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Norton Internet Security sucks

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Norton Internet Security sucks

They all suck

from JoeUser Forums

First off, I really don't like the idea of having my computers getting pre-loaded with anti-virus stuff that times out after 30 days. It's very annoying. But I could live with it if the stuff would uninstall.

But in my experience, it doesn't. My Dell came with Norton Internet Security and it is extremely invasive. But it's more than just invasive, it's crummy in quality.  For instance, it flags any VB script running with an error saying that a "malicious script is trying to run." Talk about lazy programming. So those of us who can figure out how to turn off that stupid script check have to do so if we want to use any widget programs that make use of VB Script.

But then there's the invasive "virus scanning" of Office docs.  Yes, I know that there are macro viruses, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to turn that off.  Eventually, it expired and instead of being nagged, I decided I would just take the program off.  Good luck.  In add remove programs it tells me I don't have proper access to uninstall it (even though I'm logged on as an administrator).  It suggests I "login to Norton Internet Security" to do it.  So I open up the program and the whole area to do that is grayed out.

Somehow its virus scanning on Office documents got messed up. That's actually what started this little journey. I couldn't load up my spread sheets or open up MS Word because it would hang on the virus scanning that I never asked for in the first place. 

I eventually had to weed through the various services running on my system, turn them off, and then go to the drive and start deleting the actual Symantec files from my drive. Only then was I able to get back to being able to load up Word and Excel files.  But I couldn't help thinking about how many other people out there are running into problems like this.  This overkill invasive crap on the system almost certainly causes more trouble than it solves. Whoever set the defaults on these programs should be flogged. I suspect 99% of problems with viruses and security come from a handful of places and that those could have been set as the defaults.  But no, it's defaults are so invasive that if some problem comes up, you're going to be left with a broken system with no easy way to recover from it.

20,899 views 46 replies
Reply #26 from JoeUser Forums Top
It's sad, Norton has been the gold standard (IMHO) since the mid 90s. In the last few years though, Norton has really lost a few "cool points" in my book. They're still Ok, but not what they used to be.

ZoneAlarm is what I use now, and I have no complaints!!
Reply #27 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Brad, from my experience you have to uninstall Norton stuff from the Uninstall option which is on the start menu under norton stuff. Doing it from Add/Remove Pgms in Control Panel doesn't do it.
Fences - Organize your desktop icons today!
Reply #28 from WinCustomize Forums Top
no probs with symantec products here not a fan of mcafee or zonealarm wasted of money i spent 2 years ago on zonealarm pro , whenever ive bought a oem comp say hp /dell/gateway i always & mean always as soon as i plug it in back up the oem info & just install & fresh install of windows i dont like comps filled with garbage say aol or any other online provider or hidden software i make my own format discs with what i want i make always 2 discs saved onto dvd 1 just windows xp with latest updates / video & sound drivers / symantec nis2k5 & nsw2k5 & norton ghost 2003 with updates then i just image it so i dont have 2 complete reinstall windows every week or so
Reply #29 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I used Norton for several years. I was never really happy with the performance. I guess I stayed with them because they are supposed to be "the best". I downloaded the trial for Trend Micro's Pc-Cillan Internet Security. When the trial was over I quickly purchased it.

When I installed the trial, I shut down Norton completely and could tell that my computer was faster than before. The errors I would get when checking mail with Outlook are gone, among other errors I was getting with them.
Reply #30 from WinCustomize Forums Top
A few days ago: started noticing NIS pop-ups saying "rules for ______ created" all the time.
Next: NIS tells me that my firewall is turned off and that I am unsafe. It does this by way of a large yellow pop-up every 15 seconds. Extremely annoying. (Note that I have been using Sygate firewall for two years, and Norton has always gotten along with it. Not so now apparently.) The only way to get the pop-ups to stop is to turn off Sygate and turn on NIS firewall. Not what I wanted, but still OK.
Next day: Kids call me at work to say that "Nothing will work on the computer" OK, I'll look at it when I get home. When I get home I find that I cannot connect to internet or email. I spend about half an hour on the phone with RoadRunner tech support (after re-setting the moden 4 times myself) going through various possible causes. As a last resort I disable NIS, and (you guessed it) I'm connected!
After I thank the tech guy, and apologize, he gives me the number for Symantec customer suppport. I take it, but am sure that I won't need it.
I now have internet connectivity, but my firewall, antivirus, and parental controls are turned off. Oh, and I now get the every 15 seconds pop-up warnings from Symantec that my firewall is turned off. Starting to get a little ticked off...
After trying different approaches, I give in and call the tech support number. Half an hour later, I get through to some lady in (drumroll please...) India! This lady, who apparently knows about seven words of English, and can't pronounce even those correctly, takes all my information (this takes f..o.r..e..v..e..r..) makes me describe my problem roughly thirty or forty times, puts me on hold for another 5 minutes, only to inform me that if I want their help it will cost me $69!
I, not at all politely, tell her that I would rather uninstall their crappy software, and tell her just where they can all go!
So I do just that, ininstall their software (which is really not crappy, just their customer support)and re-install it to see if that makes any difference.
Now I have the endless pop-ups telling me that my virus definitions are out of date, so off to Live update I go. But all is not well in the land of Live-update, for I see little red X's next to downloads, and it is taking a really long time. I eventually decide it is locked up, and have to do a hard shutdown.
Upon restart I get those lovely pop-ups, but this time they want me to renew my subscription. Seems my subscription needed renewing a few days ago.
Not once did I get a friendly reminder (as I have in the past) to tell me my subscription was about to expire. Instead they make my computer all but unusable.
This ticks me off to no end, but, I still need antivirus. I'm mad at Symantec, but I also know too many people with Macafee who are forever getting infected with trojans. I check out some others, but decide I'll be better off to just renew my Norton subscription.
So off I go to the Symantec store, and find that I can renew my antivirus for another year for only $29. Sounds great. I don't see anything for renewing the Internet Security part, but hey, at this point all I want is to keep my AV up to date. I make the purchase and download the software. Fifteen minutes later thay send me the confirmation email with my subscription key.
Problem is, it won't take the new key. I type it, copy and paste it, etc... until my only option is to call my friends in India.
I get through in only 20 minutes this time, and get connected to either the same woman as before, or her dumber twin.
After repeating all my information another twenty -some times, she gives me a new key, which I make her repeat, and then I repeat it back to her (in English )
But the new key is just as good as the first. So we go through this three more times until I finally get a key that works.
So I run live update and get all the latest virus definitions and all is happy and good (except that I still have to use the NIS firewall instead of Sygate)
Then last night I started getting big red warnings that my Intenet Security subscription has expired.
And don't even get me started on support for the Powerquest products that Symantec bought up recently.
Reply #31 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Back in the late 80's Peter Norton was the DOS utilities guru. Not only were the programs useful and well written, but he was available on Compuserve to personally answer questions or help people with problems. I was a big fan of Speeddisk and was a beta tester of version 1.

When Symantec bought out the company I tried to be a loyal customer for a few years, but the quality of the product was crap and usually only got fixed just as the next release of Windows came out which made it unusable. The years I ran Norton Antivirus it never once caught any virus. This may be due to my habits or it may just be because it was always two steps behind any virus. I don't currently use any Norton products nor do I forsee using any in the future. It's really a shame considering what a top flight company it was once.

Just a note, one of the reasons I frequent this site and use the products is because of the presence of the owner. To me this is more valuable than an 800 number that lets you talk to some guy in India who is reading his pat fixes out of a manual while he learns to speak english at your expense. (small rant)
Reply #32 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Im really fed up with Norton Products. They are nothing but a fest of false alarm products looking to disable legit programs any way it sees fit without asking the user

It kept messing with SiSoft Sandra , RealArcade , and other programs it permamently blacklisted in my registry without my permission.

As of today , I have officially switched to Zone Alarm , and Avast Antivirus which hasnt conflicted with anything

These programs are free for home usage and I can live with that. Plus Avast is skinnable too.

Never again do I want to pay for a retail box AV software when quality AV software is availible on the internet for free.
Reply #33 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I"ve been using Norton System Works with Norton Internet Security since 1999. And some of the problems you guys are having with norton Internet Security is that in 2004 for some stupid reason they made the program extremely large and it took up a lot of ram. unless you have at least a gig you are in trouble. But, Norton internet Security 2003 works extremely well. With 500 meg of ram. I have a HP Pentium 4, 4 gigabyte 200 gig drive with 2.2 gig of ram and believe me my machine flies. I"m also running Service Pack 2 which has all kinds of plug=ins to slow you down and nothing is slowing me down. So maybe, your problems are just configuration. Because I know for sure using a Pentium 3 with 250 meg or ram you can configure Norton Internet Security 2003 so that it doesnt slow you down at all. At least to my experience...i've never had a problem.


Butch I can't make head or tails of your current system setup becuse of the way you have desribed it.

BTW it's not 500 megs RAM it's 512 - and it's not 250 megs RAM it's 256...
Reply #34 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The more I hear about NIS, the happier I am with NOD32 AV, and Sygate Personal Firewall Pro.
Reply #35 from WinCustomize Forums Top
tjesterb,

What a nightmare! I have been using NIS 2003 - with "Productivity Control" turned off, and SystemWorks 2003 which I like for cleaning up invalid paths, for a couple years without issue.

I really hope I don't end up with a dud, so it sounds like (if all stays stable) - I should try the new subscription method and hope for good keys. Then if problems occur, go with the free stuff.

I totally agree with wiping the drive first thing on store bought computers, and installing the OS only. I bought an HP, and they decided it would be neat to install a recovery partition (which was formatted with FAT32), and then format the balance of the drive with NTFS and install the OS and software to this partition.

The problem with this is the recovery partition allowed absolutely no access to the administrator, nor to any maintenance utility. After speaking with HP, my only option was to stay with their set up, - or purchase my own copy of XP pro, do a clean install, and download the Intel inf.exe.

Well, after investigating all avenues - a big 2 - I chose the latter and have been happy since.

My moto is: "If you can build a one, do it yourself"!
Reply #36 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I remember seeing seeing something on TechTV (before it went down the tubes) where Kevin or Patrick got to go inside the labs at Symantec. It was really quite impressive from a tech standpoint. They have a totally isolated computer room where every known computer virus is stored and tested. The guys working in the labs really know their stuff. Unfortunately the service and support end of it falls far short. (really, really far...) But what are you going to do? I'm a little leary of some of the free AVs. I've read that their virus definitions are nowhere near as complete as Norton or Macafee. I ran the Trend Micro scan once, and it showed all kinds of potential threats on my PC that were all legit.(PNG icons, Litestep scripts and others.)
Reply #37 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Norton products are nothing but bloated and most people know it too.
Reply #38 from JoeUser Forums Top
I recently read an article in an australian computer publication re: comparing security suites, and found that they rated Nortons as average, the one that took the prize for best overall suite was a newcomer, called F-Secure, which you may or may not have heard of, I took a punt and spent the $116 AUD and gave it a try, it is every thing the article said it would be, I suggest if you are looking for a suite that really does secure your system, with tools you can understand, give it a try, there is a eval version available. you can get it at www.opensystems.com.au, and follow the links, or go straight to http://www.f-secure.com/products/. Up to this point I have always used the CA-E-Trust suite and or Zone Alarm, both much the same, however I do find this to be just that much easier and better.
Reply #39 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The biggest problem with NIS, like all software. is inept users
Reply #40 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I check my security regularly with the Shields Up! program at Gibson Research = Passed on all tests.

I am a "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" person - so NIS 2003 and SystemWorks 2003 will stay until there are clear reasons not to.

I do hope I don't see a product key issue upon subscribing for another year though - I do love my Ghost - keeps me ready to swap out and be back up and running in 15 minutes.
Reply #41 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Same here.. I use what I call "Hack Test" that Symantec has on their website. It runs scans, and pings, etc to see if your computer is vulnerable. I have always passed with the occasional hole in the security. Symantec always has a way to close the gap however, and as I said... My computer has never had ANY problems. I also had my schools IT try to crack through and he never can. So I guess the proof is in the pudding?
Reply #42 from WinCustomize Forums Top
BTW. This even works when I put his IP on the "Safe List" Still keeps me safe!
Reply #43 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I've used Nortons products since day 1 and I have no problems with any of them, they do exactly what they are meant to do and I am a very satisfied customer. I personally feel that no other company comes anywhere near the quality and reliability of Nortons and have no intention of ever switching to anything else.
Reply #44 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I thought the same thing until I uninstalled Norton and my computers performance increased and errors went away.
Reply #45 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I had problems with Norton 2204 as it was intruded, no thanks to whoever. Running the full Security and Virus Version of 2005 now. So far so good. Have run other Security programs with good sucess also. Some is better than none. Haven"t had the problems with any Office programs. Do know some friends who couldn"t uninstall Norton and caused them some puter problems. My other puter only has virus protection so, yea it"s a little quicker, but more at risk.
Reply #46 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Latest chapter:
I thought all was well after last posting (see #31,) but after a couple days the popups started again. Seems that only renewing the subscription to the AV portion is not what Symantec likes out of their customers.
I finally decided to uninstall the NIS 2004 and install the trial version of the standard AV product, and then use the subscription key (yeah, the 45-minutes-to-India-phone-call subscription key) to activate it.
Silly me. Seems that is not an option. The nag screen that pops up gives three options:
1. Continue 15 day trial
2. Go to Symantec Store to purchase product
3. I have already purchased this product and have an activation key.
Below this is a box to enter the key, and a button for "cancel" and another for "next"
So, of course I select option #3, and enter my hard-won $29 key.
Only one problem with this, selecting opion #3 AUTOMATICALLY GRAYS OUT THE NEXT BUTTON!!!
Apparently Symantec put that there as their own little joke. HA-HA-HA! I'm still laughing
So I try going to the Symantec store, thinking that I can select the product and enter my key somewhere on there. However, once there, I get a message stating that NAV 2004 is no longer available, and has been replaced by a newer product. Would I like to purchase that product? (Mind you, I downloaded the NAV 2004 trial from THEIR WEBSITE!!) A little more searching around on that rat's maze they call a website and I find that they don't allow transferring subscriptions from one product to another. Meaning that I can't transfer my just-purchased-less than-a-week-old NAV 2004 to NAV 2005.
Now, if I had not already wasted more than 90 minutes on support -center phone calls I might call them to try and straighten things out. But I'm sure I'd just get another $4 and hour moron giving scripted answers in some lame attempt at English (No offense to any non-Englich speaking WC members)
So you can count me as a FORMER Norton user. They may or may not have the best product, but their business tactics just plain SUCK! Making my PC unusable if I don't re-subscribe to, or uninstall their product, amounts to nothing short of blackmail in my book.
So if anyone from Symantec is reading this (and I reeeaaally hope you are) I will not be purchasing your products or services for my home PC anymore. I also happen to make a lot of purchases as part of my job (last year I made over $1Million in purchases) and I will be voicing my opinion when it comes to what Corporate AV products we use.