Entered CNET Catalog: 09/05/2003
SKU: 10097968
Manufacturer: Symantec Corporation
Manufacturer description
Symantec's Norton AntiVirus 2004 Professional is the world's most trusted antivirus solution with advanced protection. It protects email, instant messages, and other files by removing viruses automatically. Expanded threat detection alerts you to spyware and similar hacking programs. You also get advanced tools for data recovery and secure file deletion, plus a license for two computers.CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 10/15/2003
NAVP 2004 offers the option of a preinstallation virus scan, an added protection measure not matched by Norton's leading competitor, McAfee VirusScan Professional 8.0. This procedure adds a lot of time to the setup process, however--30 minutes on our test PC; users with time constraints may wish to bypass it. (NAVP does an automatic postinstall scan, too.)
The program froze during our first install attempt, but it ran perfectly once we rebooted. NAVP 2004 supports Windows 98 through XP and requires a slightly larger amount of drive space than previous versions: from 85MB to 125MB depending on the OS version.
After setup completed, NAVP connected automatically to Symantec's Web server to download the latest virus definitions. Inflation alert: NAVP 2004 users get a year of free definitions, after which the annual fee is $19.95--a significant jump over the $10 renewal charge for NAVP 2003. McAfee users pay $14.95 annually after the first year. Symantec has also added an activation process similar to that used by Microsoft in Windows XP, though we found this to be a painless extra step.
NAVP 2004's well-designed interface changes little from its predecessor's. The main screen presents a snapshot of your PC's security, with red or yellow icons marking items that need attention, such as outdated virus definitions. Default settings provide strong security by automatically deleting viruses and scanning compressed ZIP files, as well as stopping spyware and Trojan horses from infecting your PC. Popular options, such as scheduling automatic scans, are easily accessible.
NAVP 2004 adds two major capabilities. First is its enhanced detection of compressed files. Previous versions of NAVP detected viruses embedded in ZIP and other compressed formats during manual scans. NAVP 2004's real-time scanner finds and deletes these hidden viruses on the fly--as they are being downloaded, for example--adding another layer of protection.
NAVP 2004's second new feature is the capability to detect and destroy spyware, adware, and hacking tools that may be lurking on your hard drive. NAVP 2004 is the first antivirus app to include this feature. However, the free standalone utilities, such as Lavasoft's Ad-aware and Spybot Search and Destroy, ferret out these same annoyances much better. For example, in our tests, NAVP 2004 failed to find a malware component uncovered by Ad-aware 6.0 in a follow-up scan. (We ran Ad-aware immediately after the completion of a Norton system scan.)
The professional version of NAVP 2004 also includes licenses for two separate PCs.
In our CNET Labs' tests, NAVP 2004 caused a 4 percent drag on our test system's performance. McAfee VirusScan Professional 8.0, on the other hand, produced no perceptible drag. But NAVP 2004 scanned our 1GB drive much faster than McAfee did. Here are our complete test results:
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Norton AntiVirus has been tested on Windows systems six times since 2000 by the independent testing organization VirusBulletin and earned its coveted VB 100 percent title each time. By comparison, McAfee's VirusScan has been tested and earned a VB 100 percent title only once. It's hard to draw any meaningful conclusions from such limited data. Previous versions of Norton AntiVirus have also been certified by the independent antivirus testing laboratories at West Coast Checkmark, ICSA Labs, and AV-test.org.
Like McAfee, unfortunately, Symantec charges for its live tech support via phone: either $29 per incident or $2.95 per minute. We tried the free alternative: e-mail. The form was hard to locate, but techs were responsive, answering within 24 to 48 hours. Unfortunately, Norton does not offer online tech chat, a feature McAfee offers (with mixed results) for its VirusScan customers. The Automated Support Assistant, another feature accessible via the support site, is a convenient way to download product upgrades and keep your copy of NAVP 2004 up-to-date. Symantec's free online knowledge base is a helpful do-it-yourself resource.
User opinions
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User Rating: 
3/10
Will not purchase Norton AntiVirus again, I am really disappointed
Pros: There are no pros to using this product
Cons: Read the opinion below
User Rating: 
5/10
heaven help you if you have a problem
Pros: Installed NAV on WinXP machine and it worked great..
Cons: ...until I tried to resubscribe for another year of virus definitions, NAV quit working, and I could NOT get any help either from the online "intelligent helper" (i.e. wall between you and a meatware person who CAN help), or from multiple emails to Norto
User Rating: 
1/10
Would not install properly
Pros: I was happy with 2001 and the updates so thought I would try 2004
Cons: Waited for 30 min. for Cust. Service. Refuse to pay $30 for tech support. 2004 only partially installed and caused my computer to crash. Never had so much trouble in all my life!
User Rating: 
7/10
NICE AND SMOOTH
Pros: IT INSTALLED JUST FINE,EASY INSTRUCTIONS
Cons: SLOWS DOWN YOUR COMPUTER WHEN IT GOES TO LIVE UPDATE.
User Rating: 1/10
The cure is worse than the disease!
Pros: Yellow is a nice color!
Cons: Once I activated the program, all hell broke loose. The program would not open, the computer froze up, control panel would not open so I could uninstall NAV 2004 Pro. This program was miserable. Eventually I had to reinstall my OS in order to get rid o
User Rating: 5/10
Avoid if all possible.
Pros: All I can think of is the con. See below. They almost hit the mark with me, but it's those two annoying things in con that just takes away from the product. If you can go without virus checking, then avoid the headaches.
Cons: No customer support. Your on your own or pay $30 per incident fee. Biggest problem I have is the product will not stop scanning outgoing email after trying all there recomedations via Knoweledge base articles. It's a problem for other users as well.
User Rating: 
6/10
Good Product, Bad support
Pros: Great, easy to use, does a good job.
Cons: Try getting in touch with anyone at Symantec and good luck!!! I'm going elsewhere for my next antivirus product.
User Rating: 
4/10
Resource Hog - Will slow your system to a crawl
Pros: Same pretty intuitive interface.
Cons: Liveupdate stalls and takes forever. Resource hog. *** are all these services running in the background? Jesus, my services nearly doubled just install NAV.
User Rating: 3/10
Poor Support/Feature
Pros: Nice looking.
Cons: Poor technical support for my inquiry about activation of NAV on multi-boot Windows PC. Symantec said they don't support this.
User Rating: 5/10
If Rel 2002 or 2003 are working for you, don't upgrade
Pros: Norton has found viruses on numerous occasion. Good interface and lots of features. I would trust it to do the job.
Cons: A real resource hog. Seems to have a problem with Microsoft ActiveSync. You'd better uninstall your old version of Norton first, or else. Would have stuck with the old version if I knew what I was in for.
User Rating: 
2/10
Look for something better!
Pros: LiveUpdate seems to work?
Cons: 1)Causes system crashes 2)Worst support on the planet!
User Rating: 4/10
Trying to fix it - AGAIN!
Pros: - Easy update. - Always finds virus'.
Cons: - Good Lord if it gives you roblems you will be messing with it for hours! - Pop-ups to resubscribe are extremely annoying. - I finally am giving up on it because of the hard work to fix it when it breaks!
User Rating: 1/10
There is NO customer support after the sale
Pros:
Cons: Too many conflicts with XP and once product fails (and it will) there is no way to fix it or get help. You must pay more than half of original purchase price to speak to a human and their online customer support is nill. You can get "live" support which
User Rating: 5/10
it'll kill you system performance
Pros: Live update, automatic protection, boot up virus scan
Cons: allocate too much memory, slow down system performance
User Rating: 5/10
Don't Buy Norton
Pros: Automatic updates are good.
Cons: First let me tell you I use to think Norton could do no wrong, not anymore. I work in an IT department that has 200 mobile users in the wild and Norton anti virus can not find half of the virus's that PC cillin from Trend Micro. We sent one HD to Norton b
User Rating: 3/10
Very buggy
Pros:
Cons: This program, along with rest of the Norton 2004 line, can disable internet access without warning (even after it has been installed for weeks). There is a way to fix it but you have to contact Symantec to find out about it. If you have to use the phone
User Rating: 7/10
Update of a Reliable Prodct
Pros: Adds SPAM Filtering (seems to work pretty well) Integrates well with Systemworks - same menu format Lots of customization available but not intiminating to the casual user Integrates well with existing email programs
Cons: Has current problems integrating with Eudora - working on a fix (Adding SPAM filtering menu) New features are great but initially seem buggy compared to previous version Automatic Rules Generation can be a security concern in some infrequent situations
User Rating: 6/10
No free support or online help worth using.
Pros: Works great and easy to use.
Cons: You have to delete all 2003 symantec antivirus files using Search files and folders. No free support and the directions are not clear.
