that I'm not able to give it zero stars. It all started when my Norton AntiVirus 2005 was about to expire and it asked me if I wanted to renew to Norton AntiVirus 2006. That was one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made. It took four days to undo the damage it wrecked on my system and I'm one of the lucky ones. It didn't wipe out my hard drive or render it wholly inaccessible. However, I was not able to access my email and then the rest of the desktop functions. If you need to contact tech support you're calling India and it's very hard to understand them. In short, this product is awful. Don't use it. If I had the time I'd lead a class action suit against them. They're the worst. Avoid them at all costs.

This is an absolute horrible piece of software. Do not even think of installing this on an older system. Newer systems will experience a dramatic performance hit. I'm sure the virus protection itself is well done, but the cost of making your system near unusable defeats the purpose. Symantec, in the future just make the software run transparently in the background. No one cares about getting little pop up windows that basically says everything is okay. And PLEASE be more efficient with your programmming. Not everyone is running dual-core computers with 4GB of RAM.

I bought this version off the internet and it never functioned properly. I tryed to run "Liveupdate" numerous times without success. This wasted many hours of my time. (Without liveupdate the software is not kept current and becomes worthless.) Then I went to Symantec's website and wasted another 45 minutes trying to locate the technical support phone number (the extended package that I had bought included free technical support -- apparently you just have to invest an hour or so of your time to actually extract the phone number from the company.) After spending 2 1/2 hours between many phone calls to the support line, the problem was never resolved. The company did say they would refund my money in full (my fingers are crossed). I calculate that I wasted about 10 hours or so over a frustrating period of 3 months. Don't buy this product and spare yourself the pain.

Norton Antivirus's subscription renewal advertising has impaired my computer's functionality. Four weeks before the one-year update subscription expired, I began getting pop-ups offering only two choices: buy a renewal subscription immediately or be reminded in one day. I would click the box for one day and the popup would be back in a hour. Now that the subscription has expired, the pop-up options are to buy the renewal immediately or be reminded in 15 days. When I click 15 days, it is back a few days later. In the meantime, the yellow Norton screen has begun flashing when other programs are running. This is extremely annoying. I would have expected an established antivirus software company to be more considerate of its customers.