How would you rate Symantec/Norton's Security Products?

[SwordOfSecurity]

Well lately i've been hearing a lot of negative posts and ideas on symantec and even though i myself don't like them at all, i'm wondering how the rest of the public feel about it. how would YOU rate symantec/norton's security software? ::)

EDIT: feel free to express your opinions on their products here

[ErikAlbert]

Norton is too expensive : softwares, upgrading and phone support.
Norton is like a tattoo, hard to remove, once installed.

Norton Defragmenter is a nightmare.
Norton CleanSweep didn't work properly on my computer.

Norton Anti-Virus is very good and very popular in Belgium.
Norton Internet Security did its job too on my computer.
I never used any other Norton software.

Norton would never be my first choice in anything, but I wouldn't call Norton crap either like some people do.

[WSFuser]

{QUOTE-> Norton is too expensive : softwares, upgrading and phone support.
Norton is like a tattoo, hard to remove, once installed.

...

Norton would never be my first choice in anything, but I wouldn't call Norton crap either like some people do. <-QUOTE}
+1, i think norton might be ok for newbies (tho common sense in updating it still applies). ive used norton for a few years back and its caught a few viruses. after a while, i got tired of it and switched to nod32 on recommendation from a mod on another forum.

also, i find symantec's corp antivirus much better as it has a cleaner tho sometimes less user friendly interface. the latest v10 is a little bit heavier but id choose it over norton anyday.

[houseisland]

I used to like NAV back in the old days -- I was a big version 5 fan,and I stuck with them to 2003. But.... their new stuff for home users and workgroups is way too bloated. I put 2004 on my PIII 800 box and uninstalled about 2 days later.

I do like their corporate product, however. It works well and is fairly easy to administer. They also have good tech support for their corporate customers, well.. good by comparison general levels of tech support from software manufacturers.

However, the SPAM control features in Mail Security SUCK (in case you missed it, that's S U C K, SUCK) so don't even think about enabling that part of the application. The biggest problem is with the crappy non/semi-functional release mechanism for false positives, and the compilation of the weighted word lists is too tedious for someone lazy like me.

I notice that Symantec is losing retail shelf space like crazy -- in many outlets they once were the one and only AV/Security product available. I dimmly suspect that there cause effect relation here -- crack down on grey market OEM product -- loose retail shelf space -- although I have not really thought through the fuzzy suspicion to the point where it is actually a startling insight -- don't want to scare myself.

[ErikAlbert]

What I really like about Symantec is their On-line Malware Encyclopedia or whatever you call it in English.

[sosaiso]

Personally, I have no problem with the Corp product, I find it protects quite well, not as well as others, but decent for the corporate enviroment.

[Niop]

when copying .zip file/ jar/ msi or download/installing/burning thing it slows it to hell! note: disable autoprotect temperally to increase speed

[hahasddf]

and they dont seem to be nice to pat kwallabear (guy who made spybot)

[Eldar]

As for rating it, I would say it's OK.
Of course it came pre-installed on my PC, as well as on a lot of others. ::)

I liked NIS2003, upgraded to NIS2004 and that's where the problems started.
Asked support to solve this problem and got redirected to their FAQ's, which I already did check out.

Went looking for another AV, tried many and settled with the current one.
Won't be going back, that's for sure. :P

[Osaban]

I used to have NIS 2004.

PROS: NAV has one the best virus detection rate

CONS: Terrible support - Problems installing and uninstalling - Mail scanning problems - conflict prone software - High system impact (NIS 2004)

I don't think Symantec has realized that loosing a customer is forever in most cases.

[bigc73542]

The problems of installing and uninstalling has been fixed in Ver.2005/2006 and Nav doesn't run heavy anymore, in fact the 2005/2006 versions actually run pretty light. I get a kick out of some people giving a review on Nav when they haven't used it except for several versions back. There has been a lot of improvements in the last two versions.

[sdd]

using it right now (2005) not too many complaints. ;) i'd rate it as b

[houseisland]

{QUOTE-> I get a kick out of some people giving a review on Nav when they haven't used it except for several versions back. <-QUOTE}

Good. I'm glad I am providing amusement for someone here. ;)

I have an unopened retail box of System Works 2005 that someone gave me. It sits with my shelfware collection. 2004 was so bad (for me, to me) that I cringe everytime I come across the 2005 box again. I feel I should festoon myself with garlic and make the sign of the cross.

[starfish_001]

{QUOTE-> I used to have NIS 2004.

PROS: NAV has one the best virus detection rate

CONS: Terrible support - Problems installing and uninstalling - Mail scanning problems - conflict prone software - High system impact (NIS 2004)

I don't think Symantec has realized that loosing a customer is forever in most cases. <-QUOTE}

Same here - but I still use it on my dad's machine because he finds it easy

[manOFpeace]

I think it's only okay. :)

[The Hammer]

{QUOTE-> Good. I'm glad I am providing amusement for someone here. ;)

I have an unopened retail box of System Works 2005 that someone gave me. It sits with my shelfware collection. 2004 was so bad (for me, to me) that I cringe everytime I come across the 2005 box again. I feel I should festoon myself with garlic and make the sign of the cross. <-QUOTE}At the risk of being shot with a silver bullet, I'd say they're on par with the best of the competition. :P

[Get]

Ok, I will test it. What the hell :lurking:

[mikel108]

I voted "not sure" for now. This is my first full foray into the world of Symantec. I recieved it for Christmas as I wanted to give old Norton a real try, and not part with MY money. Have to say, so far its great, and yes I have tried all the ones you people have tried. I'll give it time, maybe my mind will change, maybe not.

[Tassie_Devils]

{QUOTE-> I voted "not sure" for now. This is my first full foray into the world of Symantec. I recieved it for Christmas as I wanted to give old Norton a real try, and not part with MY money. Have to say, so far its great, and yes I have tried all the ones you people have tried. I'll give it time, maybe my mind will change, maybe not. <-QUOTE}

that is truely the only way to tell, :thumb: you have to try it on ~your~ system, see if it runs ok on that, regardless of how many others don't have troubles or vice versa.

I personally use another AV, but as bigc says, sometimes previous versions may have had problems and they get fixed, but the opposite is also true, a lot of times older versions of programs seem to run better on some machines than the later versions. :-\

Cheers, TAS

[Get]

Ok, exit Nod32, in came Norton AV 2005. MY GODDDDDD:o. But, ok, I will give it a chance. First experiences...Installing and first updating: no problems, a bit slow (3 updates (mucho embayo's), 3 reboots, must have been an old copy), that's all. Taskmanager: :'(. Enabled taskscheduler before installing because as far as I know Norton needs it. That of course makes booting a hell of a lot slower. Will try it as long as I have an opinion.

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> The problems of installing and uninstalling has been fixed in Ver.2005/2006 and Nav doesn't run heavy anymore, in fact the 2005/2006 versions actually run pretty light. I get a kick out of some people giving a review on Nav when they haven't used it except for several versions back. There has been a lot of improvements in the last two versions. <-QUOTE}

Hi Bigc

I can't comment on improvements, but have only one question. Have they improved their support. The reason I swore off any kind of Norton product is I realized there was no support.

Pete

PS I know all about what they have for online resources, but that is all worthless when they send an invalid license. Spent literally hours before finally getting thru to a genius who told me that was a known problem, and resent the license. Great except it to was bad.

[bigc73542]

{QUOTE-> Hi Bigc

I can't comment on improvements, but have only one question. Have they improved their support. The reason I swore off any kind of Norton product is I realized there was no support.

Pete

PS I know all about what they have for online resources, but that is all worthless when they send an invalid license. Spent literally hours before finally getting thru to a genius who told me that was a known problem, and resent the license. Great except it to was bad. <-QUOTE}


I will admit that their support could use work, but they do have the best web sit and knowledge base I know of. And I don't buy downloadable software. When I purchase I wan't a disc and they come with a reg no. I have never had one of those not work.

[Honyak]

I used Norton for years with no major problems, but through this forum I learned that there are altenatives that better suit my needs. I do not think knowing what I know now I will be using it again.

[Get]

Ok, I have "tested" Norton AV 2005. It slows down your pc. Not immensly, but noticable when used to nod32. 9 new processes (norton-exe's) are running after installing. There are 8 more processes running in taskmanager after boot compared to when nod32 is running. Installing the software gives the feel of digging itself deep in your pc, but the slowing down is much less than you would expect. The user interface is ok, shouldn't give anyone real trouble, but my god it's ugly. Of course you don't buy software because it looks nice, but even my 3 year old nephew, which I don't even have, can do a better job. I visited a variety of crack/pornsites to test it and later I visited the same sites where it missed malware with Nod32 and they both missed the same (istbar; ewido and some av's (jotti) didn't miss btw). I had norton 24 hours or so installed and the whole time never had an update (for what it's worth). Only 24 hours? Yes, only 24, because it may not slow down the pc the way you would expect, but the pc loses "smoothness" compared to when Nod32 is running and given the fact that I feel safer running Nod32 and further testing would be quite pointless (unless I would run it a year and visit all crack/pornsites available, which I of course don't, never did and never will :lurking:) I uninstalled it. EDIT: uninstalling gave no problems whatsoever. It left folders and registryentries, but that's not uncommon. I made an image before installing and will go back to that in a short while, but so far no sideeffects. Of course I cleaned up after uninstalling and not everybody will/can do that so how the result would be without cleaning up afterwards...I dont know. (I send the samples to eset and symantec)

[DigitalMan]

I've had lots of problems installing/uninstalling Norton stuff over the years. Yes BigC, that refers to NIS2006 too. It only completely uninstalls NIS2004 or 2005, not older stuff. Recent stuff seems pretty fragile/unstable. See this thread for my latest experience which reinforced why I don't like it:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=113415

Tons of modules, lots of registry and hidden file activity, frequent large application module updates does not inspire confidence, etc. Really bogged down a 1GHz P4 machine too. Feels like its getting bloated to me.

Having said that, it seems to work okay if you can get it installed and stabilized. I didn't like the weekly update frequency from the 2002 version and switched to NOD and have been happy at the general performance of NOD vs. Symantec apps.

[Hard Rocker]

Hi, :)

I've been using Symantec products for about 15 months.
Norton AV & Firewall 2005 .... Norton Internet Security 2006.

Up to now I have no complaints pertaining to security issues on my PC.
However, at certain times I've been very frustrated by their tech support and wait time from their " 1-800 " toll free numbers. Frustrations aside, my issues have always been resolved.

For members here that complain about all kinds of " crap " that is being left on their PC's after using Norton products I can tell you from uninstalling the 2005 products that Symantec has a removal utility available at their website that is designed to remove all traces of their products from your PC ( registry included ) prior to performing a new installation. However, I cannot say for sure exactly how long Symantec has had this removal utility available.

I also run monthly Kaspersky and McAfee online scans. On my PC I'm using AntiVir and BitDefender as on demand scanners. They all say I'm clean !!

HR 8)

[stalker]

I voted for the fourth option; 'nuff said -- ;) ...


regards, stalker

[DigitalMan]

{QUOTE-> Hi, :)
For members here that complain about all kinds of " crap " that is being left on their PC's after using Norton products I can tell you from uninstalling the 2005 products that Symantec has a removal utility available at their website that is designed to remove all traces of their products from your PC ( registry included ) prior to performing a new installation. However, I cannot say for sure exactly how long Symantec has had this removal utility available.
<-QUOTE}

Problem is the latest removal utility doesn't remove versions prior to 2004 (removal tools are somewhat year specific), there are separate programs for removing NIS in general and the NAV sections of NIS for older versions, etc. Very untidy, still not sure the logic of why uninstalling doesn't really uninstall and requires you to download a special uninstaller to do it right. Why wouldn't a NIS 2006 uninstaller uninstall 2003 properly? Why not uninstall on any Norton product be able to uninstall ALL previous versions? How about a "no, really, I'm serious uninstall the damn thing, every part of it" and a "no, I only kinda want to remove some of it" buttons on the uninstaller GUI?

KISS principle is best.

[rdsu]

Although the new versions of Norton/Symantec have some improvements on resources, I still think that we continue to have much better options...

I don't like it.

[Julie2]

Tell you what REALLY anoys me. When folk with 'older' computers go to renew their NAV definition files subscription, the Update to Ver 2006 is cheaper than just renewing their old sub. Consequently they update to the new 2006 version . Then their old computers REALLY SLOW DOWN UNACCEPTABLY.
Then they ring me and ask what to do?
The solution - uninstall, and ask for a refund from Symantec, and install NOD32 (x3 faster and with engines that suit WIN 98, ME etc.
It would appear that Symantec are marketing a product that is only OK with 'State of the Art" (today's) machines.
Having said that - I notice that NAV noticably slows down even today's machines, but because they are generally faster it doesn't matter so much.

[Sonap]

I don't like it.
Because when i was change norton and scan my pc with other antivirus found trojans, virus,dialers and everything you like

[sweater]

Maybe, they have to release a free version. :wacko:

[YeOldeStonecat]

I haven't liked their home market products since around 2001...since then, they've gone downhill. Bogging workstations down compared to many other antivirus programs, and "in the real world"...letting stuff slip past and into the system.

I make my living as a network engineer/computer consultant, so I'm not basing this off of seeing a situation once or twice and forming an opinion based on that, I'm talking about over many many years with many systems under all scenarios.

As for their corporate edition, I was a reseller for that since around version 5...going back to Win95/NT4 networks. Liked it up til about version 9...then licensing and pricing got out of control, and I began to see it become less effective, started looking at other products like Kapersky, AVG, NOD32, etc. When the piggish version 10 came out..that was it, I stopped reselling/installing Sym CE. I find it amusing, as current clients Symantec licensing expires, and I replace it on their servers/networks with NOD32....now within hours NOD32 is finding stuff that Symantec never touched. This happens several times a month as I'll be working on different networks..again, not just a once or twice observation, but something repeated over and over.

[se7engreen]

My opinion, it has pros and cons. It's not my AV of choice but I wouldn’t write it off as completely useless either.

[NAMOR]

I just bought NIS2006 a few weeks ago and I can't find anything wrong with it. Doesn't seem to intrude in my daily gaming habit. I know many people say Norton has let them down one way or another but, since I have been going to security forums I have heard such stories about every antivirus program. Guess the best thing to do is stay patched and practice better computing habits.

[chrisretusn]

System Work was pre-installed on this PC. Immediately removed once I got it home. Symantec/Norton's Products are not welcome in my house.

[mikel108]

{QUOTE-> I voted "not sure" for now. This is my first full foray into the world of Symantec. I recieved it for Christmas as I wanted to give old Norton a real try, and not part with MY money. Have to say, so far its great, and yes I have tried all the ones you people have tried. I'll give it time, maybe my mind will change, maybe not. <-QUOTE}

Well, I had to pull NIS 2006 off my machine. It really is a complete program, and I felt very secure using it. It had updated daily with no problems. The program itself never had a crash or lockup. I was upset that I could not use the parental filter as it uses 100MB of ram to run, which is totally unacceptable.

Here's why I pulled it off. I had it on my PC since Jan 10th. My PC ran great for the first month, and for Feb it has continually been getting slower and slower. I defragged, cleaned, checked all components. All were fine. I pulled NIS off 4 days ago and put on seperate modules AV/AS/FW and PF. My computer runs like a rocket now, apps open much more quicker, our webcam is not stuttering and something I really did not notice before....our web browsing is much quicker.

In closing, I really like the NIS setup. I even looked at buying more RAM, but I would rather buy a new PC down the road.

PS(Just in case you wonder about conflicts or such)--I have
P4, 2.4 GHZ
512 Ram
Integrated Graphics
Minimal programs
HP Printer/Scanner/Copier
Mercury WebCam

[Osaban]

{QUOTE-> Well, I had to pull NIS 2006 off my machine.

Here's why I pulled it off. I had it on my PC since Jan 10th. My PC ran great for the first month, and for Feb it has continually been getting slower and slower. I defragged, cleaned, checked all components. All were fine. I pulled NIS off 4 days ago and put on seperate modules AV/AS/FW and PF. My computer runs like a rocket now, apps open much more quicker, our webcam is not stuttering and something I really did not notice before....our web browsing is much quicker.

<-QUOTE}

You know your experience is fairly symptomatic of a pattern affecting more the concept of a 'suite' than Symantec specifically. I had NIS 2004 running for for the best part of a year, and as time went on new problems were developing all the time(hence the notorious complaint about Symantec support). As matter of fact, the trial period of a month is not often long enough to be sure your application is worth buying.

Bigc73542 is continuously testing new AVs and suites, keeps them for a couple of weeks and posts his impressions. These are very valuable but unfortunately one doesn't know what's going to happen in the long run and in different systems.

I think it would be better IMO to buy NAV and NFW as separate modules (costing more of course) so that problems could be related to the modules individually rather than to a centralized GUI. It's a pity you couldn't work out the reason/s for the slowing down of your system.

The bottom line is that Suites tend to be more vulnerable and prone to problems due to their complexities than individual applications on their own, that is of course IMHO.

[mikel108]

Thanks for the insight. I even eamil Symantec asking to trade it for a NAV key, even if it was for NAV 2005. I won't seek a refund. My dads NIS 2005 comes up for renewal in a month..so I am just going to offer it to him....hmmmm can I put it on another machine?? It runs great on his Acer, and has for 3 years.

[mannagills]

Hate them. Too bloated, too slow, too much impact on my machine, and way too difficult to remove.

[reederhb]

Norton Symantec is dispicable. It is like inviting a virus into your computer. I highly recommend removing it as soon as possible. I tried it once in 1999 when a free trial came with my new computer and again this year when I purchased another computer. In both instances Windows and Internet access were running very smoothly prior to installation of Norton's virus protection. After installation, other programs would not operate, due to "missing components", internet access was blocked, windows os kept having errors etc... The help offered by symantec (Norton) is treacherous. If you have nothing else to do except flip through a circuitous parth of help screens that never take you anywhere or get you any live help, if you want to follow recommendations that make you search other web-sites for solutions like microsoft windows support then this software is for you. If you are like me, trying to keep my life uncluttered and simple, get McAfee. It Works!