Rating: 
Summary: Buggy and tech support is virtually non-existent.
Review: Buggy buggy buggy! On one computer, I can only get NPF to load on 1/3 of all boots (warm or cold). On my other computer, the central (yet separate) updating program -- Symantec LiveUpdate -- automatically CHANGES its connectivity options ITSELF nearly every day, which causes the "LiveUpdate settings" to become "corrupt," making updating either NPF or NAV impossible unless. . . .One goes through a cumbersome process of scanning the entire hard drive(s) for LiveUpdate's configuration settings, removes them manually, goes to the control panel to reconfigure NEW settings, and then reboots. This works (temporarily) to fix the problem, but it takes about 10 minutes. Do that 10-12 times per week, and you can imagine the frustration factor. Periodically, this "quick" fix fails, and I have to go through a bizarrely convoluted "uninstall" process for Symantec LiveUpdate. This LENGTHY process is outlined in a "repair" document that, when the screen type is set to "smallest," requires 6 (SIX) pages of paper to describe and about 45 minutes to actually execute. When that "repair" no longer works, Symantec tech "support" suggests uninstalling and reinstalling everything (that's their solution to nearly every problem -- they seem to have next to zero troubleshooting expertise or, perhaps, zero WILL to help), a process that can take as long as an hour and a half, depending on your CPU clock speed. I've mentioned the near-uselessness of their email "tech" support. Frankly, I see no "tech" in their "support." Invariably, one is directed to one of a gazillion lengthy online documents that spells out a time-consuming process to keep the customer running in circles, only to find, ultimately, that there is NO way to fix the problem other than UNINSTALLING everything (remember, there are three components here -- NPF, NAV, and LiveUpdate) and then reinstalling ALL THREE. A 1.5 hour process, at least, as I noted above. I'm completely fed up with Symantec, especially with their repeated "apologies for any inconvenience. . . ." What? "Any" inconvenience? How about the very REAL and repeatedly tangible wastes of time caused not only by buggy software but by their inability and/or unwillingness to actually troubleshoot an issue or fix the bugs in their software rather than simply playing their default "uninstall and reinstall" card. If they truly were sorry, they'd fix the software rather than directing the customer to "keep. . . running" (hat tip to Ralph Ellison). I'm no programmer, but even I could give that "techincal support advice" (I use the terms loosely). I have no alternative software solutions to suggest, but I strongly warn users to avoid this software like the plague that it is. Ironically, the anti-virus software works like a charm (it has intercepted dozens of viral emails), and the firewall is impressive in its capabilities and has been excellent. But the inability to keep the products updated because of unauthorized software auto-reconfigurations and subsequent file corruptions thereby, added to the dozens of hours needed to keep that update component functioning properly have made this software and Symantec's lack of useful tech support infuriating. Update to Symantec 2005?
Not while I'm alive. . . .
Rating:
Summary: BUGGY!!!
Review: BUGGY! Installation took more than an hour following the suggested full system san before and after. "Post Installation Wizzard" hangs everytime you reboot. Followed every suggestion on the help session, including uninstall and re-install in safe mode. Did not help. I have got far enough so it will now start EXCEPT "auto-protect". Where is the point if the s/w doesn't protect your PC automatically? Am I suppode to allow my PC to be infected and manually scan and clean it everytime before I shut it down? Other than the on-line help (which did not solve problem), help does not exist unless you are willing to pay per incident or per minute. Good thing I bought it with a rebate. I guess I would stick with it and wait for another product that will offer a competitive product rebate...
Rating:
Summary: Caution! Subscription wipeout!
Review: Do not upgrade to a new version of Norton AV if you have time left on your existing subscription! Your subscription does not carry over to the new version! Please talk this up, as I've heard tons of people getting burned by this!
Rating: 
Summary: Very good Antivirus - Improved over last year's version!
Review: First of all let me say that I have never had any problems using the Norton products, which include Antivirus and/or SystemWorks and Personal Firewall. I see a lot of bad reviews posted here from people with bad experiences. I have been using Norton since 1999 and never had any problems whatsoever. Although I do agree, that it can really slow down some older computer systems by taking up memory and system resources, or systems that are configured to load dozens of unnecessary services and programs during boot time. Now about NAV 2004 Pro. I personally find it to be a great program. It runs on my computer smoothly without any problems and without slowing it down. The difference of the Pro version from the standard one is that Pro contains the Advanced Tools. These are the UnErase Wizard which can help recover deleted files and the Wipe Info which can delete data beyond recovery. (Great for deleting confidential files) Among the usual NAV features like Auto-Protect, Email Scanning, Script Blocking, Office document protecting and Instant Messenger protecting, NAV 2004 can now also protect you from other threats like spyware and adware as well as dialers, hack tools, remote access tools and various annoying joke programs. Another new feature is the ability of Auto-Protect to scan within compressed files while decompressing them. This is very useful since it can scan and eliminate threats inside compressed files, although it can be a bit irritating some times since it can take a while to scan big archives. But you can very easily disable this feature with the click of a mouse. One more thing I like about NAV 2004 and Norton products in general other than a very friendly graphical user interface is the automatic Live Update feature which it can update your virus definitions and program files while you surf the Net without interrupting your work. I like to do this manually and I noticed that there are new virus definitions ready to be downloaded almost on a daily basis. I would like to add a note here. It seems that more and more companies are following Microsoft's anti-piracy footsteps and require activation for their software to be fully unlocked. Although I understand the need to reduce software piracy this is somewhat annoying to me. Anyway I would like to say to future buyers that activation over Internet takes only a few seconds as opposed to activating over the phone which is a bit more time consuming. I dont know if you are a Norton Antivirus fan or if you have never used this program but I highly recommend it. It really saved me from a lot of trouble a couple of times and I am very pleased with it. You can always give it a go by downloading a trial version from the Symantec web site and see for your self if it satisfies your needs. This is truly a great piece of software.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy it - check revierws before buying Norton stuff
Review: Have been a satisfied user of Norton Systemworks, Antivirus, Cleansweep etc for many years - this program has completely undermined my confidence in this company.
The product activation did not come up with a valid number so I never got around to activating the program.
Too many problems - will carefully check product reviews before buying Norton stuff in the future and probably just get an alternative.
Norton should offer a full refund, or a free upgrade to an antivirus program that actually works, to anyone who bought this program.
Rating:
Summary: Better than other choices.....
Review: I been online ( internet ) since 1994 and in all that time I only got one major virus. It was a minor one back in 2000 but at that time PC viruses were not the day to day thing they seem to be now.
I was a big fan of Peter Norton since the Windows 3.1 days and when threats became a serious problem ( about 2001 ) I turned to his software. I was disappointed to learn that the company had been sold to Symantec and decided to try other solutions.
McAfee was a good alternative, at the time, free evaluation period was 90 days, and the reviews were decent. Norton was about the same price but didn't offer upgrade deals at that time.
The one major virus I got in all my many decades ( 1 ) of using the internet was while my PC was protected with McAfee. After the fall-out/data-reconstruction/ and a whole lot of sweat I decided to give Norton another try.
So far, fingers-crossed/knocking on wood, this has not happened again.
I hear/see many complaints about NAV2004Pro making the PC boot-time take longer. Why? If you want to make absolutely sure you are viri-free what's an extra couple of seconds.... and I do mean seconds. NAV2004Pro takes approx 15 seconds to boot my 1.8Ghz/512MB PC than any other choice.....
15 seconds! Geez, what does this say about people complaining?
" I'd rather get a virus than wait 15 extra seconds!!! "
The price-tag is a tad steep.... $69 Retail with no upgradable option. ( Previous Version )
But overall this is not only easy to set-up and maintain it also works pretty darn well. I recommended it to my parents (who are both over 60) and so far they are viri free as well.
Rating:
Summary: Thx for the problems
Review: I cant believe the amount of trouble and headaches i have been getting trying to use this product after the 15 day trial period. WHy is there a trial period for a product you have purchased. Neither amazon nor norton has been helpful in resolving the product code issue. They pawn the problem off on the other. I have been trying to return it but have ben unable. DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't even deserve the 1 star
Review: I have a Dell Latitude C600, not an old machine and wished to upgrade my Antivirus software. Because Norton seemed to be a reputable brand and because we use their antivirus program at work I decided to order this. BIG MISTAKE!!! After spending hours attempting to install, uninstall, reinstall, and self-serving myself to their "solutions" on their website. I had to give up. (And I'm not a luddite at computers. I have set up a home wireless network, upgraded computers to Windows XP [I won't even get into that whole mess here!], and would rate myself as a relatively sophisticated computer user.) They charge $30 just to speak to someone and they only have live phone customer support during work hours on weekdays. Didn't it occur to Symantec that perhaps I'm busy earning my living during those hours but might have questions about my HOME COMPUTER??? I wasted time, energy and an entire weekend on this product. AVOID THE HASSLE AND TROUBLE. Take my word for it. Unless you want the frustration of going around and around with their website "solutions" (which they aren't), you will end up vulnerable to viruses, spending hours with a defective installation process, and at the end of the entire ordeal needing again to decide on what alternative to purchase. NEVER WILL I PURCHASE FROM NORTON AGAIN. I have read the reviews of this and other NORTON products, spoken to friends and coworkers, and now have heard and experienced enough. And now - finally - I've learned my lesson. I'm returning this to Amazon.com ASAP.
Rating: 
Summary: Activation and slowdowns destroy a once great product
Review: I have been using Norton Antivirus since Y2k when I purchased it as part of Norton System Works Pro 2001. The software was a bargain back then. It ran very well in Windows 98SE after you disabled the file backup features of Norton Utilities that ran in the background with the default installation. The Norton Antivirus always worked great and it stopped many incoming viruses over the past several years from reaching my email Inbox and the Norton Utilities kept my computer system files clean. I also used Zone Alarm Pro along with it to provide great security on my cable modem broadband internet connection. It is now the year 2004 and I have Windows XP Pro but I still use Zone Alarm 4 and Norton System Works Pro 2003 on my main computer and will do so until my subscription updates run out. However my 1Ghz Pentium 3 notebook computer that was running the same Norton 2003 and Zone Alarm Pro 4 began to slow to a crawl with each live update that I downloaded. It became so slow it was annoying me to use that computer at all. Then along came Norton System Works Pro 2004 which has Norton Antivirus 2004 bundled with it. I was ready to go out and purchase the product to update my 2003 version in the near future but decided to read some reviews about it. All I heard was one nightmare after another on the review sites and about how flawed the activation system was just after its release. Then I had a friend purchase and try the retail version of Norton System Works 2004 on his computer and his experience validated many of those negative claims. Here you have a company in Symantec that took the most widely used and popular antivirus and utilities products in the world and seriously decreased my loyalty to their brand. Although no one liked when Microsoft required activation with Windows XP at least they brought you a superior and more stable software product with support to back it up. Even though there have been some serious security problems since its release I believe Windows XP was a huge improvement over previous versions of Windows which justifies the current hassles with the Microsoft product activation feature. With Symantec's 2004 products you now have a buggy and annoying product activation feature and increasingly sluggish and bloated software that significantly decreases the speed of even the latest 2 to 3 Ghz computers. The question is why would they do this ? Only the Symantec marketing and development departments can answer that question. Thankfully we live in a diverse capitalist society that allows for competition. Needless to say I jumped off the Norton ship this year in favor of a speedier and more hastle free product in the name of McAfee Antivirus 2004. After my Norton 2003 subscription ran out I uninstalled the entire Norton System Works Pro 2003 program and I installed the new McAfee Antivirus 2004 on my notebook running Windows XP Home. I still use Zone Alarm Pro 4 for a software firewall. Compared with running Norton 2003 I could not believe the improvement in system speed with McAfee. The new McAfee and Zone Alarm Pro seems to be the right combination for me now and when my Norton subscription runs out on my 2.4 Ghz desktop system I will very likely will change that computer to the new McAfee Antivirus program also. It is too bad that Symantec effectively messed up one of the best antivirus products on the market. If you are running Norton 2003 or earlier and do not want to change to McAfee you might want to simply extend your subscription service for one or two more years and save yourself the hassle of buying the retail boxed version of Norton AV 2004. I know that I am not the only customer that feels this way about Norton AV 2004 and I hope that Symantec learns from its mistakes and returns to offering what customers really want with the next System Works Pro 2005 and Antivirus 2005 version release.
Rating:
Summary: Effective & Bargain Antivirus Software
Review: I have gone through hell and back. I received a Trojan embedded file that I could not delete from a popular peer to peer network installation (name withheld). I ran Mcafee at the time to protect my computer. Nothing discovered. Once my computer became flaky and unstable, I had to stabilize it in order to work the solution. I ran Mcafee's free on-line scan (thinking that a superior virus scan for free would entice me to buy the product). Still, nothing. The next day, I went onto Symantec's site (rejoined with Norton after a personal falling out) and downloaded the 14-day trial of antivirus pro 2004 and personal firewall. Well, it took a good day or two but once the computer was stable enough, Norton found it. However, the program on trial mode will require activation once anyone attempts to change their computer's clock/date in order to stabilize the system. Well, I need to purchase this software at this point. Of course, using a license or activation code not from your own purchased copy will result in out of date virus definitions via Live Update. What this means- use the trial and see. If anyone likes what they see, then go out and buy it on-line or at a retailer nearby. However, NAV 2004 only works purchased annually for whatever number of licenses needed. I hear the support is bad but sometimes there are somethings that one must not give up on. I've been there with numerous products. As of now on, no one is stopping me from buying the antivirus/personal firewall 2004 bundle. I hate to buy software but if you have been through what I have (reformatted my C: drive and reloaded the OS due to a Trojan), then this is CHEAP insurance, especially if you live out of your computer like me or you just want to protect your investment.
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