Rating: 
Summary: look for something else
Review: Now I bought this suite because I have been using symantec products for past 3 years and have been satisfied with performance. Also for the amounth of utilites in the package it's a good priceWell I don't know who was coding this years version of Anti virus because I'm getting so many issues with outlook xp not being able to connect to pop3 email server. I'm using windows 2K pro and according to Microsoft I have to uninstall and reinstall antivirus program every time this goes down, it wouldn't be a big deal if it happened once a month but it happens at least once a week. It's impossible to get an messages unless it's from someone I know because the anti-virus konks out all the time. The Anitvirus software has turned into a productivity killer for me. Next time I'm reading reviews in Computer Shopper or PCWorld before I but another Symantic product. There's better utility software out there don't make the same mistake I did.
Rating:
Summary: Don't install Symantec products
Review: I've discovered two new threats... W32.SymantecNIS2004Pro.Worm and W32.SymantecNSW2004Pro.Worm Symptoms are not being able to connect to the internet, login to your personal firewall, run your anti-virus program, or scan your emails from viruses. Removal of both of these is extremely difficult. There are a few removal tools out there (all of which don't work completely) and conflicting advice from the Symantec Knowledge Base and live Technical Support. You will be required to alter registry files yourself and search for hidden files so you can manually delete them. Symptoms can develop right after installation of Symantec programs, or even a few days from then (it varies...how interesting). Please be aware that even after uninstalling all Symantec products using Add/Remove Programs (which by the way, probably won't work, it varies...how interesting) there will still be 24-73 Symantec files still residing on your computer (it varies...how interesting). These files may still interfere with your normal computer use, such as using the Help & Support features of your OS or computer manufacturer. The last few remaining files are extremely difficult to remove as you can not delete them yourself even after doing a Selective System Startup, loading only Microsoft System Services. The best protection against this threat is...once you finally get all Symantec products removed from your computer to never install one of their products again. Be careful, distribution of this threat is very high and can you believe people actually pay for the threat? For even further protection...visit http://www.mcafee.com
Rating:
Summary: Bloated and Outdated. Don't buy if you have XP!
Review: Outdated? Yup. Don't let the 2004 moniker fool you. This is just the latest rehash of a product that is completely outdated and hasn't had a real update in quite some time. They slap some new graphics on every year, but for anybody using Windows XP (or anything derived from NT or later) you're completely wasting your money and the only thing of value will be the Antivirus software. (Don't get me wrong, the Norton Antivirus software is slow and bloated, too, but at least it does the job well otherwise.) Under XP all the other utilities are either disabled, or very close to useless. The native disk check and defragmenter that come with XP work either the same or better than what comes with Norton. Please don't make the same mistake I did. Save your money; there are MUCH better utility suites out there for XP. And the truth is that with XP the only third-party software you really need to get are anti-virus and firewall protection.
Rating:
Summary: A slow, memory-hogging, suite that's a rip-off!!
Review: Other than the anti-virus stuff, everything else is just MASSIVE dead weight. You'd think something this massive would offer a firewall program. If Symantec did that, then the price could be justified. But they (Surprise!! Surprise!!) force you to buy that seperately. In short, the time for this software suite has passed a LONG time ago!! You're better off getting Norton Internet Security, which is bundled with Norton AntiVirus and Norton AntiSpam (Add in Executive Software's Diskeeper, and you'll have all you'll need.) Don't bother wasting your money on Norton SystemWorks. It's a freakin' rip-off!! Everything else can be taken care of by the Windows OS.
Rating:
Summary: Really I classify SystemWorks with no stars at all
Review: The term "Easy" in the ads really means uncontrollable - just like the OS called MS Windows. They offer no support - ooops, they do support you for 40 bucks - my word that's the same as this software costs!? So you buy it once and then over and over again, until you throw it away. Then happiness sets in. Working behind the scenes, SystemWorks ruined two of my Laptops used for important work (while I was in Europe) but did I understand, NO. I thought it was a Virus, but Virus Scans were negative and it turned out to be SystemWorks. Actually - I call it SystemDoesn'tWorks. Easy my foot! If you have a problem during installation, give up fast. I spent days on this but, since there are no options (to make it EASY to use there are no options or controls) once it decides not to allow installation, there is no appeal process and no support from Norton. You just can't "force installation"
Rating:
Summary: Really I classify SystemWorks with no stars at all
Review: The term "Easy" in the ads really means uncontrollable and what support - ooops, they do support you for 40 bucks - my word that's close to what this software costs!? So you buy it once and then over and over again, until you throw it away. Then happiness sets in. Actually - I call it SystemDOESN'Tworks. Easy my foot. They have no incentive to make it a better product, then who would buy support? Come on guys, why not support installation for free?
Rating:
Summary: A collection of nice looking, but not working utilities
Review: looks nice, however you should be aware of the following problems _before_ you buy. 1) It slows down your system to about 1/2 the previous speed if you enable all the options.
2) password manager although nice idea - breaks when you log in to many web pages with a password.
3) ghost does not work at all with drives that have a bad sector (most drives over a year old !)
4) there is NO support from symantec unless you pay per incident
5) the norton utilites for recovering disk files, basically just run good old chkdsk
6) disk editor is missing from this distribution
7) content blocking takes a long time to load up
8) and of course my favorite is ... the "liveupdate" settings file will continually corrupt itself every couple of weeks. I have this same problem on many systems I've tried this on.
I vote NO, keep your money and get something else.
Rating: 
Summary: Results seem to vary
Review: I recently upgraded from Windows ME to XP. As a result, I also had to upgrade my old Norton SystemWorks 2001 to the 2004 version. I have experienced no problems. My virus scans have detected many of the spyware and Trojan Horse files (iefeat, etc.) that others say theirs seems to be missing. In researching this, it seems many anti-virus softwares are hesitant to define spyware and adware as a being malicious. I have found it best to address spyware and adware with dedicated programs like Ad-Aware and SpyBot. I deducted one star for the fact that it does sometimes slow down my computer, but when you think of what all it is doing, that's not surprising.
Rating: 
Summary: A mixed blessing
Review: The normally reliable Symantec has obviously went down the drain. At least, that's what I thought when trying to install this on two computers with the OS of Windows 98 SE. It literally destroyed one of them, ruining the OS and a hard drive. The other computer didn't suffer to such an extreme, but suffered nonetheless. However, when I decided to give Symantec one last chance I attempted to install it on a computer of mine with XP Home loaded on it. And much to my surprise, IT WORKED BEAUTIFULLY! Thinking it might have just been luck, I installed it on my fourth computer in the house, which was running on XP Home, and it worked without a flaw! The fact that it was unreliable on the other OS's, and the damage it could total, drops this excellent program (on XP Home, for me at least) down to 3 stars (I'd have to say rounded up from middle 2's for the damage it did). Buy with caution.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible
Review: If you want to get extremely frustrated then get this product. Also, if you want to have nothing fixed on your computer get this product. I wish I could return it.
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