Norton 2007, exactly why it sucks?

I recently got Norton 2007 as a perk for working at Best Buy. I am tempted to install it, however looking online, a ton of people say its horrible to uninstall, the tech support sucks (though I'd never use it) and the damn thing slows your computer down considerably.

Oddly enough, almost all the review sites give it high rating, and yet the user opinions afterwards say it really sucks. I smell either shenanigans or the fact that 90% of the time the people who place their opinion online are negative customers.

Anyway, I'm just wondering what your opinions are on Norton antivirus, whether it is still a good anti-virus to use these days, or a pile of stinking you-know-what that is still going only because of its name. Should I install it? I play games, surf, email, video edit, pretty much everything.

 

It's fine in the scanning department, it sucks because it's very bloaty.

 

Norton 2007 literally tripled my boot times. NIS 2008 is definitely better, and I think you can use your 2007 key and install 2008. Norton was doing that because people were not going to shell out more money to fix their crappy 07 stuff...and Norton either had to basically give a free upgrade or start wondering where all their customers went.

 

So, 2007 is junk, but 2008 has redeeming qualities?

 

It's better, but still bloaty.

 

Norton is fine, but it does have a larger footprint that other anti-virus products. However, you probably could get the same protection from free products like AVG or Avast. Also, you might have to look at Nod32 or Kaspersky as they are generally considered the best in the industry.

 

Could someone confirm that using the 2007 key for the 2008 version?

I use N.I.S 2007 and I am quite disappointed with it. It can only log tracking cookies and those littles ones. However, it will say you are secure and will not alert you whatsoever when you have a trojan or a malware problem. I only figured out this after running TrendMicro. I wouldn't really recommend this. Avast or AVG is alot better.

 

Norton costs money.
AVG doesn't.

Norton leaves a footprint that puts Bigfoot to shame.
AVG doesn't.

Norton is difficult to uninstall.
AVG isn't.

I choose AVG.

 

Yes it works, the link to downlaod 2007 for Vista even leads to 2008. I think the keys have always been compatible with any version. Weither you got 2002 or 2008, the virus definitions are the same, thus the level of protection is.

I've never had a problem with norton since 2006. Didn't see a big difference in boot time and with 2008, it's same with or without, and doesn't more than 40-50MB of memory (must be superfectch though).

From having tried some AV in a machine that I used for, well, you know what kind of stuff, I can tell that there is no way AVG reaches the detection level of Norton. (I had NIS, not AV though ). AFAIK, AVG doesn't detect lots of things, even an upgrade from AVG to AVG Pro found 130 viruses/trojans/malware on my comp...

In every test I've seen, norton always won the Dectection & Supression category

 

I like Norton too, 2007 IS or 2008. I've used them and installed them all on clients pc's. You can just install Norton and you're good to go. If you have a min of ram, it might slow you down a little, but most of the major IS's do the same like Trend Micro> McAf > etc. Kaspersky is very good though, but you have to adjust the settings to get the best protection..........

 

I use it, i didnt realize any more startup time or anything... it takes a few seconds though to bring up the norton window. Ive always been a fan of them and thats what i have always used, not one virus ever. And more features too than most. Ive used McAfee and a trojan got through. Used Panda and Zonealarm, just didnt like the setup, ill probably always stick with Norton.

 

haha alright, ill stick with it then and get 2008 =P. Well, either norton or avira actually. On Avcomparatives.org they gave avira and norton a near equal comparison. Though Norton gives more protection (anti-spyware) than avira free edition.

 

NIS 08 is d best internet security soft u will find out there
dont let anyone tell u otherwise
u can get a 3 PC license for $35 if u know where to look
in fact, NIS 08 boots up & scans faster than all other antivirus soft out there
i just laugh when i read all the beef and rant on these forums
dont let them fool you
u need to at least try it and decide for yourself
remember the good old days when norton was KING
yes there was a period when it was a resource hug

the KING is back baby

 

some rant...

i cant stress enough

the KING is back
one more point - NIS does everything stealthly
u dont have to answer to those old sch prompts
prompting u to allow this, allow that - its so annoying
makes me think of zonealarm - those are banished forever
even i, a programmer, appreciate this
software companies need to start realizing that 'customer experience' is key
software needs to be as easy to use as possible
so that all the user needs to know, in order to use a computer, is how to click

 

some more rant...
just like auto trasmission is taking over manual shift-stick in cars
abstraction & automation, hence 'customer experience' is KEY
isnt this why people luv macs - 97% of the time software just works
not the same case with PC. with PC's u see users screaming at their monitors
sad! cant software just work on PC's?
whats happening to quality of softwares these days
everything is beta

 

So, surefire . . . whaddaya think of Norton?

 

The best firewall is a NAT firewall that's built into every router out there today. Configured properly, this will make any device behind the firewall invisible to anything outside the firewall.

A software firewall is redundant for inbound traffic. It can provide protection/alerts for outbound traffic, but realistically - if you're having to guard against that, then you've already been compromised. It's still nice to know when something's trying to get out, though.

I, personally, think that using a NAT router and the standard Windows firewall will provide more than adequate protection for the vast majority of personal users.

 

Norton Internet Security is best ... i love the personal Firewall feature..its customizable & has proven useful under extreme conditions (when i was working on open internet connection it blocked Incoming traffic & gave me the hackers IP address also)
But yaaaaaaaaa.... its heavy.

 

Regarding Firewalls: What are other thougthts about 3rd party firewalls...is windows firewall enough?

 

Macs just work with apple and some limited third party softwares. For number of softwares available, macs can't even compare with PC's.

That's why more(most) people use PC's.