Norton/Symantec sells out

Discussion in 'other security issues & news' started by Fly, Feb 3, 2009.

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  1. Rainwalker

    Rainwalker Registered Member

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    AHH yes, " The Fine Print "....it will get ya every time...The Daughter of Reality.
     
  2. dw426

    dw426 Registered Member

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    Why on earth not? Just because the software is trusted doesn't mean the company should be. The bottom line is the end all be all of the corporate world. Will they alls crew you first chance they get? Of course not. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be watching your back with your data and security, because if the sh*t hits the fan, the user will be responsible for not reading what they are getting into.
     
  3. Thug21

    Thug21 Registered Member

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    Yes, people should be careful, no excuse for that. But, there is also no excuse for security vendors acing this way. I'm not sure about you, but any such company will lose my business.
     
  4. TechOutsider

    TechOutsider Registered Member

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    Agreed.
     
  5. ambient_88

    ambient_88 Registered Member

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    Well, this is a business decision by Symantec. As long as the effectiveness of the software is not affected, I could care less whether they bundle a toolbar or not, provided that I can opt-out if I so desire.
     
  6. Fly

    Fly Registered Member

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    From what I recall (I'm not going to read the entire thread again!):
    There is/will not be an opt-out, it's part of the Norton toolbar/'safe search' or something like that.

    In such a case, the only opt-out is not to install the software, and try returning the box to your local computer shop !
     
  7. chachazz

    chachazz Updates Team

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    Just an FYI:
    @ Norton 360 Beta forum:
    http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=N360_PB&thread.id=640&page=2
     
  8. dw426

    dw426 Registered Member

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    For me, reading that makes this a settled issue. You can un-check the checkbox on at install time and not have to worry about it ever again, or, you can use it, and, straight from Symantecs mouth, still not worry about it because nothing gets sent to Ask but the search term...now we certainly can't complain about them sending the search term, can we? (Why do I get this unnerving feeling someone WOULD complain about that?).

    In any case, naysayers be gone, zealots be gone, paranoids be gone. Use the software or don't, end of story.
     
  9. Fly

    Fly Registered Member

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    I wonder how many people will hide the SafeSearch box !

    And they would just send the search string to ask.com, nothing else ? Then what's the point of working with ask.com ? For general purposes, it's certainly not the best search engine.

    And that's of course what they said, which is not necessarily what they do.

    Anyway, I'm not planning to buy a Norton/Symantec product. I'll probably leave it at this.
     
  10. Macstorm

    Macstorm Registered Member

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    Ask.com was the devil until it appeared on symantec products. Now it suddenly became an angel.

    Funny :rolleyes:
     
  11. tazdevl

    tazdevl Registered Member

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    Feel free to email John Tompson (CEO of Symantec) your complaints, I did.

    jwthompson@symantec.com

    I think a lot of you are missing the point... this is YOUR computer. YOU own your desktop and should be able to dictate what is installed by who, especially when YOU are paying for the software.

    Doesn't matter what the terms of use says... the reasonable person argument wins every time.
     
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2009
  12. CountryGuy

    CountryGuy Registered Member

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    I'm actually going to use that email, as I agree they shouldn't bundle software in like that (or at least make it optional to have installed).

    However, once I found out you can turn it off, and unless you use the field no data goes to Ask.com, its a non-issue for me. I don't like it, but it isn't enough in its current form to make me switch.
     
  13. vijayind

    vijayind Registered Member

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    Norton was once a well known ANTIvirus ....
    After partnering with ASK.com (IMHO) they are now PROvirus.


    I really can't see the reason for bundling ASK. What was the need ? Norton already has tons of cash and it isn't like their products are cheap. Plus if I remember they already have an alliance with Google, they have Norton Security Scan as part of Google Pack. Even if they had put Google it would have been of more practical (debatable) use to people than Ask. Seriously, how many people use it ?

    I hope they keep the crap away from some of their newly acquired products like ThreatFire. Hope PcTools is not turned into the devil's son.
     
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2009
  14. LoneWolf

    LoneWolf Registered Member

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    Greed.
     
  15. nomarjr3

    nomarjr3 Registered Member

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    This makes me sick to the bone :blink:

    It just shows you how despicable the business schemes of Norton are.

    Adding a toolbar is a good way of earning revenue, and is understandable if it is added on freeware programs (ie. Adobe Reader, Foxit Reader, Comodo Firewall, CCleaner).

    But is there really a need to add such toolbar on the biggest selling AV in the market?
    Heck, they've got all the money they can 'ASK' for!
    Why don't they just spend that easy-earned money in slimming the bloatness of their security programs?
    People pay $50 for their programs and renew every year, and this is how you show your gratitude?
    What a disgrace!
     
  16. vijayind

    vijayind Registered Member

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    I think they invested in Lehman Brothers or the likes.
    Symantec seems to show a sudden desperation for cash by its actions of late. Any other company with its resources and IP, should be able to wade these tough times. So their actions seem doggy.
     
  17. ambient_88

    ambient_88 Registered Member

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    That's exactly what they did to the 2009 products.
     
  18. Crappopotamus

    Crappopotamus Registered Member

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    I love how I just got a program update, the ask.com BS shows up in the norton toolbar --- Just disabling that and what else happens? It adds ASK.COM to my GOOGLE BOOKMARKS without asking!
     
  19. Fly

    Fly Registered Member

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    That's just sick ! (see also other thread) They seem to be going rogue.
     
  20. vijayind

    vijayind Registered Member

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    Is there no way to stop this from installing ??
     
  21. Firebytes

    Firebytes Registered Member

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    If I am not mistaken Symantec now owns PCTools. I ownder when/if Symantec will begin to incorporate the ASK toolbar installation, etc. alongside Threatfire and other PCTools products? Might be something for users of PCTools products to think about anytime they update.
     
  22. dw426

    dw426 Registered Member

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    *This is the thread that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend. Some people started posting in it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue posting in it forever just because...*. Ok, I'm done, lol. Guys, it happened, it' a done deal, there's no point in discussing it further. It's not "evil", "shady" or anything of that nature, at worst, it's greed. And as long as Symantec is a corporation, there will be greed.

    There's another thread here regarding support issues for Symantec that deserves FAR more attention. Then again, even with that issue, the same thing I said applies, it's a corporation and corporations are greedy. We can lay down our heads at night and dream about fairness all we want, but that simply isn't the way the world works, and not enough of the world cares to change that fact.

    At Firebytes: It wouldn't shock me in the least if Threatfire eventually comes bundled with "goodies". If you're going to put it in one of your products for extra income, why not the rest of your products? Lol, that actually scares me to think about because after the way the antivirus got burned at the stake here in this thread for it, I shiver to think what you all will do if they do the same thing to Threatfire.
     
  23. nomarjr3

    nomarjr3 Registered Member

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    I disagree.
    Their security suite is still bloated compared to other security suite, like Kaspersky or Comodo.

    I've tried the 2009 line-up.
    AFAIK they did a good job, but they could've done better.
    They have the resources and the money they need.
    They should stop slacking off and do their job in slimming and trimming their programs all the more.
    Cause when I tried NIS 2009, it still is bloated compared to the others out there, which have the same (if not better) performance and security.
     
  24. dw426

    dw426 Registered Member

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    I STRONGLY disagree, NIS 2009 uses up a LOT less resources than Kaspersky ever has, Comodo I'm not sure about because I don't use it. Kaspersky made my system feel like I was trying to run through a stream of tar (likely due to their web scanner, which has to be the slowest thing I've ever seen in my life), where NIS2009 I barely noticed running, and that's with just a gig of RAM.

    I don't understand how you can say they are slacking off and need to do so much more work on slimming their products, unless you weren't around or didn't use Norton during the early 2000's. Those versions were nightmares.
     
  25. nomarjr3

    nomarjr3 Registered Member

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    Please don't compare NIS 2009 with CIS.
    CIS has never had a history of resource hogging since its beta stages up to the stable releases.

    And FYI, I am completely aware of Norton's resource hogging programs in the previous versions.
    It still puzzles me as to why they only came up with the slimming of their products in 2009, when they could've done the same back in the 90's.
    AFAIK, in my opinion, they still need some work on improving their program's overall performance.
     
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