i’ll say it. norton anti virus is fucking bullshit for the following reasons.
- it doesn’t detect the stuff you need it to. remember the internet worms in 2004? for example, the sasser worm? remember how of all the solutions your friends did for you, none of them involved norton anti virus?
- when it does happen to detect a threat, it won’t fucking remove it. how many times have you experienced that old conundrum? it tells you that you have an infected file, and it proceeds to allow you to do absolutely nothing about it short of finding the file yourself and deleting it manually, if that is even possible
- its virus scans mess everything up. its even been well documented. and the well documented solution? disable the email scans! that’s the only solution. i’ve got a better one. don’t install it in the first place. at my mom’s company, everyone is having a massive email problem, because the scanning slows down the email downloads until the POP server experiences a timeout. the very same problem as in the documentation.
- it slows your system down tremendously. everyone knows this one. the more trusting and less experienced think its a problem with their own computers, a myth which is propagated no-good computer salesmen/”technicians” (usually old guys who don’t know jack shit about what they are recomending) who take the opportunity to sell them more ram and charge more “service fees” to run a simple disk defragment
- the Norton Anti Virus for Macs fiasco. this loses points with most geeks, because everyone knows that there are no mac viruses. and don’t give me that Word-document macro virus bullshit.
- most of the problems in computers today are caused by spyware. they do more damage than viruses since you don’t have to actively download and run them to get infected, and they accumulate so much. i’ve seen laptops and pc’s rendered useless because the spyware just slowed everything down to the point of inoperability. and norton doesn’t solve this, at least not in as efficient a manor as its competition. the most effective and efficient spyware removal software around? guess what.. they are 100% freeware. yes its our usual buddies, adaware and spybot. good job you guys.
- and the biggest reason its bullshit? for all that crap, it still costs so much. you have to buy it off the shelf, that’ll set you back a couple hundred. then you got to subscribe to its updating service so you can get updates on viruses you won’t be able to remove from your computer anyway even if you actually do get them. then every year you got a new version coming out that basically does the same bullshit job the previous years did. no wonder piracy is rampant. you couldn’t pay me to use norton.
their main market are the non-tech savvy 40-50 year olds who are at this time in charge of things in companies, so much so that they’d spend thousands on their “product” when an excellant 100% free alternative exists that actually works. AVG doesn’t slow down the system, and it actually detects real threats and REMOVES THEM
if you are unwilling or unable to install software, trend micro’s free anti virus is another alternative. its the one i recomended the most for people striken with self-sending msn messenger viruses.
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I AM EIGHTEEN AND I AM ‘TECH SAVVY’ OK.. HAHAHA
I totally agree with you! I have been using Norton Anti-Virus for the last two years and I am beyond frustrated!! This software does nothing. It finds threats, and leaves them there. Thanks for nothin guys! If I was a computer whiz or had time to manually remove this crap, I wouldn’t have spent big $$ on Norton. NEVER AGAIN!!!
Norton sucks for real. I was attacked by the Falconspy virus which snuck into my computer while the so called Antivirus was on. I expected it to eliminate the threat once it was detected. WRONG. I was totally screwed. There is no point to using this software. Thank goodness I had ACRONIS true image that restored the Cdrive image.
Thanks for nothing you piece of trash. Whoever created this software is an idiot.
I couldnt agree more. I spend much of my day as a tech trying to get computers to halfway work that are owned by people brainwashed by the Norton Lie. They are too stubborn to admit they made a mistake and since their geeky Grandchild or the guy at Pencils R Us told them it was good, they expect me to make it run well on their Compcrap Windoze ME system with 64MB of RAM. I think techs should band together and boycott this crap
Mcafe and norton are very very crap… a computer i repaired was unusable, so what did I do?… delete norton and mcafee crap… manually deleted files it could not find in a million years or detect… and guesas what the computer is like new…
Stay away from anti virus programs and use common sense, dont install free programs unless your sure it hasnt got spyware, dont click on email attachments and THAT MEANS NO DOWNLOADING FREE SMILEYS!!!!
Norton is fuking wank, as is real, google and adobe.
fucking WORD… why hate on google?
Well norton detects a virus on my machine but does nothing about it. Then when scanned with AVG it says nothing is found. Looks like norton makes these things up on its own.
NORTON 2006 is HORRIBLE! And what the fuck is the India call center shit. None of those morons speak English! and Call their 800 support number! OMG a fucking loop into nothingness. WHAT A WASTE!!!
Norton is a load of shit. The douches at the service center are no help either. I bought Norton for two years now, the first year, they didn’t give me my rebate because of some load of crap they made up. Same thing happened this year. If they keep screwing over customers, I see no point in doing business with them again. On that note, does anyone know any good antivirus freeware?
Yeah, thanks for this article which speaks out of my soul. Norton is such a fuck … unfortunately I have to use at work. It slows down everything, then every 5 minutes some bullshit message pops up (which you can not customize, of course) telling you to make a system scan or not to forget to update. Also had the nice feature that Norton blocks whole webpages in IE for no reason (no warning message, of course) and I could only open them with firefox. Go to hell Norton!
fuck norton – they fucked me – they should all stick their heads further up their asses and suck for air – I vow to stomp on every Norton box I find at every retailer – fuck you Norton- try to anti-virus my foot when it crushes every fucking box of your product i see on any shelf anywhere -it WILL be stomped on and found on the floor – fuck you norton 4ever – fuck you norton
BIT DEFENDER Internet Security v9 or v10 is the way forward…honest ..i have tried ALL Anti Virus Programs and this one beats them all….
It has excellent spyware detection also….
NORTON is wank…it DOES leak malware and use 100Mb of Ram / about 10-15 Running Processes (compared to Bitdef v10 4 Processes + 20Mb RAM)
and soaks up CPU cycles
DO NOT RELY ON NORTON FOR SPYWARE REMOVAL
SPYWARE & ROOTKITS ARE NOW THE TOP THREATS TO US ALL,
Agreed, what a steaming pile of crap NAV 2006 was. A resource hog and it doesn’t find near the issues that AVG does. Now I’ve uninstalled NAV bloatware my HP runs much more efficiently and I don’t feel like it’s constantly being throttled by NAV. Not to mention AVG found 3 Trojan horses that NAV 2006 did not, on the first scan.
lol, lol – yah i work in tech support and constantly have to guide people thru disabling nav, mcafee, you name it to get their puterz working again. nother one is etrust av – sux, sux, sux!!!
Norton behaves more like a virus than those its supposed to protect you from. I cannot remove it from my system.It was pre-installed in my last two computers
and the only time it gave a virus alert was (surprise, surprise!)just prior to the time the subscription renewal was due. I tried to remove it on both computers but never could completely. (I have read all the forums and used all the so called tools to no avail) I now have AVG which recognizes Norton as an anti-virus program on my system.
My advice to all being conned by Norton’s PR is, in the immortal words of Elmer Fudd- “Be vewwy vewwy careful”
same here tech support…Norton is CRAP!!!PC-Cillin has it together, and have for years, always on top of the updates, and good updates also…spybot is good for everything else..:)
I Googled “norton antivirus sucks” only to find a plethora of hits! Last week, after months of wrangling and finally reporting Symantec Corp to the BBB, I got my subscription $$ back. This after calling the “India-based” call center on 3 seperate occasions with hold times averaging 45 minutes WHILE THEY TRANSFERRED ME AROUND, and having to repeat my problems over and over again to dead-pan, unhelpful, non-comprehending “tech support” staff.
My computer was so wrecked that in desperation I ran free internet virus software (such as Stop Sign which the Norton tech support person heavily maligned) on 2 consecutive days and removed 5 trojan horses and 27 ad/spyware links one day, and 31 the next!!
Despite paying around $80.00 for the so-called Security Suite, updating my subscription and software at $45, and paying $40.00 just to get a tech to speak with me about how to fix my computer, my PC coughed and hacked it’s way through each day as if it was dying of lung cancer. The Trojan horses were actually residing in a file folder that Norton had remotely put into my computer!?!? What a scam, think of how many people pay Symantec for a product that simply does not work. My suggestion, don’t let Symantec continue to cash our checks. Go online, contact the BBB, file an online complaint, or call their offices (I did this) and let them know the buzz on the internet is to forgo their product. Consumerism can speak.
NORTON IS A TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY AND A PIECE OF SHIT! I INSTALLED IT TO FIX A DAMN VIRUS BUT IT DOESN’T DO A DAMN THING! SO WHEN I TRY TO UNINSTALL IT, IT WON’T! AND I CAN’T INSTALL ANOTHER PROGRAM BECAUSE NORTON IS STILL ON MY FUCKING COMPUTER!
It is absolutely true! To all you Norton AV users, just do the crystal test: install for a second another AV program and let it function for a couple of hours, and scan your disk. You will see what i mean. The best software ever came from Symantec is (not of course, their virus removal tool) but the Norton removal tool. It works perfectly. Try it!!
i forgot to mention the name of the utility. It’s called RNAV.exe and you can find it at the symentec’s website.
“The best software ever came from Symantec is (not of course, their virus removal tool) but the Norton removal tool. It works perfectly. Try it!!” -aperg
I intend to the second I post this comment! :D
Oh- and now the 2007 edition has this thing where the automatic updates just slow your computer down to no fucking end… I disabled it, but it STILL runs itself! Lame fucking symantec… They sacrificed even more efficiency (yes, that WAS possible) for a new stylish interface that’s even more confusing than the previous… another $70 down the drain! Never making this mistake again. Norton antivirus IS fucking BULLSHIT.
i think the best software symantec could make would be a Norton Anti Virus Removal (uninstall) program.
F-Prot, is and always will be the best goddamn windows antivirus there is.
And what the fuck is up with every antivirus company suddenly in the business of selling firewalls, spam cleaners, and spyware detectors. All of which work as fucking good as their piece of shit antivirus software
Panda sucks
Kaspersky sucks
Norton sucks
AVG sucks
Clamwin sucks
F-Prot fucks virii up and your mom
I agree NAV Sucks! I just did a search on “Norton Sucks” and hit this website. Today was the final straw. I am a long time NAV user, but when I went to upgrade and put in my credit card, I read the fine print. They will AUTOMATICALLY update the software every year and charge your creidt card. Apparently the only way to avoid this trap is to install and then run through a series of email tag steps to opt out. Not me. I’m done.
So, what would you recommend to replace NAV and ZoneAlarm (free version) for an XP Pro system?
glad you agree! read the article for my suggested alternatives!
NOD32 F.T.W, is your not savvy i suggest Panda.
DON’T SUPPORT NORTON ANTIVIRUS, IT’S A SCAM!!!
Test them, call their support at 1-877-788-4877 and tell them that your computer has a virus which Norton did not catch and you want help removing it.
THEIR ANSWER: PAY $60US FOR THEIR SUPPORT. What the fuck did I buy this software for then! Useless $#@%^&!!!
nice,
today i have used my complete working day to uninstall and reinstall NAV 2007. at this moment liveupdate is still running and various NAV popup messages have interfered with this writing, the liveupdate took about 20 minutes? but i think its done now.
the reason i had to reinstall NAV 2007 was because it was owned by a virus
Symantec customer service totally sucks! Do not ever buy any of its consumer products because if you do and you have problems, then you are totally screwed.
Getting in touch with a HUMAN is apparently impossible. Thier customer service lines are so slow that I gave up.
I could not install Norton Confidential, then I could not UNinstall it. Then I could not get ANY help whatsoever.
Fuck Symantec.
I am one of those “old” guys that you are referring to, but I happen to agree with you about Norton. I had been using it for the past ten years, and every year the product was getting worse and worse. Their technical support also sucks.
My machines are now running AVG, and the performance is like night and day. Norton was slowing everything down so much, that I was considering upgrading to faster machines. After I uprooted Norton, the speed went back to normal. AVG has saved me a bunch of money.
Active Virus-Scanning utilities are alltogether a bad idea.
My recommendation for people with entry-level PCs, do not install anti virus suites, or anti-spyware software.
Simply run independent scanning engines that can have their definitions updated manually.
A good example is Avast! anti-virus that comes pre-installed for free(non-commercial use) on 1gb or larger sandisk U3 cruizer flash drives.
btw, if you own norton, you can have the program create a bootdisk to run a virus scan completely outside of windows
You people have too much hate guided at symantec, when a great deal of your frustration is windows architecture itself.
Thanks for that Pec.
Avast! Ye Landlubbers is what pirates yell at their victims – maybe should I be wary of your suggestion too ?
I HATE my AVG – it runs for 50 minutes EVERY time I log on and sl-o-o-o-ows everything down and drives me crazy.
The only bigger waste of time and money and system resources other than Norton is Windows Vista.
Yes, pay $150.00 for a full version of Home edition and get our ‘innovative’ desktop environment knows as Windows Aero. Don’t forget to also shell out for extra RAM to get your machine up to 2 GIGs as most techies that reviewed Vista have advised.
How about I just use a distro of Linux along with Beryl (which is the same thing as Aero, only better) and do it for free.
I’ve also ran it on a much, much slower machine with 512MB of RAM which is overkill for the motherboard in question.
Anyways, COMODO Firewall and Avast! Antivirus are my recommendations.
Not sure if it has already been mentioned – the new removal tool is called “nrt”. The copy I used to remove Norton AntoVirus 2006 was dated 2007.2.01.9
Start>run>www.symantec.com/nrt
Thank about something – what if a company was to create virii and then sell the software to remedy the problems they cause. What a perfect make work project! Ever wonder how Norton knows every file that is affected by a virus 20 seconds after it is introduced? Well think about the above and you will know why I no longer wonder about this.
AVG, Norton, McAffee — they’re all the same and they’re all useless. Anyone who knows anything about operating systems knows that you don’t need one. I haven’t used any “anti-virus” software in years now and I KNOW FOR A FACT that any virii/worms I got would still infect my computer if I were using Norton etc. I would have to go through the same process of looking up process tables, Googling filenames, going to safe mode and even restoring from a HDD image or re-installing. That’s the RIGHT way to do things and it’s the ONLY way to do things.
Of course, most PeeCee users don’t have a clue how to administer their computers, so I suppose they like/need the placebo effect of “anti-virus” software. A good software/application firewall is an absolute essential, apart from that you’re counting on how solid the operating system is. Thankfully Windows NT 5.x (including XP) is pretty solid and if you are sensible with what software you download and install a firewall, you’ll have no problems. An operating system such as Windows 9x, on the other hand, cannot really be trusted even if you do follow all the sane-computing rules.
The truth is, the only company with any real remit to write anti-virus or security software, in the case of Windows, is Microsoft. Anything anyone else does is just half-assed useless bullshit, because only Microsoft know the inner workings of their operating system, its network vulnerabilities, etc.
Norton, et al were shitting their pants because Microsoft has done the wise thing and has gotten into anti-virus/anti-rootkit itself. Because, whatever MS churns out for Windows is going to be many multiples better than what third-party developers such as Norton are making.
I copped on to it a long time ago, though. It uses far too many CPU cycles, too much RAM, deals with the virus AFTER infection — in other words, allows the malicious app to install itself, defeating the whole purpose of “anti-virus”. As for Norton making viruses themselves, I don’t think so, but that’s beside the point anyway..
If there are virus/rootkit/worm problems, go to your Operating System maker, i.e. Microsoft. Going to idiots like Norton makes absolutely no sense.
DO NOT USE ANY THIRD-PARTY “ANTI-VIRUS” SOFTWARE – NOT AVG, NOT NORTON, NOT MCAFFEE
USE A GOOD SOFTWARE-BASED FIREWALL SUCH AS ZONEALARM AND KNOW HOW TO CONFIGURE IT CORRECTLY
DOWNLOAD SOFTWARE ONLY FROM TRUSTED WEBSITES SUCH AS DOWNLOAD.COM OR THE SOFTWARE VENDOR’S WEBSITE. TONS OF GOOGLE ADS AND BANNER ADS ARE SOMETIMES A SIGN OF A MALICIOUS WEBSITE.. TAKES SPECIAL CARE ON WAREZ/PORN SITES…
USE A SANDBOX PROGRAM SUCH AS SANDBOXIE IF YOU WISH TO TEST “UNSURE” SOFTWARE
REMEMBER: IF YOU ARE USING WINDOWS 2000/XP, THE OPERATING SYSTEM IS SOLID. THE *WEAK LINK* IS YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION AND HOW *YOU* USE IT.
IF YOU ARE NOT COMPUTER LITERATE JUST HOPE FOR THE BEST…
A nice example of Norton customer support, long but worth a read
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
analyst David has entered room.
David:
Hello colin_lee. My name is David.
David:
Thank you for contacting Symantec Live Technical Support. Please make a note of the Chat Request Id [722235] for this interaction.
David:
Could you confirm your telephone number
colin_lee:
yes
David:
Thank you.
colin_lee:
you are welcome to go remote if you want to
David:
I understand from your message that you are unable to run a full system scan. Am I correct?
colin_lee:
please read other chats 1st to see what has already been done yes I am now unable to do full scan after clean install after clean reboot
colin_lee:
reinstall update several reboots etc. etc. etc.
colin_lee:
i have had this problem before and have been the proud owner of NIS 2005 since 2005 and it has never worked properly
colin_lee:
It came as part of a package with Dell PC bought via The Home Computing Initiative for 3 years at a high price to give peace of mind to people who bought through the scheme
colin_lee:
do you have the authority to give me a download of norton 360 or something to try and resolve the problems or sell to me a a huge discount?
David:
Could you be on hold for 2-3 minutes while I retrieve the details of your previous interactions.
colin_lee:
ok
David:
Thank you.
David:
Thank you for being on hold.
colin_lee:
ok
David:
Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience with this issue.
colin_lee:
apologies good
colin_lee:
solution better!
colin_lee:
I had a conference call with dell and symantec in 2005 to solve the problem got case NO.341924192160 in case the problem happened again
colin_lee:
when or if I reinstalled XP I have to start all over again
David:
Colin, please note that this issue happens due to some damaged program files of the Norton program. To resolve the issue, we need to uninstall the program using the Norton Removal Tool and then need to reinstall.
colin_lee:
uninsalled and reinstalled yesterday getting a little old now
colin_lee:
if you had to pay my hourly rate for the time I have spent on this I could of bought and disposed of any computers that became infected and run without antivirus or firewall
David:
I understand your concern. I will transfer this session to another Technician who will assist you in troubleshooting this issue. This may take me a minute or two. Please hold.
David:
Please wait, while the issue is escalated to another analyst.
analyst David has left room.
analyst Guruprasad has entered room.
Guruprasad:
Thank you for contacting Symantec Live Technical Support.
colin_lee:
this transfer has taken so long I managed to find the fix in my favourites from last time I had to fix this, run a full system scan, but this will not stop the problem of NIS 2005 deactivating itself which is what I started with
colin_lee:
read the previous chats please
Guruprasad:
My name is Guruprasad, I will be assisting you with this issue.
Guruprasad:
I understand your concern. Please be on hold for 2-3 minutes while I retrieve the details of your previous interaction.
Guruprasad:
Thank you for being online
Guruprasad:
I understand that you are facing an issue with running virus scan on your computer.
Guruprasad:
Am I correct?
colin_lee:
as with the other guy can you offer me a permanent fix ie. upgrade the program or give me a 6 month trial to see if that works?
colin_lee:
this transfer has taken so long I managed to find the fix in my favourites from last time I had to fix this, run a full system scan, but this will not stop the problem of NIS 2005 deactivating itself which is what I started with
Guruprasad:
Before troubleshooting this issue, I need to gather more information about this problem from you. This will greatly assist me in finding a resolution to your problem
colin_lee:
ok
Guruprasad:
What is the version of Windows Operating System installed on your computer?
colin_lee:
XP SP2 fully Updated
Guruprasad:
Let me know what exactly happens when you try to run virus scan on your computer?
colin_lee:
have fixed that now did you read the chats
colin_lee:
I started with the problem of the program deactivating itself
colin_lee:
have uninstalled and reinstalled fixed the problem of the program not scanning but I am still left with a security program which deactivates itself leaving the PC unprotected
Guruprasad:
Can you give me more information on the issue that you encounter? This will help me troubleshoot effectively.
colin_lee:
the f********g program deactivates itself at random intervals and needs reactivating which leaves thef******g PC online without any protection which is f*******g useless for a security program
colin_lee:
no error messages see previous chats
colin_lee:
just deactivates no warning no messang just stops working
colin_lee:
reactivates ok then back to deactivates
colin_lee:
any chance of a solution to your program which just switches off for no reason and leaves my PC open to hackers and viruses at will?
colin_lee:
It is active now but am I expected to sleep next to the PC and watch for it switching off?
Guruprasad:
I understand that the Norton program on your computer disables automatically.
Guruprasad:
Am I correct?
colin_lee:
OH YES
Guruprasad:
“Please note that according to the Symantec message guidelines, we reserve the right to delete and/or not respond to messages containing any inappropriate or unprofessional language including personal attacks, slurs, or any use of profanity. I recommend using a professional tone when corresponding with Symantec representatives in the future.”
Guruprasad:
As an authorized service center of Symantec, we are dedicated to providing high-quality support in a timely fashion.
Guruprasad:
If you feel anything is lacking with any of our support services or products, please log your feedback for review at:
http://www.symantec.com/feedback/
Every single item posted here is reviewed by the appropriate Symantec personnel.
colin_lee:
THAT IS WHY I PUT THE ASTERISKS IN BECASE THEY ARE NOT RUDE
Guruprasad:
Let me know when exactly is disables?
Guruprasad:
I am awaiting your response?
colin_lee:
At random intervals I get back to the PC several times a week and find the the program has deactivated
colin_lee:
the thing that is lacking in your products and services is that they do not protect my PC as they deactivate themselves leaving the PC vulnerable to attack which is why I paid for your program
colin_lee:
If you paid me for a car and I gave you a bicycle you would be upset
Guruprasad:
Colin, I understand your concern.
Guruprasad:
Please note that this issue can occur if your computer is infected or due to some conflict on your computer.
colin_lee:
NIS 2005 windows defender and adaware all run in safe mode show no infection
Guruprasad:
To verify your computer is infected or not, please run the Symantec online virus scan on your computer.
colin_lee:
no conflicts showing
colin_lee:
done that and Mcafee no infection
colin_lee:
Reinstalled XP
colin_lee:
scanned all files before putting them back on PC no infection
Guruprasad:
Okay, then I suggest you to start your computer with only Symantec and Microsoft services loading and check for the issue.
Guruprasad:
To start your computer with only Symantec and Microsoft services loading, please refer to the document provided in the link below:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005110811012639
colin_lee:
did that yesterday
colin_lee:
you try
Guruprasad:
Okay, then to troubleshoot this issue further we need to know when exactly the Norton program disables automatically.
colin_lee:
did you read the previous chats?
Guruprasad:
Yes.
colin_lee:
shall I sit next to the PC waiting?
colin_lee:
Or shall I wait until the PC becomes infected? Can you refer me to a person higher in your orginisation?
Guruprasad:
I understand your concern. I will transfer this session to my senior Technician who will assist you in troubleshooting this issue. This may take me a minute or two.
colin_lee:
can’t wait
colin_lee:
thanks for your help so far
analyst Subhajit has entered room.
Guruprasad:
Please wait, while the issue is escalated to another analyst.
Subhajit:
Hi, this is Subhajit and I will assist you further in this issue.
analyst Guruprasad has left room.
Subhajit:
I gather that Norton product gets disable Automatically. Am I correct ?
colin_lee(Thu Apr 5 17:17:34 UTC+0100 2007):
yes
colin_lee:
good luck
Subhajit:
Colin, please note that this issue can happen if some Symantec services are not enable
colin_lee:
all enabled
Subhajit:
In order to troubleshoot this issue I suggest you to run Symantec tool from the below given link which enable all Symantec services
Subhajit:
http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/asa/ss/sa/index.jsp?said=ds&act=intro&sess=1795708580&docid=2004120709410739
Subhajit:
Please note that once you run the Symantec tool from the above given link you need to restart your computer
Subhajit:
Please do not worry, if the issue still persists please feel free to contact us, we will be glad to assist you further.
colin_lee:
and then back to the back of the queue again then what fun
Subhajit:
Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience.
Subhajit:
We are always here to assist you
colin_lee:
I can hardly wait lets hope my PC doesn’t get infected in the meantime as that would qualify as negligence on your behalf and you symantec would be liable for any costs incured
I recomment Avast Antivirus. It’s small, doesn’t eat up system resources, very effective and best of all, IT”S FREE!!! You can get it at http://www.download.com I have used it for over a year and it’s the best thing since sliced bread.
i coui couldn’t agree more that norton is a waste of money. the thing is though avg picks up potentialy unwanted apps and viruses. norton picks up viruses. spy falcon is considered spyware not a virus. avg will mistake key gens as trojans. norton doesn’t.like the person said above, avast is a very nice and free virus program. it still slows your computer down if the real time scan is running, but not as much as norton security. i also agree that people are brainwashed by virus programs just like they are brainwashed by microsoft thinking that they should also spend another 300 dollars on M$ office. so now thats an additional 400 dollars people spend on one computer. as soemone that works for dell techsupport, i cant tell them that there is system is running slow because norton internet security is on there and they should take it off because there is that .001% chance that they might get a real virus that will destroy their whole computer and then blow up their house. the best i can do is explain to them that if there is a virus scanner on the system, then it can cause the system to run slower than normal because it is “PROTECTING THEIR SYSTEM” in fact some people are so paranoid that someone from techsupport actually disabled it using msconfig and made their system run faster and later they found out somethign was wrong with their computer yelling at me that it better get fixed before they might get a virus. what the fuck? i would like to see someone get a real virus. in the time at forking for dell tech support, i have seen maybe to cases that some might of had a real virus. one was windows was give a bunch of strange errors that ihave never seen and also bluscreens.
another time three peices of the hard drive were damaged and they just so happened to be where the master boot record was. the rest of the hard drive was fine. very odd. but people call with problems all day and its a little hard to determine what caused the bad sectors on the hard drive.
I AGREE 100%+++ ONCE I WAS A STUPID NAIVE KID WHO BELIEVED ALL THAT CRAP ABOUT VIRUSES AND THAT I HAD TO UPDATE MY VIRUS DEFINITIONS CONTINUALLY!!!!
NOW I GOT OLDER AND SMARTER AND REALIZED THAT NORTON WAS JUST SCREWING ME FOR THE $$$ (LIKE SO MANY OTHER ASSHOLE INDIVIDUALS AND COMPANIES OUT THERE).
Norton got me kicked off my hi speed provider, told me had to clean up virus infestation, I downloaded Nod32 and AVG at work, found, are you ready for this? 1500 viruses on my system that Norton was supposedly taking care of,1500 are they fucked or whut?
Norton you son of a bitch go fuck your self
Norton Antivirus really sucks. There were many times that whenever I wanted to open Microsoft Office files, I had to wait like 15 minutes, while NAV checked the files for viruses. 15 minutes, for every file ! I couldn’t do any work. Once I removed the crappy NAV, everything was back to normal. Now I’m using AVG, and things work great ! DON’T USE ANY NORTON PRODUCTS !!
I have removed Norton from my programs but it is still scanning all my emails and its stoping me from opening some. How do I get rid of this darn thing.??? PLEASE HELP.
For those who own any kind of Microsoft computer (which would be a Windows, duur =P) I highly recommend Windows Defender. It’s a download straight from Microsoft.com the official site.. I found myself looking there back when I got one of 2004’s fuckass worms, and Download.com wasn’t doing shit but giving me Norton Imitations instead of results, which is what we look for when trying to get bullshit off of our computers, right? Now am I bashing the great Download.com? Heavens no, but I won’t deny that’s all they had at the time. I was in some fucking fix, download.com wasn’t helping, and my AVG got buttfucked by the worm then gave way for a hacker. So I went to the only one place that I could trust… Microsoft.com , and I have to admit that this is the *hands-down* best defense for a computer from anything out there in the WWW. Free download straight from the site, and no bullshit, can you believe it? Easy come, easy go? He must be a newb? Lol you’ll never know unless you try. I’m glad I did, it’s been on every computer I’ve touched in the past 3 going on 4 years now, and they all love it. Bill Gates doesn’t miss, lol.
Well I know what I’m going to do the next time I format this computer: INSTALL UBUNTU! I’m with everyone else here, FUCK NORTON! I’m having trouble typing right now because norton is doing another fucking update and it keeps on popping up with that screen which can’t be minimised, closed or canceled. I’m also pretty sure it is fr…. PISS OFF NORTON… it is frozen.
I’m just gonna install a linux distro and be done with this windows and norton crap! Last year I had NO anti-virus software at all! None! no spyware tools! nothing! and I was fine for a whole year! Didn’t get anything! everyone told me i was crazy, i just told them ‘with some common sense you can easily avoid getting virus’s on the net’.
1. Don’t download and install any software from porn sites or sites offering you anything illegal. (Think sites which offer you game keygens and stuff. Unless you trust the site ;|). If you download any wma’s or wmv’s: dont choose install when it offers you to install the ‘licence’ (read:virus). As a general rule avoid as much as possible downloading any wma and wmv’s. Don’t download zips unless you think it’s safe. Some zips may contain virus’s some things are in zips because it’s logical: if it’s software then thats logical, if it’s a single image thats less than 100KB then thats a bit suss.
2. Don’t read emails from people or places you don’t know and don’t click on popups. Don’t give popups a chance, you can stop 99% of the crap off the internet by…read next.
3. …. USE FIREFOX!!! Don’t listen to the lies of microsoft! Internet Explorer is as unsafe as ever. 2 reasons why. Virus’s are written FOR internet explorer. The other reason. Internet Explorer is written by Microsoft the kings of internet insecurity. Nearly ever piece of software written by MS has been hacked within hours of been released! USE FIREFOX. Install adblock! Those two steps which take like 10mins could say you days of work!
This year I installed norton because the family told me to be ’sane’ and surf the net with norton’s protection… they have been well brain washed by norton. All I can say I had trouble since day 1. It was a pain in the ass to install and I pain in the ass to update and a pain in the ass to use, and it some times pops up randomly to do full system scans. My computer is running at a tenth of the speed it use to. I once had only 28 maybe 32 at the max processes running in the background, now I got 55 to 60! Double! WORSE SOFTWARE EVER! I’VE HAD VIRUS’S WHICH WERE MORE USER FRIENDLY AND WHICH DIDN’T HOG AS MUCH RESOURCES! If you using norton, uninstall it and try just doing some intelligent internet surfing and you won’t have a problem. Got to go now, the update is finished as it says “Please save all unsaved data and then press the OK button to restart your computer”. It’s not asking a question it’s giving me a order.
Norton ™ – The only virus you pay for and install yourself!… besides windows that is.
Really through, IT nerds across the lands, let us band together! Let us fight these evil norton overlords!
Maybe someone should write a virus which uninstalls norton, wouldn’t need to be too smart, any old virus could do it, norton security wouldn’t exactly be a hard target.
one last tip… use OpenOffice if your still worried about .doc viruses. A virus designed for MS word don’t work too well in OO writer. Infact as a general rule of thumb, go for open source but well known programs. The more you use trusted open source programs the better luck you will have. I’ve found this myself, the more I stray for commercial mainstream software and goto trusted opensource apps (Firefox, OpenOffice, etc), the more smoother my computer runs and the less problems I have. The last step for me to take is to goto to linux, I’ve gone as open source as possible in the realms of windows, the only thing left is to goto linux. Ubuntu is looking VERY inviting right now.
Grady you are on to it!
Is there actually any way to let ‘ordinary pc users’ know what the reality is? They see it in store on the shelf, they see it on tv, they buy it with new computer and they have no idea that it IS a virus. Someone is behind this and he is not a poor guy. I hope that this NORTON VIRUS issue will be in news around the globe soon.
Sure not.
sorry for bad english
I agree that norton sucks! i had a problem, asked for help from the customer service! they told me that they send email about my problem tomorrow, well i got the email! You know what it was?! good for nothing crap invite to answer some guestions about the customer service. well of course i anwered, told them that how shit they are of course. That Auto-Protect send damn messages so often that it erupts my playing 5-7 times in 30 minutes. And i dont find anywhere where i could deactivate the message! So “thank you” Norton makers! and sorry if my english was bad…
I had it for 3 days. Even the uninstall program you need to download to get rid of it dont work.
You need to start in safe mode and change the process settings.
Mother fuckers!
I agree, Norton screwed my laptop completely. It sucks all the CPU up and it is impossible to work efficiently with that anymore. Just a crap program. DO NOT INSTALL NORTON! IT IS A VIRUS ITSELF!!!
Right on !, glad to see i’m not the only person, norton uses so much resources compared to other antivirus software, its full of shit, each time i play BF2 i have to turn the damn thing off, how the hell did it get to the top of the market?, it is currently the most popular bought antivirus program, someone should take action and kick those fuckers off the market cause appearently alot of people are being made fools of, thanks for making this page, i was just surfing the net and saw the page link and couldn’t resist. Cheers!