Thursday, July 22, 2004

Norton AntiVirus 2004

Have you had problems with Norton AntiVirus 2004? If so, tell the world about it here. You can do so anonymously, however if you ask a question an email address is necessary to get any responses. Postings with foul language will be removed.

78 comments:

Anonymous said...

Problem: Programs stutter or pause with Norton Antivirus 2004 ver 10.00.13 auto protect is enabled. I use Windows XP. Never happened with NSW2003. I upgraded from NSW2003 to NSW2004. Then problem started. Norton Tech support still has not solved the problem. Their solutions do not work but do cause a lot of time to be spent on my part!

Example:

Windows Media Player9 stutters (skips randomly) when playing music and Antivirus 2004 ver 10.00.13 auto protect is enabled. When I disable antivirus 2004 auto protect then Windows Media Player plays fine.

It seems as if other programs also stutter or slow down when Antivirus 2004 ver 10.00.13 auto protect is enabled. Even as I type this complaint the typing stutters or stops for 2-4 seconds and then continues again.

Here is some timing using Windows MP9
Data:
Timing of stuttering, each stutter is about 4 seconds in duration.

Min:sec
09:25 stutters (about 4 sec)
10:30 song ends and new song starts
10:34 stutters
11:39 stutters
12:11 stutters
12:59 song ends and new song starts
13:48 stutters
15:24 stutters
15:29 song ends and new song starts
16:32 stutters
17:04 stutters
18:10 stutters
18:20 song ends and new song starts
19:15 stutters
20:23 stutters
20:32 song ends and new song starts
21:30 stutters
22:36 stutters
23:14 stutters
23:35 song ends and new song starts

Can anyone help
ed@grenzig.com
Nesconset, NY

Anonymous said...

I purchased Norton Internet security NIS (2004). I uninstalled 2003 antivirus first and installed the new NIS (2004) total disaster. Symantic say 2003 antivirus did not uninstall so have to use their fix to get rid of it.
I did this. Then I had to uninstall the NIS (2004 ) part install and use the symantic fix to remove it. Then I tried to intall it again. all hell let lose because the NISPE.MSI is still requested on installation. Its not on the installations CD. Its still in the registry ( part of some old Norton 2003 antivirus? ) after a day with symantic and getting fed up I sent back the software to MISCO where it came from.

Anonymous said...

I bought Norton Security Center - when I went to talk to their technical staff, I was told all computers were different and that you have to expect problems for which I was resposible - when I noted that the two people behind had their computers on their laps with Norton program boxes on top of the computers, I found out the had the same problems I and my neighbor had. A store manager asked me not to talk to the other customers.One was told that there were viruses attacking Norton products. I told them that I ran the antivirus program and there no viruses found. The store manger asked me to leave. I assure I was civil and only interested in finding out what the problem was.
I have a Dell4100 Pentium processor ,windows 98 second edition,733MHZ. 128MB Sdram 133MHz – bought in 2000
Had Comcast installed using USB
Bought Norton Security 2004 from Micro Center in July 2004
Followed instructions
Uninstalled Norton 2000 with updates 2001,2002
Installed Norton Security 2004 and ran antivirus program –results showed no virus found but noted that I had 10 programs at risk , 8 of the programs were from Gator - I used the internet and all was working well however I did notice that my Free cell game did not work –
I then uninstalled Gator and then reran the antivirus program – I got hour glass for a long time and then the computer went blank
I called Dell and I restored Windows and used Adaptec to get rid of spyware bugs
Now when I run my computer I get the message- can not find device file that may be needed to run Windows…. C:progra~1Norton~1\Navap.vxd –hit any key to continue
The computer works well (free cell is working again) – but Norton security is not operating
At this point I wish to reinstall Norton Security but I am concerned this might crash my computer as it did my neighbors computer who had the same messages after doing a Norton antivirus update 2004. he tried to install and reinstall 2004. Everything crashed and he could not restore. He had to reformat his computer and now uses your competitor’s security programs.
My question is - where do I go from here?. Is there anything I should check before I uninstall and reinstall Norton security 2004. Should I install and reinstall Norton antivirus 2000.? Thanks

Anonymous said...

I upgraded two Dell computers from NAV 2001 to NAV 2004. Both computers are running Windows 2K. One already had ZoneAlarm Pro installed and the other, I added Norton Internet Security 2004 at the same time as the NAV upgrade. We are both running Windows Outlook 2002.

Prior to the upgrade, both computers would send and receive e-mail messages flawlessly and had been for over three years. After the upgrade, there are problems sending messages. Usually we can send messages, just after logon and startup of e-mail. After awhile, both machines seem to have trouble sending messages. Some go out, while others do not (doesn't seem to make any difference; the length or the address).

I have tried every solution posted on Symantec's site, all to no avail. I e-mailed their "support?" two days ago and got the usual reply from India..."Try this page". I have tried it twice already, thank you!!

Has anyone encountered this problem and how did you resolve it?

Anonymous said...

The problem could be with NAV or with the firewall in NIS. When you can't send email is there an error message? Try turning off the NAV scanning of outbound email messages. Michael

Anonymous said...

Michael; I am thinking it has to be a problem with NAV, since one machine has NIS and the other has ZoneAlarm. Unlikely that the problem would be with both the firewalls, especially since this machine, with ZoneAlarm, has been functioning flawlessly with the original NAV 2001 for three years now.

That said; I do get error messages on both machines. One time it will be an "SMTP server timeout", other times it will be an "error unknown" message.

I have gone into both machines and increased the server timeouts to 10 minutes (the max). Still doesn't fix the problem. Sometimes I can close Outlook and log right back on and the Inbox message will go right out. Other times,it just sits there and does make some attempt to go out; but slower than molasses in January and if it does go out at all, it may take hours, otherwise I get the error message!!

BTW I am using cable at 3MB download and 128KB upload and rarely have any problems and none during this timeframe.

Does that "shed any light"?

Anonymous said...

On the assumption that others have had this problem too, search the Symantec tech support web site for your error message. Also, be sure to run Live Update manually to make sure you have latest NAV bug fixes. As a last step search the web for your error message text and norton antivirus. Michael

Anonymous said...

NAV '04 startup (background) scans are terrible ! NAV used to be my AV of choice, but it seems as though Symantec is trying to produce bloatware W/'04.
5 or 6 services running at boot ??? Gimme a break !!! Startup and Web browsing have taken a tremendous and unacceptable hit. NAV needs improvement in the startup options, either in the GUI or via registry.

Forced into looking for AV options . . . . . .

-Beerman

Anonymous said...

I use NAV 2003, after replacing my hard drive and trying to reinsatll NAV 2003 I get the same problem. Every time I reboot I get the activation screen. After too many activations, I had to call Symantec. Took 2 and a half weeks to get through. Still the same problem. My subscription is good untill May of 2005. Like owning a dead horse. I will never buy another Symantec product.

Anonymous said...

Anyone know of a trade in deal being offered by other AV software for old symantec seats? NAV 2004 continues to be a dog. Asking for "Norton WMI Update" or launching a "Preparing to install" window when trying to open the NAV desktop icon AND tray icon

Utter Crap. NAV 2004 is broken people !!!!

BeerMan

Anonymous said...

Major hassles with trying to install NIS 2004 on top of Windows XP SP2 - repeated looping and still failure to run all NIS functions.

Would not recommend it to anyone.

Anonymous said...

I'm no techie, but my spousal unit installed NAV 2004 on my Dell with DSL, and it is now as slow as our old dial up of the 90's.
On my laptop, it just botched it up bad, and I had to uninstall it and use a free antivrus download from a diffeerent vendor.
NAV 2004 stinks BAD. :(

Anonymous said...

I am a tech. Where do I begin?? I used to be a big Norton fan, but lately they are really going down hill. I hate the fact that they refuse to support a product more than 2 years old on the automated support. I really hate the fact that I found out Norton Antivirus 2005 is out yesterday and today the support page is warning me that I have an outdated version of Norton Antivirus. Scare tactic sales really make my blood boil. How about the fact that Live update doesn't update Live update? Or the fact that the automated support says that my System Works files are not up to date and I should run Live Update to correct this, but Live Update tells me everything is up to date? Is it possibly by design that since 2005 has come out I cannot get a single version of 2004 to integrate with Windows Security Center? The help page would be a help if it the help on this subject didn't start out 'Shortly after Microsoft releases service pack 2 we will..." How about the times it installs but won't open? It's running, you can scan for viruses through Windows Explorer by right clicking on the drive, you can do all the updates by running LUALL.EXE manually, but still you cannot open the program to check on the status! And what about the times when you click to uninstall it, the first bar gets 3/4 of the way through, then hangs, so you download their removal tool to uninstall it, then when you go to reinstall it, the first bar gets 3/4 through and hangs. Of course the support pages says everything is fine. I love the fact that you have to manually search for updates for some of the components to even know if there is an update (Live Update), but nobody ever tells you that. It's also nice when the jump from version 2.0 to version 2.5.56.0 within a couple of weeks, just to make it easy to follow along. Oh, and my favorite is when it detects a trojan on bootup, but can't delete or quaranteen it. To help you with this problem it tells that your computer may still be at risk. That info will get you far. Fortunately, though, when you reboot it will do it all again. And finally, my favorite, when you contact tech support as a reseller to ask them why the price went up $25 for the newer version, which is only a 90 day version verses the year version you were getting the tech guy promptly responds telling you that you illegally purchased an OEM version and you should take it back to the store where you got it and get a refund...I AM the store and I did NOT sell it to myself, I was asking why the price went up so much for a lesser version. I used to recommend Norton to everyone. Not anymore. If I sell it to them, I will eventually have to service it! No thanks!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I recently bought nav2004 and tried to installed it on my pc nothing happens i checked my d drive there is no problem I also checked the disk on another computer it works fine and no my d drive works fine,know try to get some kind of help from symantec good luck

Anonymous said...

Did the Norton 2004 Live Update a couple of days ago, which caused my computer to crash. I've been unable to restore, and must now pay somebody to get me up and running again. I was already annoyed about them not honoring the upgrade rebate, and now I'm really aggravated, as I go around begging people to use their computers to meet some deadlines. I'm going to have Norton removed from my computer and will now use the competitor's products in the future. Recommend against installing Norton 2004, as I have talked to 3 other people whose computers also crashed after doing live update.

Anonymous said...

NAV 2004 is as bad as the viruses (word?) that its trying to detect. I know little about computers, but always heard great things about Norton. So when I purchased a new computer, it crashed when NAV tried to run. Uninstall/Reinstall hell occurred. Now I will uninstall and install a free AV. I thank all you other anonymous "posters" for confirming what happened to me. I guess I'm not totally inept. And as for getting money back, I guess that would mean getting someone to answer a phone to register a complaint!!!!

Anonymous said...

Guess I been lucky...haven't seen some of the gripes that others have had, except, dun dun dun... background scans. I schedule all of my maintenance tasks during the night (waking my puter out of standby) so i don't have to deal with slow disk read/write and cpu usage while i'm on. well the virus scan works just fine in the background using task scheduler (even when logged off), it just doesn't terminate itself when done, or post a log entry that's flagged if any virus, adware, etc. type problems crop up. So basically the scan virus task starts, runs, and never quits, so now my nice shiny new box doesn't go back to standby, and eats lots of watts and amps and such. not cool.

Anonymous said...

Having the same problem like above:
Purchased NAV-2004, after the first activation, everything seems to be running fine, but after I reboot the laptop, NAV-2004 is disabled, gives me an error message "trial period is expired, please activate". Clicked on the activate button, and it activates without a problem. Next time I reboot, the same thing. So I activated a couple of times, all of a sudden, it gives me a message "maximum number of activations exceeded". Now I am sitting here with a laptop, with a purchased product which is not doing anything (everything is disabled). I still can't believe it, so fed up :-(

Anonymous said...

I just changed my ISP to one that uses a higher SSL for email. Found out that NAV (I have 2004) doesn't support email scanning. Help site said to disable outgoing email scanning (I can receive email in Outlook Express no problem), so I have done, but still can't send email, it looks as if NAV is still scanning outgoing email. Any ideas? Anyone else have this problem? Thanks for any help.

Daniel Kirkdorffer said...

I've seen many people complain about this but nothing on your gripe page: I'm running Norton Anti Virus 2004 and have the option "notify me when updates are available" selected, yet it NEVER does notify me about available updates before installing them and I'd like it to, as the option suggests it should. I can find nothing at the Symantec site. Anyone know of a solution?

Dan

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

I recently upgraded via their download to the 2005 version. It caused my email to not work properly and I was getting a Runtime error when viewing web pages. After uninstalling it I'm having terrible problems. The firewall hasn't properly unistalled and I can't get it uninstall. I've contacted support but have yet to have a reply. I'd advise anyone not to upgrade.

Anonymous said...

I downloaded Windows XP service pack 2 and now Norton antivirus 2004 Auto-protect is off and I
cannot enable it

Anonymous said...

I purchased NAV 2004 Pro last year - the EULA says that the one product is licensed for use on up to two computers. Everything worked fine on both laptops until the subscription expired and I went to renew. $24.95 was the price quoted to renew NAV 2004 Pro. I purchased the subscription and it renewed one computer but I couldn't get the other to update. After emailing Symantec, they told me I had to purchase a renewal for each computer. Beware if buying multiple licensed software from them - it would have been cheaper for me to buy two regular versions and upgrade them. So screw it, I'll just buy two copies of McAfee 9.0 from softwaredepot.com for $12.00 each - no rebate required.

Anonymous said...

My virus protection is out of date and i do not wish to upgrade, however i keep getting a security alert telling me it is out of date despite the fact i have unchecked the box in the options menu. The alert appears every 20 - 30 seconds and as you can imagine is very annoying. I am not a computer wizard so if you have any ideas i would be greatfull.

Anonymous said...

I have NAV 2004, with Win XP, SP2. It ran a scheduled "system scan" at 3am on Fridays. I don't know how long it takes to run, but it is always complete when I look at the PC just after 7am. At some time between then and 8am, the PC hangs and has to be rebooted. It's a mail server so this is a pain. Every week, without fail, it hangs about 5 hrs after NAV system scan. I changed the day to Thurdsay; it now does it on Thursdays, so I know NAV is the trigger. The problem is, at the time it crashes, the scan is over. There don't seem to be an NAV processes running when I check it (after the scan but before the crash).

Anyone have an idea what's causing this? Thanks. (Chris)

Anonymous said...

Every time I run a scan with NAV 2003 ,,right near the end of the scan , it crashes my system. Windows report eludes to a driver problem..I have no way of knowing how to fix this..or where to start since Norton wont support 03.-John
misper5000@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Norton antivirus firewalled my access to the internet. I could not remove this firewalling using the program or internet tools. I deleted it (savings settings in Temp file) and I could access the internet. But I could not re-instate Norton. I had 6 mths subscription left and I was required to pay the non-discounted price for a new one. Alos, help features could not help me and the on-line support is too expensive.

Anonymous said...

It's a simple fix. Remove anything Symantec. Run whatever removal utilities Symantec offers and never buy anything Symantec again. There is no way they will fix this unless we as consumers quit buying their sub par products.

Anonymous said...

Hi, I had the trouble described in the section called Windows Installer and followed the directions as they were wrote having the trouble fixed.

Thank you very much

Anonymous said...

YES!!! Again wasting hours first sourcing instructions and fixing the Antivirus program before fixing the computer - so stupid! And the definitions are only updated weekly which means you can be stranded for a whole week before you get your problem solved. Norton AV is a total waste of money. Search around - there are far better programs!

Anonymous said...

I can no longer go online on my notebook thanks to NAV2004. While running LiveUpdate, I was prompted to "Switch from Windows Firewall to Norton Firewall (recommended)". I did so and suddenly I could not open web pages any more without "The page cannot be displayed." Checked the network connection, running fine. Decided to turn off Norton Firewall and there is NO control for the firewall on NAV2004! I looked up help and it says "In the main window, double-click Personal Firewall." There is no such option in NAV2004 main window! It seems like the help info is for some other version of NAV. Now I just want to get rid of Norton completely and not renew my subscription when it ends. Oh yeah, I couldn't renew it if I wanted to!

NAV 2004 came pre-installed on my Dell Notebook. I was okay with it the first year and

Anonymous said...

I found a strange work around for not being able to use live update to retrieve the virus defs. I took the host file out of the windows folder after I shut my browser (IE5.5) down (put the file on the desktop), relaunched the browser, tried live update & it not only accessed the defs, it d/l ed them & installed them. This after several days of trying various fixes. Some might want to try this & see what happens. Might work for you. Apparently if you have an edited host file to block adware & such, you might have inadvertantly blocked the access to the Norton server for AV defs

Anonymous said...

I grew up on Norton but I think I've now outgrown it. Today was the last straw.

I installed the latest version of Norton Ghost 10, it uninstalled the version in NSW2004 and to my dismay it has now disabled the Antivirus software also. Well thinking that I have a virus that has disabled it, I grabbed the system CD and tried to do a reinstall/modify to fix the situation. No luck, as the software CD now says uninstall failed. Was I trying to uninstall? No, I was just doing a reinstall, but the options to repair just want to uninstall. Well as luck would have it, I had to install a free virus program Avast(found it since I was running XP64 (back to XP Pro now) which doesn't like Norton and many other programs and it was the only one that would run). Anyway, I scanned the PC with the new program and no virii. It will stay running now also, although NSW is still installed the antivirus software will not run in automode, so just the basics of NSW will remain. Thanks Symantec, I was one of your advertisers, but not anymore.

Anonymous said...

renewed subscription for Norton Anti Virus Pro 2004 6 weeks ago and now I find I have no telephone or tech support (discontinued)

Anonymous said...

I installed NAV 2004 and that was the worst mistake I could have made. During the pre-installation scan NAV found some infected files and asked if I wanted NAV to "fix" the problem. I said yes ofcourse and NAV ended up wiping out my entire computer. After everything I could no longer open any programs, my control panel , system resores, anything I had downloaded. I basically lost access to all data I had on my computer. I can't download anything and all that works is the internet. I called symantec and they said "oops sorry NAV 2004 had a lot of bugs and it has no tech support (telephone or online) and the only thing I could do was to go purchase the 2006 version so they could then help me fix my problems with 2004 version. Complete idiots! Still sitting here with a computer that does not work due to a terrible product. Avoid NAV if you can!!!!

Anonymous said...

Er jeg stadig sikret for Virus jeg har fået ny computer.
Mit konto id nr. 601021521
Ordrebekræftelsesnr. 9440712126

min mail adresse arnev49@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

My belief in Norton branded software products are shattered.
I have a norton internet security 2003 pacakage. i was using this package for around 2 years. but now in febuary,2006. I am having a liveupdate problem. Despite the info on the symantec website. I am not able to solve the problem. This is really irritating. My confidence in norton products have shattered. I hope for company sake's they rectify these problems. I am a great adminer of peter norton.

Anonymous said...

I have paid for subscribing to Norton's anti-virus but I keep getting messages that my subscription has expired. I can't find a way to contact them and don't know if this will work or not

Anonymous said...

I have just installed Norton Security 2006 and it has almost halted my computer . My son is using computers all day and said he has never seen anything like it happen.He has now removed the programme and the machine is as fast as ever. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Anonymous said...

Norton Security 2006 has made my computer as slow as molasses. It's almost as if I installed a virus.

Anonymous said...

In December of 2005, I started having difficulty in downloading virus definitions for my 2004 version. After getting multiple error messages and following Symantics alleged fixes to no avail, I finally purchased the 2006 version which was not much of an improvement. Also, I have dial up service and the size of all there bug repairs toook hours to download and some times their server cut me off 1/2 of they way through and I to start all over again. Recently, the downloading problem resurfaced and after two hours I was able to down load a new version of Liveupdate only to recieve a new error message telling me to run Liveupdate again in a couple of days. It appears to me that Symantic is releasing error filled programs to generate sales and support fees and the caveat "Buyer Beware" is their mission statement. I should also point out that they refused my original submittal for a rebate even though I provided everything they asked for. They did refund my rebate last week only after I resubmitted all the documentation. Fortunately I keep copies of all my rebate submittals until I recieve the check. I still do not know if I will be able to download the virus definitions until I try again. As a semi-retired Director of Quality, I find Symantics quality issues a violation of the consumers trust.

Anonymous said...

I tried to instal Nortan Firewall (2005) after installing Symantic Antivirus (same company). Nortan firewall was incapable of installing and I had to switch back to Nortan antivirus.

Anonymous said...

Have unopened and not installed 2005 version. Can I now in 2006
install the 2005 version
It was bought for my my HP laptop

Anonymous said...

Sent to Norton:
I have a complaint about your update program. I purchased your product ( System Works 2004, software ) in May 2004 , installed on my computer approximately on May 25, 2004 with the understanding I would have a FULL YEAR of updates. In April 2005 starting receiving warnings that my protection was about to expire and that I needed to update. I thought I purchased an upgrade with a FULL YEAR of updates but the install date changed to April 18, 2005 which is one month short of a FULL YEAR!!!!! WHAT HAPPEN TO A FULL YEAR OF UPDATES or has the calendar changed in California. This is my third and final attempt to resolve this problem.

Anonymous said...

Symantec employs menace-ware to pressure users to update.

I never had any great problems with NAV2004, although it wasn't good at spotting adware, which it claimed to be. However, I couldn't afford to update my subscription, so figured I'd get by for a few months on substandard protection, but protection nonetheless.

Lo and behold, I start getting nag screens. "Your virus protection is out of date". I checked my options and, yes, all notification options were turned off. These only happened each log on, so I put up with it.

90 days later, the same nag screen - except this time EVERY 30 SECONDS!!! These are screens which are ALWAYS ON TOP and cover about a quarter of the screen. You click OK and it disappears, only to come right back.

I checked with Symantec. They said they no longer offered technical support for NAV2004 but directed me to their "knowledge base". The article there discussed these "alerts" and listed the ways I could get rid of them. And, oh, didn't they all involve paying money to Symantec to update my subscription or upgrade the product.

Even if NAV were a flawless product, the sort of marketing tactics which effectively disable customers' computers until they fork out more money is absolutely out of order and should be stopped.

I have repeated my complaint to Symantec several times, but they do not comment on the problem. The most they have said is (a) they offer a free anti virus service and (b) they suggest I upgrade.

If I had known this would happen I would certainly not have bought NAV2004 and will certainly not be buying anything from them again.

Anonymous said...

I tried uninstalling AOL 9 which was included in my new pc. I got the error message NAV does not support this repair, uninstall and reinstall. I notice the auto protect feature had been turned off and could not be turned on. Tried online fix tool instructions and multiples rebboots, nothing. The next fix was to uninstall and reinstall, insted I went to sytem restore point, and bingo, all is well. Are NAV and AOL connected somehow. What a nightmare

Anonymous said...

After an update to fix a security problem with NAV 2005 in early 2006, a new XP service named 'Automatic Liveupdate Scheduler’ is installed. This is set to Auto even though NAV‘s
'Automatic' LiveUpdate is disabled in favor of manual running of LiveUpdate. It can’t be set to Manual or Disable; when updated, NAV reenables the damn thing. It's a total waste of system resources and another reason for Peter Norton to want to change his name!

Anonymous said...

Is there a world record for the highest number of malware instances found in one single machine? Don't know if there is one, but I would like to register my entry with a total of 1173, this, despite running Symantec Norton AV Corporate Edition
WHICH DESPITE CONSCIENTIOUS UPDATING AND REGULAR SCANS APART FROM THE SCHEDULED ONES could not even detect W32AlcraB/F, Smitfraud, CoolWWWSearch, SpySherif, MP3StarSearch, MyWayMyBar, DuFyCA, Jubster, advertismen and a thousand others, too numerous to even read, let alone list. Theres been a scan going on since 5 may 2006, and it still does. I've tried SpyBot. It did some of the work. Looking up further FREE resources (I don't have any cards!) i was directed to Panda, Xoftspy and believe me they are not Free as they claim...
GOING BONKERS !!! ΦΦ ΦΦ

Anonymous said...

almost impossible to install!

Anonymous said...

NORTON IS EVIL! I purchased Norton because it's well-known and I thought it could be trusted. I couldn't be more wrong. Installing Norton was like installing one of the worst viruses onto my computer. Like so many others commented, it's almost impossible to get rid of.

Norton made my entire computer considerably slower than it was previously to the point that I shut down most parts of it. So much for all that protection they offer.

I would never reccomend Norton to anyone, not even my worst enemy. Norton is absurdly controlling of your computer and will inevitably cause many problems, whether you realize that Norton is the source of the problem or not.

Anonymous said...

I have tried to download my 2006 update & personal firewall purchased 4/12/2006 for 3 months with no success. I am totally frustrated with Norton and desire a refund of my purchases. All I get are reminders that my 2005 norton is still due. I have no anti-virus protection, while Norton has my money.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

I had Norton 2005 antivirus running with full updates etc. but I had to reinstall Windows XP completely and now Norton 2005 will not install from disc. So, contact Norton I thought, but just to phone Norton carries a $9.99 technical support fee and to Email them requires a program to be downloaded (y?!). I have a subscription with Norton, but is it worth me paying just to retrieve my subscription's worth?! Norton's customer service sucks. Also it made my PC really slow. I am switching to alternative software and Norton can keep my subscription fee - for all the trouble they make it just to contact them to get it back.

Anonymous said...

I want to get rid of the Symantec AntiVirus program which seems to have appeared on my machine through one of Windows automatic "security updates." However, I cannot find the program. It doesn't appear in the Programs folder, not in the install/uninstall list. Nor does 'search all files' for Norton or Systec or Symantec or antivirus find it.
In order to uninstall manually, I think I need to know the version--which I can't find.
cathskap@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

I recently upgraded to NAV2006. I work from home and transcribe medical dictation. I am paid by lines typed -- speed is VERY important. The "upgrade" slowed my computer down so much (by at least 25%) I finally unloaded it today. I won't buy this product again and would never recommend it. It is a huge resource hog.

Anonymous said...

i have been trying to contact symantec/norton re a reinstallation problem of my nav 2500, which was impossible since i did not have the needed discs. ihave tried snail mail to dublin, e-mail to coustomer services all of which have been ignored so a service to which i paid a years subscription in may 2006 cannot be used.

Anonymous said...

I tried to download norton symantic-it almost worked. I also tried to get tech support and they were useless. After several weeks I just got a refund and got PCcillin. Norton is a terrible company to deal with-their product is hard to install and their support is poor. I am glad to see they are not that highly rated.

Lotharieaux said...

Well, I USED to think Symantec was a pretty good software company, but that was then. Now, they have bugs and failures in their software and they don't answer requests for help left via their annoying web form. The form requires the user to fill out everything except his shoe size but, even after filling the form out completely, I received no answer whatsoever. As far as I'm concerned, no more Symantec products for me.
--Ed Mitchell

Anonymous said...

We paid for whatever the notice was for and although they were able to accept payment we were unable to download. The rigamoral is unending and to actually connect with a human is impossible. Meanwhile we are plagued with the antiviral renewal campaign. I am a complete novice on the computer but find this not right in any culture. LR.

Anonymous said...

I had Norton Antivirus 2006 program for 3 years thought it was a good software past 2 years downloaded on internet with no problem this year ordered in CD form and the Systemworks free. Boy did I have trouble with getting rid of Systemworks as the Antivirus would not load on computer so put the other CD in and it took a month and two try for it to be fixed from the Systemworks Will never buy a Symantec Product again and won't tell other to buy their products!

Anonymous said...

My computer had Norton and it todaly crashed, My computer was dead! Norton just came up and proclamed my comuter was fine, five minuts before it died

Anonymous said...

I have SBC DSL and had to remove Norton Antivirus 2005 from my system because of problems with it doing odd things to the programs and websites. Created conficts with my email.

Claire Gray said...

I've never had a problem with Norton since I started using it in 2004. However, I've found that Norton Security 2006 has made my computer really slow. Has anyone any suggestions?

Anonymous said...

Norton uninstall is a big joke, except I'm not laughing. The Symantec instructions to uninstall are just as laughable. I had to trawl the internet to learn everyone's collective pain just to see how insidious these product are and I had to maually edit out all the registry entries the uninstall left behind. Trend Micro PC-Cillin is now my favoured AV product and I'm quite satisfied with it to date. Andy you get a 3 machine licence - bargain!!

Anonymous said...

I thank you for your comment.

Anonymous said...

I faithfully did all the upgrades on my North Anti-virus sftwr. Then I got a really bad Sasser? virus which knocked out my whole computer. It cost me $200 to get it fixed. I called Sym to complain. After much argument, they said they would give me a year free. No sign of it and when I called they said they couldn't do that--no record of my complaint. I am not using them ever again. thanks for letting me vent. Dee

Darryl's mobile hair design said...

Norton Integrator seems to dislike the configurations of many newer programs, and it will often corrupt itself and refuse to allow any norton program to load. I used to have norton utilities and internet security, as well as norton password manager. I uninstalled all others except password manager. Now it is also giving me the same norton integrator message. Norton tells you to uninstall all symantec programs from your computer using their own cleanup utility, which they instruct you to download from their website. obviously they know this is a widespread problem and instead of fixing it, they claim it is your problem, not theirs.

I did as they told me and removed Symantec products from my computer and will keep my computer symantec free from now on. Not worth it. plenty of excellent anti virus, firewall and disk maintenance utilities out there.

Darryl's mobile hair design said...

Do not waste your time with symantec products any longer. Plenty of good software out there, cheaper and does the same thing. Now they are going into compulsory licence subscription and you have to pay for it every year.

The Norton Integrator problem disables all symantec software in your system, and they tell you its something wrong with your computer, not their programs. Seems everyone's computer is acting up in the exact same way.

They tell you the only way to fix it, is to uninstall all symantec software, use their clean up utility, then re install the program. They do not give you any idea what may have caused the problem in the first place.. Since they claim it is an external, non symantec problem, it must be an OS issue since it happens in thousands of computers at the same time. Therefore my conclusion, Symantec is incompatible with too many Windows applications!

Follow their advice. Unload it, forget it. . dispose of it.!!

Anonymous said...

Norton is about the worst product

Anonymous said...

Dump Norton

I dumped Symantec / Norton internet security and virus products several years ago. The reasons were (1) the Symantec product was constantly installing software (bloatware) without either asking me or documenting what it was doing. This interfered with other software, like Adobe Acrobat. (2) the memory hit and slowdown was too great, even on a PC with 1Gb of memory, back when 512 was standard. (3) other products are much easier to use (I now use Trend Micro PC Cillin) and the differences in catching viruses are not markedly different--none catch 100%.

You can't get the greedy blockheads at Symantec to change, but you can vote to deny them your money.

Anonymous said...

NAV 2006, LiveUpdate makes my computer stutter, and my computer's no slouch. (Computer geek so it's always in good trim w/ a c2d e6400 and 2 gb ram.) Shoddy programming there.

Anonymous said...

Norton AV 2006 live update feature causes open browsers to become non responsive and crashed computer. Monitering NAV with Process Explorer shows when live update is on this program can hog 85% or system resources when connected to internet.
I will not buy another Norton product ever again. Also another trouble with Symantec is difficulty in removing all traces of their programs from computer.

Anonymous said...

i believe the problem is based more on the performance of your computer. i have found with my notebook that when my antivirus is enabled it slows down my computer.

Anonymous said...

I have my own IT support business and have had to remove Norton from so many PCs & replace it with another security suite because it would slow down their PC too much. Once Norton was removed - woosh! their PC came alive again.

Anonymous said...

Last year 2008 I downloaded Norton antivirus at a cost of $70.00 and gave my visa number to complete the transaction. This year in Oct I started getting e-mails from Norton saying my peotection was about to expire. I was shopping at Staples and found a deal for $60,00 to allow installation on up to three computers. I purchased the program and installed on my three computers. As each e-mail came in from Norton I would reply that I did not want to renew on line. All to no avail. I received a Visa bill for $70,09 for one computer even thou during installation of the purchased version the on line about to expire version was removed. I have repeately tried to contact Norton to have the charges reversed. No luck they have a way of putting their valued customers on hole for great lengths of time, one period was for 1 hour and thirty four minutes. Now I am forced to cancel my Visa card and hopefully Norton will not be able to sucker me again next year.
Has any other valuable customers had a simular experienc? If so how do you get your money back?
A reluctant valued customer of Nortons.

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Anonymous said...

Norton AntiVirus 2011 is certainly the best of all releases so far for its speed and how light it is.