Customer Reviews

Norton Antivirus 2008 1 User [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

First off let me qualify my review a bit: I'm a software developer and systems architect. I have a B.S. in Computer Science and a B.A. in Mathematics. It's safe to say I know my way around my own computer.

That said, I regret ever purchasing this software and wish I had stuck to any number of freely available antivirus solutions out there that are far less bloated. Rest assured, I have since uninstalled this software, but I'm still out the cash.

Because my livelihood and my consulting business depends on the performance and stability of my systems, I keep my computers - especially those I use for development - in absolute pristine shape. There is never any unnecessary software installed, drives are never fragmented, and only the necessary services are running.

Unfortunately, installing Norton Antivirus 2008 has brought my productivity and efficiency to an absolute screeching halt. Immediately prior to installing the software, my system would boot in 15 - 20 seconds. It now takes 5 minutes, and no, I am not exaggerating. It boots to Windows XP in approximately 2 to 3 minutes, but the system isn't usable - due to whatever the heck Norton is trying to do in the background - for another 2 minutes or so. I've tried numerous configurations of the software, such as disabling real-time scanning, etc., but to no avail.

I'm sure plenty will assume I'm trying to run this on a Pentium II 233MHz (and since installing this software, that's what it feels like), so here are my system specs:

- Intel E6600 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo
- 2GB Corsair low-latency RAM
- eVGA 8800GTS
- Windows XP Pro

Performance never has been, and should not be, any problem whatsoever.

Norton needs to understand that people don't buy computers just so they have the privilege of using Norton Antivirus. We buy computers for personal and financial reasons. We use your software out of necessity. Our computing needs and desires do not center around YOUR software. You need to find a way to get this garbage to run without bringing very capable systems to their knees.

NAV 2008 works well after a few days of being installed on my system. I have never experienced (knock on wood) many of the problems experienced by some here, year after year. I have been a user of this since 2001 and can report no such similar problems; in fact, over the years Norton has caught several viruses before they could do damage to my system.

That being said, the one change made to NAV this year which I do not like at all, is the inability to choose exactly which updates you want to download, as was possible with NAV 2007. You are able to view Details of what is downloaded AFTER the download process is complete and done, but not until then. There are times when an install of an update conflicts with something on your system, and you may need revert the drive and install it at a later time. This years' version does not give you that option! It simply runs through the update process and informs you when everything is downloaded. I do not like companies which treat the consumer as a child and think they know what is best for you and your system. I do not necessarily install Microsoft "critical" updates either just because Microsoft says to; as many (IE7 being the most notable) are not critical, but Microsoft wants you to install them. I will have to deduct one star for Symantec taking this backward step.

One day these companies will learn that consumers should be free to pick and choose precisely what goes onto their system.

I purchased AntiVirus 2008 because my current system is running a Norton Product, which seems to be a big problem switching from one vendor to another as they seem to leave remnants of the old software behind that can create conflicts. Immediately I was no longer able to access the internet or my email. My ISP verified that the firewall was blocking all access to the internet and gave me Symantec's 800 number. The phone system is designed to deny any caller from speaking to an actual person. They repeatedly asked me to go to their website to figure why their product had caused so many problems, which was obviously impossible. Once I figured out to bypass this, I was told that I could not receive any type of assistance without paying for support (although I had just paid for their product which caused the need for this support). I was told phone support would cost $9.95 which they insisted that I supply a credit card number for to go any farther. Once I paid up, they did have a technician remotely access my system and delete all remnants of this product and install a fix. This took approximately 2 hours.

I just checked my credit card balance and the technician charged me $69.95 to repair their flawed $40.00 program.

Steer clear is my advice!

After using Norton antivirus for several years on multiple computers with no problems and the 2006 version ever since it came out, also with no problems, I thought it would be interesting to see what the state of the art was in antivirus software so I did some research on the Internet. Generally, Norton gets decent reviews on most web sites but Kaspersky was often rated higher so I thought I would try it since my Norton subscription was expiring in a few days anyway. I ordered Kaspersky version 6.0 from Amazon for $50 with a $50 rebate and I thought it doesn't get any better than that. I uninstalled Norton and after installing Kaspersky, my computer continuously restarted. The manual tells what to do in such an event but their solution didn't work. I called their tech support and spent two hours on the phone trying to correct the problem. I downloaded and ran the Norton uninstaller, I downloaded and ran the Kaspersky uninstaller, I downloaded and installed Kaspersky version 7.0. We tried everything that the tech could think of, same problem. I asked him if this was a common problem and he said yes even though the manual says it is rare. It was late in the day and I was tired from the effort so I asked the tech if we could continue the next day and he said he would call me at 8 a.m. the next morning. Well, I've been around awhile and I doubted that he would call, and he didn't. After reviewing everything I had read about antivirus software and considering my experience with Norton, I downloaded and installed Norton antivirus 2008. It was easy and it's working perfectly. I'm sure that Kaspersky is excellent software if it works for you, but it didn't work for me and I'm not interested in going to all the effort it would require to try to make it work. I can count on one hand the number of times I have needed tech support for hardware or software so the fact that Norton charges for tech support is not important to me since I've never needed it anyway. I may try a different program someday, something like Nod 32 if they fix their interface, but for now I'm going to go by the old adage "if it ain't broke don't fix it".

I've been using Symantec/Norton Antivirus for 9 years. I'm done with Symantec's horrible products. As I type this on my laptop, I'm in the process of removing Norton from my desktop machine. (Incidentally, I've found McAfee to be garbage also, and for most of the same reasons I'll mention below.)

Every other year or so Symantec forces you to purchase the new version of their programs because they "stop supporting" the older ones. 2 years ago I made the mistake of purchasing the entire Internet Security Suite instead of just the Antivirus. It froze up my entire computer and wouldn't allow me to access the internet or email. Fixing that problem was a nightmare. I have very little confidence in Norton's ability to catch problems; I've caught a few viruses that Norton missed. It's a massively bloated program that does a fantastic job of slowing down my computer.

I don't know a single person who hasn't run into problems renewing their Symantec Antivirus subscription. One friend who runs a small business has problems every time she turns on the computers in her office. Norton doesn't recognize that the subscription has been renewed on those machines.

Then there are the uninstall issues. Symantec products do NOT uninstall cleanly (neither do McAfee). First you need to actually uninstall the program, then you need to use Windows to search for left-over Symantec and Norton files. And I promise you will find a bundle of them! Then if you are lucky your computer will allow you to actually delete them from your machine.

I'm sure that 10-12 years ago Symantec products were great as were McAfee. But those companies are just not pumping out quality programing these days. Avast and AVG both offer FREE programs for home users that are much better. If you really want to pay for an antivirus program Kaspersky is fairly decent. I downloaded Avast onto my laptop and I can honestly say it's a much better program than either Symantec or McAfee. It doesn't hog the resources Symantec or McAfee do, and as it downloads updates it doesn't bog down your machine. One of my friends uses AVG and she's very happy with it.

Save yourself the money and aggravation and use one of the higher quality free programs available!

As a long-time Norton subscriber I was pleased that it was operational on my new computer - for a 3 month trial that is. Being the old-fashioned type who likes the software in their hands, I purchased the latest Norton Antivirus software.

Norton won't install smoothly until you unistall previous versions. Initially I had a terrible time trying to uninstall the old version of NAV that was preinstalled on my computer. I gave up a few times, nearly pulling my hair out each time. As has been reported before, Norton's support isn't good at all.

I found a solution one night after work. I finally went to google and typed in the exact issue (which was that I couldn't completely uninstall Norton Antivirus from my computer - I have the new Windows Vista). One of the key things noted was to go to Symantec's website and find the unistaller - that wasn't easy to find at all. Back to Google I went and typed in "norton antivirs uninstaller." That took me directly to the Symantec page that contained the unistaller - I followed the on-screen instructions which worked like a charm removing all traces of the previous NAV software.

Once my computer was free of the old version, the new version of NAV installed without so much as a hickup.

This version works beautifully, updates easily, and scans completely. I highly recommend it.

If you have problems like I did, go to the Norton Antivirus unstaller and run that first, then you won't have problems with the newer version.

My Dell, MediocreSoft XP system is now 5 years old but by occasionally "tuning" it runs acceptably fast. When my previous Norton anti virus subscription ran out I ordered and installed 2008. Took a very long time to install. Shortly afterwards I started experiencing drastic slowdowns after running for a while. Could not shut down machine via Start/Turnoff computer. Had to hold down hardware button on computer. After a couple of weeks of this I uninstalled and installed AVG 7.5 Anti-virus in its place. The uninstall was a pain - wouldn't complete and instead opened a browser window to do the uninstall. Took hours.

Computer runs much faster in general and I haven't had any slowdown/halt problems since. Also, now, when coming out of Hibernate, I get instant connection to my wireless router. Previously it was taking a couple of minutes.

I contacted Norton and got a full refund of my money.

I just installed Norton Antivirus 2008 on my computer, which has a 3 GHz processor with 1 Gb of RAM. The Norton AV has slowed my computer to less than half of its previous speed. Launching programs is painful. Avoid this product unless you have either a lot of RAM or patience.
Update on 10/6/07: I found a solution to the Norton Memory Pig, which wasn't stopping pop-up ads. I installed the Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 and uninstalled the Norton. So far so good.

It slows down start-up, downloading files from Internet and every aspect of computing. It acts like just like a virus, always in the foreground. It slows down opening any file or program. The real nightmare begins if you let your subscription run out. You are notified at each start-up with a red flag. The good news is, I got no virus while using the program. The bad news, it hijacked my computer until I uninstalled it. After I uninstalled it, what a relief I got my computer back. I replaced it with McAffee which offers a much faster and less intrusive virus protection.

This is my last Symantec/Norton nightmare. Customer service is horrendous!!! you call one person, then you find out you have to be transferred to someone else, and wait for 30 minutes on hold. By the time you resolve an issue, you've spent 2 hours, time that I don't have to waste. I'll never buy another Symantec/Norton product again in my life!! Clean up your customer service, if you want to call it that!!