Amazon.com: Norton AntiVirus 2005 [OLD VERSION]: Software

202 Reviews

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(112)

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2.3 out of 5 stars (202 customer reviews)

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381 of 393 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Approach with EXTREME Caution, buggy, September 19, 2004

By	Noore - See all my reviews

I have used Norton (AntiVirus, Firewall, Systemworks Professional) for years without a problem; and I have not had to deal with viruses, breakins or stability problems. They all previously installed in minutes without a problem. I did Not upgrade my 2003 products last year but did renew my subscriptions. I'm using a P4 computer running WinXP, with 612 of RAM and 80 Gig HD. I do not consider myself beyond a computer newbie, so perhaps my experience is a function of inexperience. That said, I have reformatted hard drives, upgraded WinME to XP, flashed the BIOS, installed graphics cards, audio cards,upgraded to USB 2, regularly download and install new software, hardware, etc. all without incident (or only a brief glich).

I have NEVER experienced the BUGGY, UNSTABLE, system wide problems that I have been trying to deal with since attempting to install this product.
(1)..The first problem was that it successfully prevented my Norton 2003 Firewall from starting (i.e., it just freezes on refreshing and after about 10 minutes indicates that all firewall features are disabled (will not permit them to be enabled); knocks out registration, while acknowledging the registration is still current for a few more months).
(2)..It causes Norton SystemWorks 2003 to crash...indicating problems with Symantec Integrator, etc. so SystemWorks is also unusable.
(3).. Antivirus 2005 has yet to be sucessfully installed. As per the Symantec site, I've updated "Liveupdate", and tried to remove and reinstall the product.(I've tried both upgrade/download and full product CD, trying the typical install> restart>delete> restart...) Although it was activated at install, it crashed at the computer's restart. My experience is that once AntiVirus 2005 is installed it CANNOT BE COMPLETELY REMOVED, there are literally dozens of folders and files that remain (even working in Safe Mode with full Administrator priviledges, many of the left-overs cannot be deleted, moved or renamed, at least not without a lot of effort). A computer scan also revealed over 60 Activex\COM errors specifically relating to Norton/Symantec, missing Norton\Symantec files, etc. Unfortunately, these items seem to prevent reinstall, as Norton 2005 sees even a few of these as evidence that it is already installed and aborts the reinstall. There is no option to repair/modify. Some of the problem also seems to strongly suggests that Product Activation/Validation is at least a partial contributing factor.
(4)..It should be noted that thinking that the Norton 2003 Firewall and/or Systemworks might be contributing factors, and since Norton 2005 AntiVirus made them un-usable, I eventually removed them from the computer....and attempted to install Norton SystemWorks 2005.
(5)..To date, although I have been able to get SystemWorks 2005 to install (it refuses to install Antivirus 2005), the Symantec Integrator causes it crashe constantly. And finally had to laboriously, manually remove the various SystemWorks leftovers as well.
(6)..Being without a usable AntiVirus program or a functioning Firewall, I have spent the better part of the past week attempting to remedy these problems since I'm using a cable modem with a fiber optic connection. I have been offline for almost a week (thankfully I have a laptop that has not been touched by any Norton 2005 product).Currently it seems the only possible solution is to manually change/ remove files from the registry (Symantec does provide information on the dozens of registry entries that will need to be removed (at least from the previous version of AntiVirus),if one cannot delete Antivirus using Add/Remove Programs.
(7)..Did I mention that prior to any Norton 2005 product install attempts I could press the power button on my computer and be on a working desktop typically in less than a minute; after the first attempted install of AntiVirus 2005 the start time is now over 4 minutes. Checking some log files seems to reveal a lot of the computer's time directed to verifying product activation/ownership info.
(8)..ADDITIONALLY, AFTER INSTALL (and before restart) AntiVirus 2005 provides information relating to product activation stating: "Antivirus 2005 may cause system problems if new users are added after Antivirus 2005 is installed."

Frankly, it's begun to feel like I'm an unknowing beta tester for Norton's activation process and upgrades. It's a bit like buying an elegant new car with a history of stability, reliability, safety, that has previously offered ease of use for its owner. Except the manufacturer has upgraded the vehicle to a keyless system that now uses only the owner's fingerprint to open the door locks or start the ignition. Unfortunately, there's a glitch and one is left with a vehicle that cannot be opened and will not start. No matter how attractive, no matter the previous history of safety, reliability and stability one is forced to junk the vehicle, as even a less known vehicle that will let do what you need to is better than one that sits there occupying space.It is unfortunate that seemingly such can now be said of Norton...

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249 of 259 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars DO NOT PURCHASE!!!, September 17, 2004

By	RM (NC) - See all my reviews

I just purchased Norton AV 2005 for my Dell Dimension 8250 computer (approx. 1 year old) because my previous Norton Antivirus subsciption had expired and it was cheaper to buy this version than renew the license. What a mistake. I installed the program which seemed to go smoothly until I ran liveupdate to get the new virus definitions. The definitions appeared to download fine, but then they "failed authentication" and the program would not install them. I clicked on the link next to the error message and the Symantec website recognized the problem, but said it was either a problem with my computer or a worm or trojan causing the problem. I don't have any computer problems that I know of and the program didn't tell me what the problem was and I had been running NAV before with no problems and had purchased this after my virus deinfions were only ten days old. It seems a little too convenient that this is a problem with my computer! The Symantec link also gave me a great link to a self diagnostic tool that told me I needed to update my virus definitions -- as if I didn't know that already. I read a host of negative reviews of Norton AV 2004 but still went ahead and purchased NAV 2005 because I had used NAV in the past without any major problems. It looks like the software just keeps getting worse with every version. Don't make the same mistake I did.

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37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Installation Nightmare, October 28, 2004

By	Lynn M. Trowbridge (Brattleboro, Vermont United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am a retired systems programmer/analyst with 12 years of personal computer experience, both professional and personal.

This product is a disaster. After a year of the successful use of version 2004 under Windows 98SE, the attempt to upgrade to version 2005 not only uninstalled version 2004, but refused to install version 2005. A great many files and corrupted registry keys were left behind making the re-installation of all Symantec products fail. I spent 9 hours on and off the telephone with a vast number of Symantec "Customer Care" people before I was finally able to speak to someone with some technical knowledge. He directed me to the Symantec site and a large number of incredibly complex documents/routines for the deletion of all Symantec products from my computer and for the correction of the corrupted registry.

The next day I waded through several of these removal scenarios and finally accomplished an install. As of this moment I may still have LiveUpdate problems. I will have to wait until the scheduled call to update the virus definitions to see if that "feature" works properly. It did not work properly out of the box, but required the deletion of all LiveUpdate settings and virus definition files before the program would install the downloaded virus definition update. Solving this problem consumed another half-day.

This software is garbage and the Symantec help staff in India is incompetent. Symantec has created a "Support" system which demands hours on hold after which the customer is connected to a non-technical person who can neither answer questions nor direct the frustrated user's call to a competent technician. I will do everything in my power to report in the public media and to all who will listen, the installation failure of this disgraceful product. Symantec should be ashamed.