Norton 2006

I know from experience that with NIS 2005 it only performed well (that is did not affect PC performance) when running on new well spec'd PC's. Put it on anything old(er) and the PC slowed often to a crawl. I would guess that things would be the same (or worse) with NIS 2006.

My advice to my customers is avoid it like the plague on older PC's, but use it if it is your preferred choice if you have a new PC.

"I am very frustated and disappointed that it is not up to Norton's usual standards."

Actually it is!! Why are you disappointed. This sort of behaviour is pretty normal by Norton/Symantec standards. Since I got the kakworm virus as far back as 2002-03, inspite of having installed NAV 2003, I have stayed away. I moved to AVG and was very pleasantly surprised at the performance jump of my PC - it was like getting a hardware upgrade worth $ 500 free! I actually had bought NIS 2003 but the firewall portion was so bad I finally uninstalled it and had only installed NAV along with ZA.

After doing some more research at forums, I moved to AVG and ZA and then getting some problems to Sygate Personal Firewall and till date have never had any problems these last 2 - 3 years. And my PC is as fast as it can be. It is really a pity that Symantec has taken over Sygate...

I've been a Norton/Symamtec user for many many years. Recently, during one of those "automatic" updates, my subscription became corrupted. After my efforts to fix it failed, I tried to update/renew my subscription. Nothing but problems. I emailed Support and got no replies. All the Tek folks are somewhere on the other side of the Atlantic. Rather than wait for days, leaving my computer open to attack, I went with McAfee. Norton is not the company it once was, that's for sure. Too big - no service.

Try AVG Free. I have been using that for years, and it runs fast and you can get automatic updates, and it seems to be very effective. I also have an ISP, Cox Cable that rids all incoming e-mail of viruses. See if you can find an ISP that does that, think about using AVG, and you will sure minimize your problems. I had Norton on my computer, and there didn't seem to be anything that I could do to get it running right again after I had a windows XP crash and had to reinstall everything. AVG just seems to be more user friendly. Also a good addition would be to install Zone Alarm Free version, since that will help to keep out people probing your internet connection.

I was a Norton die hard up until they produced Norton System Works 2002. My die hard status came to a screeching halt after purchase and I refuse to go back.

I've been using Norton for a LONG time, ever since McAfee didn't do the job.
My updated 2004 expires in a couple of days, so yesterday I read the company descriptions, opt for Norton AV 2006.


Man, what a disaster that was.
Spent hours and 3 reboots to get it loaded, then it has "features" they don't tell you about.
Like this "Protection Center" window that keeps popping up in the lower right, and covers about 1/4 of your screen, and all it wants you to do is run a scan, update...you have to "click" it off every time to continue (no minimizing), pain in the tailfeathers.
Then, they want to add a web browser toolbar.
Not on MY computer, they don't!
Then, someone asks a question on one of the many non-computer-related forums I do tech advice on, you do a google looking for info, it decides it doesn't like the looks of the server, does this full-screen "scan", and then dumps ALL your browser windows!

The "support" folks, while pleasant enough, do not have English as their primary language, and simply read from their menu script.
I loaded it at 2 PM yesterday, disabled in in my startup at 2330 last night, requested a refund and un-installed it at noon today.

But wait!

You have to sign a Proof of Destruction letter to get a refund!
So, once it's fully un-installed, and you check Program Files, it isn't.
So, you fix that.
Then, you check the Registry.
Oooops!
Still there, too!
So, you fix that!
Then you do a "search" for "Norton", and lordhavemercy, there are a dozen more instances THERE!

Crimeny, it took 90 minutes to unload the damn thing!

They kept telling me to un-load and un-install AdAware, AdWatch, Privacy Guardian, SpyBot, all the stuff I KNOW works, and "trust them".
Not this guy!


So, what do you guys use?
I've heard good things about Panda.

AVG I see mentioned, too.

Since my subscription to NAV 2003 expired, I switched to AVG (at that time v6). I had to manually install their online e-mail scanner for OE and configure it, but I found a helpful thread somewhere which easily allowed me to do it. I was really surprised at the performance jump that I got just from this one switch! It has enabled me to postpone upgrading my PC. Since then AVG has released v7.1, which includes the e-mail scanner and feels as good as ever. Almost daily updates, a fairly helpful support forum, catches viruses and does not bog down your system.

You can always try the free version and uninstall it if you do not like it. If you like it, upgrade to the licensed one, if it is non-personal use. AFAIK, it uninstalls quite cleanly.

Why did it slow my computer down? Prior to installing this 2006 program, I would enjoy using my PC. Now I dread having to turn it on.
It takes a long time to boot up, it takes a long time to open spread sheets or simple programs. It has become very frustrating!!
Can anyone help? I'm running Windows XP, Pentium4, 2.53GHz and 256MB RAM. Do I need to add more RAM?

I've avoided NAV since 2004 ver. Use AVG and Avast free versions. AVG recently detected a generic backdoor worm on my main computer. I had heard the free versions were not astute at the more difficult viruses and worms. I'm sufficiently please with these to probably purchase the professional versions. BTW AVG's paid subscription is twice as long as Symantec for about the same renewal fee.

im running winxp and have over 1000 in ram. i have NAV 2003 and have no problems with viruses but my question is how long can i use the 2003 version? do i have to upgrade even though i have no visable problems or viruses yet? how important is it to use the newest versions of any AV programs? also can i use the NAV2003 and also AVG (free version) at the same time or can 2 AV programs not run together? thanks

Hi,
It's not recommended to install and use more than 1 antivirus program.

You can install another antivirus program but make sure that only 1 is configured to monitor your system in real-time.

I suggest that you do not install another antivirus program if you like what you are using.

As long as Symantec allow you to renew your subscription, you can continue using the program. Upgrading is not a must. If they still allow you to renew your subscription then it's OK to use that version.

If Virus definitions aren't up to date, then it won't matter what AV you're using, free/commercial, old/new, it won't catch the virus/worm then. Only upgrade to a newer version if it's worth the money.

I hear it's best not to have more than 1 AV at a time, even if the other one is just installed and not actually scanning nor monitoring. This is for home users at least. Corporate environments may deploy multiple AVs for security reasons.

I had that problem with niv when it was time to uninstall. I faithfully logged on and updated me virus files for the full year I was given. Only, it wasn't a full year, it stopped allowing me to download after six months. Turns out the fine print said it was a specific number of downloads. On top of that, my "administrative" privledges were removed so I could not even configure my own virus protection no matter what I did. That really ticked me off so I uninstalled the program to switch to something I felt did not cheat me. After uninstall, my system repeatedly crashed and most of my programs quit working. I ended up having to run several utilities and go into my registry keys to completely remove norton from my system. I will never use it again.

My subscription to Norton System Works 2005 is up in about a week. After reading these posts, I would like to uninstall it and move to something else. I had heard it was difficult to uninstall, and I have posted this question before. I received one response that made it sound as if the process was quite easy.

Is there a step-by-step procedure for removing Norton System Works?

Thanks

All I can tell you is what I personally did to get rid of Norton AV 2006.
First, do the add/remove programs bit.

Then, go to C:\Program Files, and look for "Norton", "Symantec", or "NAV".
I have a shredder, I shredded them all.
Then, regedit and delete any of the stuff there (I know you shouldn't do that, but I looked and it was stand-alone).
Then, do a system search for "Norton", and delete all of that (I shredded it). Then, a system search for "Symantec", same. Then, "NAV", same.
I then did an HJT scan, found 2 more 016 entries titled "symantec", killed those.
Not hard, took a bit of time, but it's gone.

Thank you. This is very clear, and I only have two questions.
I didn't understand the regedit and the stand alone part.

And what shredder do you use?

Thanks SOOO much!

By "stand-alone" in the registry, the Symantec stuff isn't co-mingled with other items you don't want to get rid of.
Probably won't hurt to leave them there, as long as you clean the rest and do an HJT scan.
1-1/2 to 2 hours of thinking, searching, and deleting to clean all this stuff out that was left AFTER the Un-Install!
I use PC Tools Privacy Guardian Shredder.

LiveReg, Liveupdate, etc. and other NIS/NAV components all may need to be uninstalled separately. I would suggest searching Symantec's KB, they usually do have fairly ok instructions.

If all that does not work or even if it does and you want to be sure, I would follow what NCWRS suggests.

Sorry for typo - it should be NWRCS.