Customer Reviews

Norton AntiVirus 2007 [Old Version]

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(78)

 

 

After several attempts to get my upgrade from Norton AV 2006 to 2007, I called their support telephone. They walked me through the same steps I had followed (not their fault -they had to) and eventually passed along my issue to tech support, since it was a tech issue. After over 20 minutes of hold time (this was after 10 p.m. EST) I finally spoke with a rep and she walked me... through the same steps I had gone before (anyone taking notes about cases back there, to save the customer the hassle of doing the same things??)

After the tech rep took me essentially to the same spot that the "regular" customer service agent did before, she told me in order to do the technical troubleshooting required, I'd have to pay for the rest of the technical call. I complained indicating that it was unacceptable to have to pay for this, considering my install of AV 2006 was working just fine (for a whole year) until I decided to upgrade to 2007 (instead of simply renewing my subscription, which would have cost the same). I indicated that if I had to pay, then I wanted my money back for the software... to which she said OK and she gave me a refund.

In sum, with Norton Antivirus 2007 I couldn't get my previous subscription information to be recognized by them in any way and when things got too complicated for them, they argued that I had to pay for the rest of the support call. I am now officially switching to Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0, which I just learned about here in Amazon.

Recently, I have experienced SEVERE slowing down of my computer - hanging up when trying to shut it down, and prolonged start up times ALL of which were cured when I finally figured out the problem and removed this bloated software off my computer.

I'm not a software designer or a computer expert but am reasonably adept and skilled on the computer and can for the most part fix nearly every problem I encounter. I don't understand exactly WHY removing Norton solved my problems but I can tell you this: My computer has NEVER run so well and with so few problems. No crashes, no hanging up on shut down or start up, and lightening quick responsiveness once again.

The problems caused by this Norton program flummoxed until I finally isolated Norton as the culprit. I googled my multitude of problems and found that several people were have the same sorts of problems and identified Norton as the root cause. At first I rejected out of hand that a company as legendary and well regarded as Norton could be at the root of my problems, but decided out of frustration to delete the program and see how it impacted the multiple problems I was having.

Low and behold my problems miraculously vanished! I couldn't believe it! My daughter who had problems on start up worse than mine balked too at removing this program from her laptop but also discovered that the removal of Norton solved HER problems as well.

The new interface, to my way of thinking, is not as good as prior versions. Installation itself can be an adventure in frustration as it was for me. Worse, taking the damn thing off presents unique problems as well.

I told one of my friends what I'd discovered and he too deleted the program only to see all of his multiple problems disappear! He told me that he simply couldn't believe how good his computer was once again functioning. My uncle called me yesterday. He resisted taking Norton off his computer because he thought I was exaggerating the problems caused by Norton. He finally took Norton off when another of his friends told him the same thing. He told me he should have acted sooner thereby saving him all sorts of problems and heartaches.

I've replaced Norton Antivirus with Trend Micro's PC-Cillin and Zone Alarm both of which are highly regarded. Other highly regarded antivirus programs that are NOT resource hogs and do not cause the multitude of problems caused by this bloated pig of a software program are AVG antivirus from Grissoft and Avast! antivirus - both work great.

If you are having unexplained problems with your computer that your anti-virus program and spyware programs are not solving and if you have this bloated pig of a program on your computer then you need to delete it.

Norton is busy destroying its franchise. I will not put ANY Symantec software on my computer. They are quirky, resource hogging, intrusive garbage which are nearly impossible to completely uninstall from your computer. Don't forget: the best way to install any Norton product is to skip it altogether.

BUY AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! BEWARE!! You have been warned.

It would appear that if you buy your computer new with Norton pre-installed, there aren't these problems. But when you install it yourself, be prepared for huge problems! Their tech support is horrible! The program slows even the fastest computers way down and it takes forever for Norton to fully load. I have no faith in Norton anymore and I've been a Norton Anti-virus customer for at least 15 years.

(I own the 3-user liscense version)

This is the first version of NAV, with which I have had trouble (and I have been a loyal Norton user since they came on floppy disks). It will be my LAST Norton product. This program is far too large, both in terms of sheer disk size and processor usage. The program runs "quick" checks (NOT quick, despite the name) and LiveUpdate EACH TIME YOU START THE PC...unless you entirely disable LiveUpdates. I have installled NAV 2007 on 3 computers, each of which have had different, but serious problems after the installation. One hangs on startup and shutdown about 50% of the time, another can no longer connect to a VPN, unless the entire Trojan blocker part of NAV 2007 is disabled (despite HOURS on the phone with approximately 20 different Norton employees who repeatedly tried to charge $70 to talk to me about what is clearly a bug in their program...and yes I set a rule in NAV to allow the VPN connection...the bug being that no matter how many times the user sets a rule allowing "to and from" communication with a server, the rule remains set to ONLY allow one-way communication, so...still no dice!), the third computer experienced so many issues during installation, that another anti-virus program had to be purchased for that machine.

I am unable to offer a suggestion of which antivirus program to purchase other than to recommend NOT to purchase NAV 2007. Maybe version 2008 will be back to the standards that I have come to expect from Symantec, but this consumer will not be there to find out!

I recently got rid of my Norton 2006 Antivirus because of the many update problems and the many failed attempts and countless hours using the Norton site and their email support to "try" to fix the problems with no success. I now run AVG Antivirus and have to say I am very happy with it.
My father didn't consult me before buying the Norton 2007 Antivirus so I figured if he wants it I will try to install it for him. Right off the bat I had to go to their site for some minor "fixes". After that it told me it would not work with Zone Alarm Firewall. So in other words I would have to uninstall that and BUY their firewall. I don't think so. My father also uses AVG Antivirus now and says his computer updates easily and seems to run faster. I have used AVG for about six months now and have no issues or complaints. Maybe someday Norton will wake up and finally fix their software so we don't always have to fix what we did not screw up. As for me I am going to avoid Norton products for awhile.

All Symantec wants you to do is bait you into installing their crappy software (which you won't EVER be able to uninstall). They will give you a 15-day trial, and then try to rip you off $40 bucks at the end of the trial period. It will shamelessly destroy your Windows Installer baseline package in the name of security while hideously removing the ability to install or uninstall any application including NAV.

DO NOT INSTALL THIS SOFTWARE unless you are looking forwarding to formatting your c:, got it?

I'm afraid time has passed this once-respected product by. On good days, it merely slows the operation of your computer down to a crawl and hogs space by creating tons of needless files*. On bad days, when the intruders (e-mail trojans, etc.) show up- they merely switch this useless, effete bloatware off and disable it- you'll spend a great deal of time babysitting and taking care of Norton- uninstalling, reinstalling- usually several times, with Live Update disabled- instead of letting it take care of you.

Countless times I've watched it run a full system scan and then tell me that there were no problems, even while parts of the program (usually Live Update, sometimes the whole auto-protect) were disabled by intruders.

Norton is the Barney Fife of desktop law enforcement, without the laughs. Even as I type this, it's tied to a chair, gagged and struggling, while some malicious program ransacks my system. It's actually more annoying than the countless viruses whose simpering bee-yotch it is. I'm going to try out some of the suggestions below for alternatives.




*I recently found a hidden Symantec file more than NINE GIGS in size, all needless, redundant garbage. I had to uninstall the program entirely in order to delete it.

NAV used to be one of the best anti-virus packages out there. It's disappointing to see just how bad it's become. I get this free through the university that I work at, but I still uninstalled and paid money for a different package. Major problems include:

1) It's a *hugh* resource hog. My computer was pretty much worthless for at least a minute after login due to NAV's virus scanning.

2) Buggy. I had different problems with it on two different installs. One time, Windows had to keep killing off some "missing virus definition" process after logout. This happened even after doing Live Update. On another install, I had problems right clicking on any file or folder without NAV hanging.

3) Difficult to use. The control panel just left me scratching my head.

Stay away from this, and go with Kasperski instead. You won't be dissappointed.

Used Norton antivirus the last 3 years. getting product in tax software promotions. No problems until I installed 2007 6 days ago, when my system became really slow and then I was unable to access the internet. Since their customer service phone number is not in the User Guide but buried in their website, I was thankful my husband's laptop was available. The first rep became exasperated when his scripted suggestions did not resolve my problem after 1.25 hours and tersely told me he was sending me an email file that would solve my problems. I had identified it was the Worm Protection causing the problem so I turned that off, accessed the file and ran it. My computer updated twice with no change - if the Worm Protection was on, I wasn't going to be able to access the internet.

Worked up my patience and called that evening, only to hold for 48 minutes. Finally got another native of India who spoke English worse than the first guy. At one point, we were waiting on a restart and I asked her a question about the computer being slower with the 2007 version and she responded, "OK, yes". Long story short, I hung up an hour later with a link for an update to the 2007 product which I was assured would solve the problem and an email address for her manager. During these two calls, the software was uninstalled, reinstalled, and tested and I spent several hours using the online support. I updated the product and it worked for a couple hours. Then I was right back where I began, unable to access the internet unless I turned off the Worm Protection.

I started the day with 360 days remaining on my subscription but once I updated, the protection center now says my subscription is expired. When I check my Norton account online, it shows I have almost a year remaining before expiration and all their tips to update the proection center have pathetically failed.

Sent an email to the management address I was given, but of course, haven't heard anything. I am uninstalling this product and will never use Norton again.

DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT, especially if you have an older Win XP machine. For some unknown reason this product has a "feature" that randomly seizes 40 to 90% of CPU for several minutes at a time, doing ??? during which you can't do much of anything else. Seems like it should only full-scan when I request, e.g. 2 am, and otherwise just monitor ports, e-mail etc. Plus the startup at login is ridiculously slow - be prepared to be crippled for the first couple of minutes after you login. As a final insult, it took about 25 mins to un-install.