Customer Reviews

Norton GoBack 4.0 [Old Version]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

I recently loaded GoBack 4 on my 2.8 GHz P4 with 1 gig of ram and SATA hard drive. It's a really fast XP Pro SP1 machine that I keep free of spyware, malware, viruses, unnecessary services; in short, degunked. GoBack dramatically slowed down my machine when running Adaware and Spybot SD. Also, after NAV 2002 scanned, the hard drive was in use for about an hour afterwards with, once again, a dramatic decline in performance. When used with other applications there was a noticable slow down. When two applications were running simultaneously performance degradations were worse. In addition, as noted by others, Symantec's support ranks with the worst.

I suspect it does a great job with recovery. I disabled it before I used that function. I get viruses extremely infrequently. If my antivirus software doesn't repair the problem, I format the hard drive and reload. I back up my important data to Zip discs or an external hard drive frequently and religiously.

If you are looking for a backup solution and don't mind a significant performance penalty, this program is one possibility. It's unfortunate that mainstream PC mags continue to highly recommend Symantec products without mentioning the consistent, serious problems noted by a high percentage of users. I have and will continue to vigorously avoid all Symantec products

I am a computer reseller. Every computer I provide a client (150+) gets a copy of Norton Goback.

This program has saved both my clients and me countless troubleshooting hours; as long as they catch a problem in about 3 days or so. We just restore the entire system back to a working point in time.

I cannot recommend this program enough.

I install this program on the computer right out of the box, and I use the custom setup during installtion to make the file size a full 8MB. I have never had any problems with this software.

I use this program on all of my personal and families computer's.

I could not live without this program. It is a real life saver.

I've been using GoBack since version 2. I upgraded to version 3 for WinXP. In the last 5 or 6 years I'd only come across 2 hardware related problems that caused a problem for GoBack: I had a problem with a computer that had a GeForce2 video card, and I had a problem with a Sony Vaio computer because the mbr had been changed by GoBack and this didn't allow the Sony to run the program to burn the System and Software recovery backup discs that you need if the actual hard drive dies. I didn't find a work around for the video card problem and just changed the video card to a GeForce 4. For the Sony I uninstalled GoBack, ran the recovery disc creation software, and reinstalled GoBack. The Recovery Disc program is a run once program anyway...

Last week, a client that is using the Sony desktop bought a DEll Inspiron 6000 laptop and wanted it set up like his Sony as far as GoBack and another program called CasperXP which he uses to create a bootable copy of his whole system with all files, programs, etc. Every once in awhile his voice dictation software (Dragon) trashes his sound drivers on the Sony and he simply uses GoBack to restore to a complete working system again. Occasionally, something he does to his system has happened far enough in the past, usually due to DVD files using up the GoBack buffer and he can't GoBack far enough to fix a problem, so he uses CasperXP to copy his backup OS from a second drive that we installed. He backs up his entire drive to a second drive every week, and it's bootable!

Anyway, after installing GoBack on the Dell laptop, the machine would no longer boot. I suspected the problem was with the Dell hidden partitions they install for system recovery (as of July 15, 2005 Dell no longer ships the recovery discs and there is no program on the machine to burn them).

I told my client to call Dell as I think these discs should be included as he bought the system and shouldn't have to worry about getting them later if the hard drive fails. After being passed around to 4 or 5 people they finally decided to send him the discs and we reinstalled XP Pro after first removing the hidden partitions from the drive. We gained about 5 gigs back on a 80 gig drive, but we loose the Cntrl+F11 automatic system restore function from Dell.

We installed GoBack and damn! the program still wouldn't allow the OS to boot (We were getting a Blue Screen with an IRQ_ problem. After exploring the bios on the Dell laptop I noticed a setting in the "Security" area called "CPU XD Support". OK, what's this? Not much on Google, so the bios gives a description like "Execute Disable Bit Capability".

(...)

Searching this pdf file for "Execute Disable" lets you find out a little more about the function and the fact that this is a known problem with Intel processors and there is a planned fix. Apparently this is some sort of hardware solution in the processor for some type of "buffer overrun" error or attack.

The solution was to turn of this capability in the Dell bios. GoBack and all other features of XP pro are running fine.

To be fair to GoBack, Adaptec, then Roxio, and now Norton can not control a buggy CPU setting and I'm afraid that many manufacturers that are using this obsure setting in the bios for the Celeron chipset are going to have problems with GoBack and probably other softwares that will get branded as "crap" due to hardware changes.

I've been using GoBack since early v3. It has saved me innumerable times from random viruses and misplaced files/accidental deletions. As such, when v4 came out, I assumed it must be better. Not necessarily!

When I upgraded to version 4, things started to go wacko. My computer wouldn't boot past the BIOS screens. After uninstalling it, the computer booted fine. Re-installing v3 however, caused the same strange BIOS freezes. I was pretty bummed that GoBack might be lost to me forever, as it had actually become a valued "security blanket" for my system and my Windows tinkering.

I finally isolated the problem to the changes it was making in the boot sector of the hard drive. My Asus motherboard was picking it up as virus activity and halting the system! After deactivating the viral scan in the motherboard BIOS settings, it ran like a champ. No clue why reinstalling v3 did not fix this.

In summary, GoBack alters and loads at the master boot record of the main hard disk so that even changes made outside of Windows are logged (or are attempted to be logged). My guess is that many problems occur when users unknowingly perform disk activities that are outside of Goback's "normal?" range of logging abilities. Or assume that Symantec has fully tested their product (Yikes, fatal error). Or install it on a computer with a slightly modified boot sequence/BIOS.

You really need to be EXTREMELY vigilant with what you're doing to avoid Goback issues. Essentially, any type of low-level activity (DOS boot-disks, disk partition activity, Spinrite) has the potential to really screw up GoBack as I doubt Symantec has spent the time to really investigate all permutations of disk activity. Anytime I run Spinrite, or defragment (causes ridiculous amounts of disc activity as Goback attempts to log every byte rearrangement), I disable Goback.

When it works, it's a lifesaver. After it screws up, you will hate and curse its name forever!

I have wasted more time and money trying to fix the boot problem created by this software in the past week than would have been imaginable. At this point I have resigned to paying someone to attempt recovering the data on my drive (if possible) and purchasing a new computer. Check the Amazon.com reviews, Google it.....this is the consensus and I couldn't agree more:

1. A Class Action Lawsuit is warranted;
2. Everyone I have consulted and contacted, including Symantec, has requested money for some part of a theoretical 'Solution' to this matter....there does not appear to be one;
3. I have fruitlessly paid for some of these parts, and no sum of parts will render a solution (check the reviews and rants all over the web, Google it);
3. Symantec online support and phone support is a classic case of spinning your wheels....they are not helpful, tend be rude and are uninterested in the matter. Both online and on the phone, the tech assistance wanted nothing more than to get the session over with (perhaps they are already well aware that a solution does not exist and do not want their time wasted);
4. Symantec products are not what they use to be and have declined substantially in reliability;
5. Symantec has no regard for its customers; and
6. DO NOT INSTALL THIS PRODUCT FOR ANY REASON; SYMANTEC WILL OFFER IT BUNDLED WITH ANOTHER PRODUCT - DECLINE THIS SOFTWARE AND AVOID ALL SYMANTEC PRODUCTS WHEN POSSIBLE (LOOK FOR AN ALTERNATIVE FIRST).

ps - the positive reviews you see, that is corporate propaganda...any fool can see that

The only reason i assigned 1 star to this product is because you can't give less than this.

I've now spent the better part of 8 hours trying to uninstall this software from my machine. Right now i'm trapped where GoBack has hijacked my machine and prevents me from even booting the system.

I've a PhD in computing, and 20+ years of development experience, and i'm seriously considering buying a new computer right now so i can get some critical work accomplished rather than to try to fix this Symantic screw up. This is crazy.

I spent more than two hours on online chat with Symantec's india service center; they were useless. They knew about the problem (my computer continually cycles between a GoBack error diagnostic screen #155 and a status screen that dumps back into the error diagnostic screen), but they had no meaningful strategies for helping me to resolve the problem.

The Symantec web site offers poor solution suggestions. Their solution requires a boot disk, but with only a CD drive on my computer to boot from, they offer no suggestions on how to construct a bootable CD with the tools necessary to correct the problem.

I have an option of calling their support line (@ $30 per incidence) TO FIND OUT HOW TO UNINSTALL THEIR SOFTWARE. This is more than i paid for it (which gives me an idea of how they're making money on this product).

Although they used to produce good products, Symantec has severely failed as a software company. They have cost me hundreds of dollars in lost productivity. I would be pleased to join a class action suit to make thems accountable for the malware they sell as "tools to help your computer run better".

Norton blithely touts this program as the end all and be all of saving your a** if something goes wrong goes wrong goes wrong.... It's even patented- whoopee. If something happens they say you can go back to a known good configuration. The problem with this is when it works its fine and when it doesn't it destroys your hard disk's readability. Ever hear of the Norton go back Blue screen of death- look it up on the web to make you never want to touch this with a 20 foot USB cable. I am halfway through a $1500 data recovery because these idiots release software that almost works. They even have the temerity to ask us to help them debug it. How about they pay me for 2 weeks down time and lost data.

I have been using GoBack since the mid or late 1990s--I believe it was first sold by Adaptec before Roxio took it over and now Norton sells it. GoBack 4 is the first upgrade by Norton. This is a great product which reverts your hard drive to a state before a problem developed in your hard drive and so will make the problem go away. System restore is okay but GoBack will revert everything on your hard drive not just certain files, so more problems can be corrected, and you can also selectively recover files even if they have been emptied from the recycle bin without having to revert your hard drive. Another advantage is that GoBack loads before Windows so if there is a severe problem with Windows you can still restore Windows to a healthy state. This upgrade has increased the default storage space for a healthy revert from 4GB to 8GB--this means you can go back further in time--from a few days to a week or more depending on your file activity, and has added a few new bells and whistles. I installed GoBack 4 about a week ago and have already used it twice. Aside from antivirus programs, this is the best utility that you can buy.

Update 1/1/11:

There is a newer product called Rollback Rx which does the same thing as GoBack and has the advantage of using very little space on your hard drive. Also, the rollback procedure is very fast--about 2 minutes. It can be used with Windows XP (I'm not sure about earlier Windows editions), Vista and 7.

I started getting intermittent bluescreens after I installed this as part of the Norton SystemWorks 2006. Yesterday, my computer went into a bluescreen death spiral and would not boot up, even in safe mode, without bluescreening out. Today, I took it to the computer doctor, who removed GoBack and my computer is once again behaving perfectly. Do NOT use this product.

Goback locked up the system shortly after windows started. I could not do anything but power cycle the system. After that, Window would never boot. Even after reinstall the Windows, all the drives were no longer recognized. A lot of critical information was lost. Heed the advice: don't install it even if it is free.