Your Worst Software Experience:

Hi;

Earlier today, I posted a reply to a thread about Spyware terminator. To be brief, my comments were not complementary.

Now I'm thinking;
ST is certainly NOT the only security application that has disappointed me.
In fact, I've been disappointed quite often.
To me, it doesn't matter if the application is a free or paid one;
It should do what is claimed for it, the GUI should make sense to the user, and it should effectively address a particular need.

My question to you is;
What are the two or three software applications that have disappointed you the most.
They don't necessarily need to be security apps, my first app is Vista !

My first three choices;
1) Vista. (I bought Ultimate ).
2) Spyware terminator with or without Clam A/V. (Clam just makes it worse).
3) Anything McAfee.


Next....

 

older versions of norton.
spysweeper 4.5 onwards.
acronis true image.
Operating systems: Windows ME...
nero because it become bloated
cant think of anymore atm.
btw i think that vista is better than XP. only real problem now is speed. can have some major slowdowns. there are a few issues such as adding network printers and really really slow file copying but should hopfully be solved soon.

 

1. 2updates for nvidia drivers when i was using xp sp 2.Had to take the PC to repair.I did not have a back up Program at that time.

2.Outpost firewall 2008 on vista :black screen,&blue screens every 10 minutes ).

3.Comodo firewall 3 when it was launched.After uninstall could not connect to the internet anymore.

 

Lodore already stole my thunder. Was going to say earlier vers. of Norton (04 in my case). Though seeing and dealing with newer vers. on other peoples PCs has left me totally unimpressed as well. Win ME. Nero. Not so much for it`s lack of capabilities, but because of bloat. Adaware & Spybot. Just do not seem to have kept up. There have been many others over the years....just escape me at the moment.

 

Yeah, I'd have to echo on the older Norton and any McAfee software. I've also had some firewalls trash me at various times back a few years when I was in firewall install and remove mode.... a few BSODs with those as well.

 

Yeah, forgot all about Spybot.
For whatever reason, I'm more tolerant of Ad-Aware. I have no reason to keep it, but I do on most installs.
It should go as well.

I really hate that Trend Micro discontinued their dedicated antispyware application; I thought it was the absolute best A/S out there. Loved the GUI, options, scan speed and detection, plus the extra features offered.
I miss it !

I had Nero but quit installing it because I wasn't using anything but the DiscSpeed feature which I have installed by itself.

I too had a nightmare with Comodo 3. They seem to have tamed it in their new security suite; hardly any pop-ups at all after the first couple of days !

 

Norton and McAfee products (both old and new versions)
Spybot and Ad-aware : failed in detection
Spy Sweeper: Bloatness
Spyware Doctor: bloatness, false positives
Nero 8 and 9: from the best burner to the most bloated one. I still use Nero 6.
Vista: Too slow and with too much problems.
Adobe software in general: Big, slow, bloated
Microsoft Visual Studio: Terribly problematic, I can't count how many times I had to reinstall(not repair, reinstall=completely uninstall and install again). Especially Service pack 1. Installed like 10 times and ALWAYS had a problem with visual studio. Decided never to install again.
Xp Service Pack 3: Tried a few times and it couldn't install, and it also gently alerted me that the changes it made may have corrupted my installation...Now some programs cannot recognize my Windows Xp..
Office 2007: big, slow, bloated..
NOD32: Missing too much trojans and weak with spyware.
AdBlock Plus: uses a lot of memory, makes firefox use 300MB instead of 100-200.

And the list goes on ...

 

ןseems easy

1.nav 2008/2007

2. mcfee AV

3. JETICHO firewall (??)

 

REGISTRY CLEANERS!!! are my worst experiences since they are very destructive if used half cocked.

CCleaner is the only one that is smart enough to be used haphazardly.

Otherwise a re-install/re-image is the most likely outcome.

 

1. Spyware Doctor. They got in a pissing contest with NOD32. This was very ugly.

2. Vista. Too slow. Windows Mail was an afterhtought. Although our computing power keeps getting better, Microsoft keeps hogging more and more.

3. MS Office 2007. In a word: bloatware. Not to mention, the standard format that it saves documents in (.docx) is not compatible with older versions of word. The user can save files in the older version compatible format (.doc), but they must tell the program to do this. Many users don't know this.

 

My worst ever experience was with AE=AntiExcutable on first release for Vista.I gave it a Go to a endless loop of BSOD it destroyed everything beyond a simple backup image restore to fix I needed to reinstall windows from scratch removing bloat factory installed software cleaning leftover registry,spent countless hours updating replacing software finding license info for paid software.more then 24 hours to get everything back to the way I wanted.All this from one try of 1 piece of software. I am really suprised No hardware Damage it was that bad it even made some strange noise trying to reboot sounded like a broken HDD.

 

Norton 2005 for well known reasons
ZoneAlarm Suite somewhere as it went from v6 series into v7 series it was a crap shoot every time you upgraded.
AD-Aware 2007 only found adware.
Webroot Spysweeper 5 Bloated and slow
Comodo FW v3 in its first attempt.

 

Symantec NIS 2004 gave me a lot of problems (never had a reply from support).
Symantec Ghost9 never worked and cost me 60 Euros in 2005.
Kaspersky: After buying a boxed version of the Antivirus and firewall in 2005, the serial number was blacklisted by Kaspersky, they never replied to my e-mails, cost 50 Euros.

 

Threatfire version 3.5+ - when installed it will not allow me to use my keyboard.

Computer Associates anything- nearly impossible to remove.

Finjan Secure Browsing- I am just upset it does not work well with IE7 in Vista. But works with FF in Vista so that is a plus.

 

Hell.o

My worst experience are not programs but small things that sometimes happen when using perfectly simple and normal things.

For example, I have a fat32 partition that for some reason gets weird every few weeks and then when deleting files from it they do not go to recycle bin. And other files that get into it take 10 seconds to clean. However, if I run chkdsk on the fat32 partition the problem gets solved, even though there are no errors on the partition. I suspect either a weekly replication using karen's pt replicator or a new external drive mounted on one of the other machines, but I can't figure it out. And it bugs me more than any specific program being crap.

Bad programs you toss away, the good ones that make trouble here and there are the worst.

Or a bsod every 3 years or so, for no apparent reason ...

Thinking about lousy products, high expectations, low end result ... VMware Server 2 ... I'm sticking with older releases.

Mrk

 

.. and Ad-Aware 2008 with premium bloatness

 

Webroot Spysweeper. About two years ago, they released version 5.0 and it was a fiasco. Their tech support people were in complete denial that their software was creating nightmares for users. I couldn't pull that crap off my computers fast enough. I've managed to block most of the gory details from my memory, but a quick look at Webroot tech support emails causes the old bad memories to come flooding back in.

 

Escan Pro antivirus caused me major stability trouble 4 or 5 years ago.
Acronis True Image was a disappointment.
I had Nero burning software that was difficult to use.

 

Agnitum outpost.. major problems, support was useless

 

Have to agree on this 100%, reg cleaners can be disasterous especially if no reg backup is made.

 

1) any 2005-2008 Norton product (except for Symatec Corporate AV)
2) trying to recover and backup files off my sisters virus and spyware laden machine last year. her husband felt they didnt need AV
3) removing XP antivirus 2008 from my neighbors daughters machine

 

I use Reg Supreme Pro by Macecraft. If you choose fix rather than delete, and do the backup they offer, you can be almost fearless.

 

Network Magic 5.0.8282. Has a pretty picture of your network, but it will NOT share files. I worked with their tech support for hours and they were unable/unwilling to give me any help.

They finally gave up and said they would refund my money.

 

A VERY INTERESTING thread! ... congrats Wtsinnc !!!

All with note 'NEVER!' on my jotter:

The Worst of All ( for me ): Faronics Anti-Executable : the short know it is led by the reinstallation of Windows ( look to thread: 'Your NEW BEST Softwares ...' Page 6 ; see it this evening ...). Yes, yes, Djohn!
Others 'NEVER!':
Advanced System Optimizer ( Systweak Inc.)
CA Anti-Spyware ( = Pest Patrol )
DeepMonitor
Haute Secure ( multi multi- hook ...)
Moon Secure Antivirus ( horror! )
Neoava Guard ( horrible! )
Safety Check ( horrific! )
Trend Micro RUBotted(Beta) - exasperating!
SSI System Spyware Interrogator; Sweepi with its backup; ... etc., etc.

 

Not making a drive image of a clean fresh installed OS AND a drive image PRIOR to a major system changing program installation. Despite all the fire Acronis has been taking on its forum, I would be lost without it. Acronis boot cd, that is. The installed Acronis has a few burps.
SourMilk out