Rating: 
Summary: Symantic-Example of Useless Bloatware - DANGER
Review: I have been a computer professional for 20 years and remember in the beginning the Norton Utilities for DOS. I have purchased and used every version and have some insights. First of all, they have become like the auto industry. They create a new model every year to further programming obsolesence. They have focused more on the Moronic Iconoclastic image of their once respected founder than on the product. Big Blue almost went over the edge a few years ago when they forgot that their company was product driven, not image driven.I find the product to be of dubious value considering Norton has licensed versions of its products already integrated into most Microsoft products[operating systems], and more thoroughly debugged I might add. When I think about all of the coding that went into the splash screens and animations it amuses me because conversly, and to an inverse proportion, they have neglected the hard coding side of the product. It is weak at best in its duties. The virus protection is adequate. The defragging software is a non sequitor in WinXP because the operating system has a more reliable version built in (by guess who). What is the point in risking the stability of your operating system, especially if you are not an expert; by installing this basket of bruised fruit? Unfortunately, most users only want a modicum of protection from viruses and unscheduled crashes, Norton products garner a D+ rating from me. When I look at a company, I look at its product, its practices and finally its ethics. Norton has effectively relegated all of those principals to the rubbish heap. I am not even sure if Peter Norton is still actively involved in the company. I suggest computer users shop carefully for utilities, but first learn how to use the adequate functionality of the operating system. I feel this is adequate for 90% of you out there. Shame on you Peter Norton. You cannot leverage that brand equity for much longer. I wonder if Symmantic even reads these reviews. If Peter still had some say so in the company, this would not be happening. DJC
Rating:
Summary: AHAHAHHH what a wast of money!!!
Review: WARNING WARNING WARNING THIS PRODUCT WILL NOT WORK WITH WINDOWSxp!!! Wish they had that on the box. I also wish I read some of these reveiws before i bought it. I don't know may be Iam just a [dummy]but I could not get xp to load this program tryed everything. Trust me if you can think up something that would get this program to work I tryed it. I work on it for like two days reading book going too there web site nothing work; it would only load up clean sweep. The rest of the import stuff XP would be like nope Iam not running this [junk]. Man thought I was getting a good product because Norton is such a big name in Antivirus protection. DON'T BE FOOLED!! Or maybe I just got a bad version bought mines from a local store, hehehehehe smirk, and NO it was not a BLUE LIGHT SPECIAL payed ...[bucks]for it same as what it sales for here. Buy this product at your own risk!! I suggest you buy PC-cillin 2002 that loaded up on XP just fine or some other brand besides Norton.
Rating: 
Summary: Not os good as 2000
Review: I love Norton System Works for the way it allows me to keep my computer running like a dream. The program integrates Anti-Virus software with utilities for maintaining your system, fixing problems and cleaning your drives. System Works 2002 offers some new features, but cuts back on some of the usability of 2000. I ended up not even installing the Clean Sweep utilities, choosing to keep these programs from 2000. It took some jiggering to get the program to accept my changes, but it was worth it to keep some utilities I use regularly, such as the Duplicate File Finder. If you haven't used previous versions of Norton, you won't miss these utilities, and will be grateful for the ones you get, such as Disk Doctor and Speed Disk, which far outstrip anything that ships with Windows. I'm running Windows 98 (still!), so I didn't have the problems XP users have had installing this program. Hopefully all that will be sorted out for 2003.
Rating:
Summary: system doesn't work
Review: I would reconsider buying this software all it does cause more problems when there are already problems. Problems on top of more problems, I had to format my computer becuase of this software causing an error to my computer. And the utilities are useless they are the same thing windows already provides. If your looking for a anti-virus program i say just go with Norton Anti-Virus.
Rating: 
Summary: What happened to Symantec?
Review: I have used Norton Utilities for many years, and have always been satisfied with the performance and reliability. That's why I am dismayed at having to write this review which is so critical of them. My live-update subscription had expired, so I decided to buy the latest full version and install it. After all, the price seemed reasonable enough. Oh how I wish I had never done so. I was instructed to remove the older version first before installing the new, which I did using the Symantec uninstall routine. I restarted my computer, and began what I thought would be a quick and trouble free installation of Systemworks 2002 Pro. I was stopped dead in my tracks because the new version informed me that I was still running an older version. Once again, I went into the uninstall routine, and again restarted the computer. Nothing I did would allow me to install the new version. Eventually, I learned from the Symantec web site that there were separate uninstall routines (including a 1 hour registry editing session) that would be necessary before I could install the new version. (Note to Symantec... I had to use McAfee Uninstaller to get rid of the leftover Symantec files.) Live support does not exist. The only available means of contact from Symantec was an e-mailed form letter giving me information that I already had, and it took two days for the response to get to me. I am not a novice user. If I were, I would have had to bring the system to someone else because Symantec really blew it on this one. After nearly six hours of working on the system, I finally got the product to work as it should. The product does everything it purports to do. The virus protection is still one of the most comprehensive in the industry. The utilities are helpful, and I still think that Norton Systemworks should be mandatory on all computers because once you get it working, there is nothing better. If you are doing a new installation on a computer that does not already have Systemworks, by all means, buy the product and install it. It's problem free, and the product will work well. If upgrading, remember this is not easy for a novice or casual user. If you already have an earlier version of Systemworks on your computer, DO NOT UPGRADE to Systemworks 2002 under any circumstances. Pay the online fee to keep your virus protection, and keep what you have. If you are proficient in working with the Windows Registry and have about three or four spare hours (for frustration), go ahead and upgrade but don't say you weren't warned. I still like Symantec, but think that they have lost sight of their mission which is to provide solutions, not create frustration on the part of their users.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but requires customization
Review: I've been a fan of Norton for many years and it is a very useful product to have to keep your computer in shape and to solve many common problems. However, I have found that it is a pain to set up because it tries to run all its programs at startup, which eats up valuable resources. I have no problem with that but many people new to the software are turned off by it. For example, I shut off everything except Norton Antivirus. I even disable the scheduled maintanence. If you are able to spend a few more minutes to customize it, it's a good product. I build many computers and haven't had any of the problems so many other reviewers have mentioned.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Utility
Review: An excellent utility program. Does exactly what it advertises, however there is a small problem. If you are running Windows XP (home/pro) installing Roxio Go-Back will crash your system. XP does not like this particular program. Suggest a custom install only.
Rating:
Summary: Stinks
Review: I have owned this product for over 6 months. I have tried to update the virus scan 10's of times. After downloading 4645 MB
each time, this nitwit software comes up with an error code of 1821 which equates to "tried to write update to a file that was in use". I even SHUT DOWN every file on my computer, except, AOL and Explorer which is minimum to run. It still comes back after downloading that enormous amount of MB (4645mb) with the same nitwit message, file in use can't download the update.
Who ever heard of such poor software, it is unbelieveable.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Excellent bundle of utilities at a great price! If you have an older machine, stick with an earlier version as your hardware or OS may not be able to handle it comfortably. I am running a 2.2GHz Pentium IV desktop with 512MB DDR-RAM and have encountered absolutely no problem with Systemworks 2002. Used Systemworks 2000 previously with similar results. If you are running Windows 2000 or XP with a fast machine, this product is for you!
Rating:
Summary: RETURNED PRODUCT THANKS TO REVIEWERS COMMENTS
Review: After buying the product from OfficeMax I decided to check what it sells for on Amazon.com - am I glad I did!!!! After reading these reviews I decided to take the advice of many of your reviewers and avoid SYMANTEC altogether. Any company that has this many problems with their product and then CHARGES for tech support in my opinion is a company to avoid. Shame on you SYMANTEC - if you don't get your act together soon and listen to your consumers you'll be the next company we'll be reading about that gets bought out!
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