Rating: 
Summary: Glad I made the jump!
Review: I read (and re-read) many of the reviews posted on this site, as well as reviews posted on other sites, prior to making the decision to install Norton 2004 on my laptop. I also looked at the "sales" ranking for Norton products - and, considering the low rating given for the product, it sure is jumping off the shelf.I installed Systemworks on a Toshiba Satellite, 2.4 ghz Intel Celeron Processor, 512 mb ram, running XP Pro, SP1. I read the instructions before beginning the installation and uninstalled NAV 2003 (ninety-day subscription), which came with the laptop. Installing Systemworks 2004 went without a hitch. Activation/ registration was painless, and product updates identified by the program updater were applied without problems. I use the "cleansweep" and "web cleanup" tools periodically to eliminate cookies and other files which result from browsing the internet, downloading information, installing applications, etc. Cleanup is "customizable" - files I want to keep are not deleted (such as my personal settings on msnbc.com). I am not a fan of password managers (not using)- and I chose not to install "Go Back", as I am satisfied with the "Restore" functionality of Windows XP. XP, as well as the programs I run on my computer, seem to load as quickly as they did prior to installing SystemWorks. I am satisfied with SystemWork 2004's functionality (utilities and anti-virus). SystemWork 2004 is a value at its current price (with rebate).
Rating: 
Summary: Follow the instructions...and you'll have no problems!
Review: Lot's of rants on this product and I just don't get it!! It works fine. With all the bad reviews, I actually consulted an IT person at work before I went and purchased this to update my 2002 version. As he told me, if your PC is in good shape, don't worry about anything...and READ THE PRE-INSTALL PAGES OF THE MANUAL (pp 44-45). Note to Norton - Why is this info not on the first pages?? Key among the pre-install directions are: 1.) Close ALL programs, INCLUDING Norton A-V, and any in the System Tray. Especially make sure you don't have any other A-V programs running in background. To close Active Sync, I took my PDA out of the cradle. And 2.) If you have Systemworks 2001 or earlier, you MUST uninstall first. Program installed without a hitch, and runs just fine. After running the pre-install virus scan as suggested (which takes about a 1/2 hour or more depending on your hard drive size), the install took 15 min.. Then you need to reboot & activate, & reboot again, so plan on sitting in front of your PC for 25-30 minutes. Then, take a tour through all the sub-program screens to get caught up on some nice little revisions. You'll need to set up your schedules again - my previous settings did not transfer over. I decided to purchase this product because my Norton Anti-Virus subscription was coming due, ..., if you shop around, your net cost can be only slightly higher, or even less, than the [money] you'd spend anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: Support? What's that? And how to SHORTEN your subscription!
Review: Overall, it's a decent product. However, the phone support disconnected me 3 times and my emails have gone unanswered for 2 months! I upgraded from a previous version - which I installed 6 months ago. I THOUGHT the upgrade would extend my previous subscription to get upgrades and virus definitions. Instead, it gave me one year from the date of the upgrade. So I lost 6 months of subscription time! While AntiVirus appears to work, my computer (WinXP, P4 2.6GHz, 512MB Ram) has slowed significantly since upgrading. And that's AFTER I ran speed disk, web doctor, etc. And no, I have not installed anything else. I'm considering uninstalling and reinstalling, although from other reviews that seems like a risk in itself.
Rating:
Summary: OK, now about the software... not the install....
Review: I think this is a great all-in-one utility...
I have yet to be hacked and i keep my DSL connection connected 24/7...
It has caught and quarentinned (sp) some viruses from web pages and email...
It has found and fixed windows problems...
The Speed Disk actually shows a noticible difference in performance... It works ----> .
Rating: 
Summary: Do NOT buy this for Win2000 or WinME!!!
Review: This current retail version is full of problems during installation. On my Win2000 Pro system, I got errors during the install which had corrections available from LiveUpdate. Unfortunately, the install causes the system to reboot and then the computer 'blue-screens'. This is caused by having Anti-virus active at startup along with Personal Firewall, apparently. The only way to get around this is to bring up the computer in Safe Mode, deactivate the Antivirus at startup option. Then re-start. After running Liveupdate the problem still existed so I uninstalled it.
Don't even think of using it on a WinME machine!!! Systemworks 2004 installed (apparently) but literally slowed the system to a crawl - and I mean a CRAWL. 90 seconds to have the Start button respond! In addition, the install performed an uninstall of Norton SystemWorks 2002 (which had been running just fine) and now that will not re-install without going thru a 10page manual uninstall requiring extensive manual editing of the registry. A non-IT person doesn't have a chance of understanding this junk. Symantec may be the premiere virus fixers but they provide the worst install/uninstall mechanism I've ever seen. You can literally trash your computer trying to get rid of their software. To add insult to injury, there is no free support - you must PAY to talk to a human
Rating:
Summary: WARNING! YOUR COMPUTER IS AT RISK!! DO NOT BUY!!
Review: ZERO RATING!! I have used Norton products from the Windows 3.1 days. I have used Norton Systemworks (NSW) and Norton Antivirus (NAV) since 1997......I guess from Systemworks version 1.0!! My complaint is not about installation issues or incompatibilities with other pieces of software, or even memory hogging issues. Over the years I have learnt to fine-tune NSW to make it work for me. And in the 15-20 times that I have installed NSW, I have had to do only 2 manual uninstalls (NSW v.2.2...I think!). A little painful, but I got it working. My complaint is that NORTON ANTIVIRUS DOES NOT WORK!!!! BACKGROUND:
I needed some partitioning software. Partition Magic (PM) (Another Symantec product, though in all fairness I had this issue last year too when Powerquest owned PM) had just botched up a 3 step partition routine. I was trying to see if there was any freeware/shareware I could use. MY EXPERIENCE:
I updated NAV with the latest definitions and proceeded to download. I downloaded this partition software and ran the zip folder through NAV. NO virus detected! I then extracted the files and ran the extracted files through NAV. NO virus detected! I ran the install, but nothing happened, I ran it again and nothing happened. I clicked on "windows search" and it gave me an error message. I suspected that I had been infected. I went to Mcafee and ran their FreeScan software, within the first 5000 files they had detected a few instances of Trojan Horse "Exploit-MHTRedir" and of a dropper program "Multidropper-jz". I let the scan complete. I did not have a Mcafee product or subscription, so was unable to delete the virus. I was confident that NAV would pick up these infections and clean them out. I ran NAV scan, BUT IT DID NOT PICK UP THESE TROJAN HORSES. I was SHOCKED!!
I thought, "Hey! Maybe Symantec does not update the "LiveUpdate definitions" everyday. Let me try using the Norton web-scan similar to Mcafee's FreeScan. It scanned and came up with NADA! Nothing!!
I thought, well, let me just look up the virus library, pickup the definitions and apply them manually. This was the SHOCKER!! Symantec acknowledged the existence of these viruses and based on the dates of the virus definitions (April 06, 2004), and my frequency of updates, I should have had protection against these viruses. I was in total shock......I was living in false security. I had trusted this company to look after me and my data, but it let me down. I will NEVER, EVER PURCHASE a Symantec product again!!!! MCAFEE EXPERIENCE:
On the Mcafee side, they had these Trojan Horses as well as the "droppers" and their variants listed in detail (compared to Symantec's one generic listing). On the Mcafee Scan, I noticed that one of the droppers was tagged to IE and so decided to go with a retail copy of Mcafee, I drove down to my local Walmart at 11.30pm (I am kinda' obsessive, compulsive!!) and picked up a copy. I installed it, but I could not get the latest updates. I dialed into their chat service and, WOW! I was connected to one of their agents instantly. Within 5 minutes I had got instructions to uninstall Mcafee, download the latest definitions and run a DOS Scan. I followed the instructions and half-hour later, I got a report saying that 6 instances of Trojan Horses and dropper variants had been cleaned from my system. I Googled for the virus and noticed that the dropper could drop an instance each time a browser was opened....that might account for the new instances! Norton Anti-Virus is USELESS. VERY, VERY DISAPPOINTING!!! NEVER AGAIN!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Just a bunch of junk
Review: I bought this product primarily for Norton Ghost, to create backup images of machines. IT SUCKS. I HATE IT. DON'T BUY IT. Here's why: USB 2.0 support: HAH! It has never worked once, on multiple machines and multiple USB 2.0-compliant hard drives. USB 1.1 is painfully slow for backups. Ghost image integrity. I am sitting here looking at several different images, created from multiple machines over a several week period. NONE of them open properly in the image viewer utility. It's hard to believe they all had data corruption occur. More likely, the software just doesn't work right. Worst of all, I can't even do an image integrity check without rebooting into DOS. Support: Like all big companies, support for products like Ghost is a joke - unless you want to pay for it. So, their crappy software become a revenue stream. You might want to try DriveImage. Maybe they suck less. Or, look for some small company that needs the money, responds to your inquiries, and probably produces better software than these dinosaurs.
Rating: 
Summary: They Ruined GoBACK
Review: One of the best parts of this suite, should have been GoBack whcy Norton acquired from Roxio last year. I couldn't believe that the new version took out functionality that was there in Version 3.0 -- the ability to retrieve files which disapeared after reverting the hard drive. WHY??? The Antivirus is excellent as usual with Norton. The scheduling doesn't seem to pay attention to your settings. Set what you will, the program still wants to run a couple of times a week, and new a check up. If they enhanced rather than degraded GoBack (suggestions: Allow larger than 4 GB file and run restore the ability to retrieve lost files after a revert), they could do away with a few other utilities in the suite.
Rating:
Summary: skip SystemWorks, buy AntiVirus
Review: I have used Norton AntiVirus for years and never had a problem with it; I installed SystemWorks and had to shut most of the utilities down because it slowed my system down to a snail's pace. Now I only run the AntiVirus and everything works fine; unfortunately I can't return SystemWorks.
Also, if you submit a rebate form for this product, don't expect to actually receive any money back from Symantec. They will conveniently misplace your proof of purchase.
Rating:
Summary: Glad I made the jump!
Review: I read (and re-read) many of the reviews posted on this site, as well as reviews posted on other sites, prior to making the decision to install Norton 2004 on my laptop. I also looked at the "sales" ranking for Norton products - and, considering the low rating given for the product, it sure is jumping off the shelf. I installed Systemworks on a Toshiba Satellite, 2.4 ghz Intel Celeron Processor, 512 mb ram, running XP Pro, SP1. I read the instructions before beginning the installation and uninstalled NAV 2003 (ninety-day subscription), which came with the laptop. Installing Systemworks 2004 went without a hitch. Activation/ registration was painless, and product updates identified by the program updater were applied without problems. I use the "cleansweep" and "web cleanup" tools periodically to eliminate cookies and other files which result from browsing the internet, downloading information, installing applications, etc. Cleanup is "customizable" - files I want to keep are not deleted (such as my personal settings on msnbc.com). I am not a fan of password managers (not using)- and I chose not to install "Go Back", as I am satisfied with the "Restore" functionality of Windows XP. XP, as well as the programs I run on my computer, seem to load as quickly as they did prior to installing SystemWorks. I am satisfied with SystemWork 2004's functionality (utilities and anti-virus). SystemWork 2004 is a value at its current price (with rebate).
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