Norton Internet Security 2005 - Internet security and firewalls

User Rating: 6/10

good program resonably eazy to useby insanecrazymike - September 11, 2008

Pros: resonably eazy to use. automatic def updates. finds viruses most other anti virus programs i use cant

Cons: this program eats alot of ram even when not scanning. suggest you have decent ram

Review: i like this product fire wall and anti spy n virus seem resonably good works greate with explorer 7. works greate with outlook express

User Rating: 4/10

WORST CUSTOMER SERVICEby mp_family - October 26, 2007

Pros: PRODUCT IS GOOD

Cons: DONT VALUE CUSTOMERS

Review: NORTON HAS WORST ONLINE CUSTOMER SERVICE
THEY DONT VALUE CUSTOMERS
ONLINE CHAT IS WASTE OF TIME I SPEND ALMOST MORE THAN DAY WITH THEM TO RESOLVE MY PROBLEM BUT PROBLEM STILL PERSIST AND ONLINE ANAYLTS TOOK THEIR OWN SWEET TIME TO REPLY
I WONT RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT TO ANYONE
AND NEVER NEVER....... GO FOR ONLINE CHAT

User Rating: 1/10

1 out of 10 is a HUGE OVERSTATEMENTby Brandon Nauman - April 15, 2007

Pros: Absolutely None

Cons: Won't allow access to the internet.

Review: The biggest POS excuse for protection ever. This program IS a virus! Sure, I guess I'm safe; I can't even connect to the internet! I can ping my router, but this software is blocking my internet browser from getting online. Who do you think created most of the viruses anyway?

User Rating: 3/10

Loved it.... then the more time that passed, the more I despised it.by TopherTopher - March 2, 2007

Pros: Blocks some spam; interfaces w/ Outlook

Cons: Helpless customer support & freezes Outlook

Review: The more I look into the issue online, I feel like Norton is just hoping for this program to slowly disappear into the past. They can't seem to get this one solved.

I rate it 3 because Norton Internet Security (NIS) does still do everything it should, except the one thing that I need it for the most:

Spam is a huge issue where I work. At first, this product was blocking it well. You can even help NIS "learn" what is Spam and what is not. Which is a huge help - after a while it is so much better at identifying the difference.

A month after enjoying it, the option to notify NIS through Outlook whether or not an email is spam basically "breaks". It freezes Outlook most of the time. So, my favorite feature is broken.

Voila, there is a fix on Symantec.com. I loaded that, and it helped for a short time. In a matter of weeks, it was happening again. There is no "second fix". They like to keep sending you back to that first fix, saying that will take care of it. Well, no...

What prompted me to write this review was a recent call to Symantec. After giving all the information to their obviously outsourced tech help, which was 20 min of waiting then 15 minutes talking, support informed me that this issue isn't free for calls after all. I could either continue talking for $9.95, use email for customer support, or do an online chat.

When I tried online chat, the URL wasn't working. Support talked to his manager who confirmed that the online chat wasn't working; I should try again in 15-20 minutes.

Norton gets an "F" for customer satisfaction and experience. The program gets a 3 out of 10. I like the potential of this program and am willing to try once more, but if online help sends me back to the first fix again, I'm hitting that uninstall button, as soon as I find a better product.

If you are insistent on Norton, I'd hope that their newest product isn't broken. Do your research!

User Rating: 3/10

Norton is getting worseby nabeel50 - February 1, 2007

Pros: Detects Programs automatically and creates rules

Cons: Slows down the PC, is unable to detect some trojans and worms

Review: I have used Norton for a long time now and I'm just now getting exposed to it's bad side. I downloaded a sharing client and it consisted of nothing but spywares, malwares, viruses e.t.c
Norton could not detect it. Not only that but the Scan Now Button was actually disabled on Norton Internet security 2005 by the Spyware/virus. In addition to that it slows down your PC a whole lot. I give it a 3 out of 10.

User Rating: 1/10

Worst all around program.by bmhintj - November 22, 2006

Pros: Nothing good about it.

Cons: Everything about it.

Review: Just finished fixing another system that had NIS installed 101 detections and that's the second scan after Avira then smitfraudfix and Avira again. Back in the day Norton was the only way to go (speed disk/ndd for dos). I'm not sure what happened but avoid this/uninstall it right away and install something else.

User Rating: 1/10

End of a Relationshipby Litlover39 - November 21, 2006

Pros: Nothing good about the product was sustained over time!

Cons: Ridiculous resource needs, paid-only support, inability to achieve ANY of the tasks it is intended for, atrocious hold times even on paid support

Review: I have used Norton Security (used to be called Norton Disk Dr.) on and off since the late 80s. Despite intermittent problems, I stayed loyal. After trying McAfee for a few months (because it was offered for free through comcast), I even paid for Norton because I liked its graphic interface.

I'm done with Norton/Symantec Corp! Security Suite 2005 was "glitchy" from the start, with various start-up error pop-ups that the company would dismiss (or deny) when I called in frustration. But when I re-subscribed and paid for the software upgrade, my computer's health deteriorated meteorically. Start-up of my computer slowed to a desperate crawl. E-mails took MINUTES to screen. Worst of all, I was continually infected with worms, trojan horses and spy/adware that Norton did not locate. I began to rely on free virus-scans off of the internet, one time locating 31 spy and adware cookies. I live-updated daily, and scanned 1-2 times a week, but my computer got progressively worse.

Calling tech support was enough to make someone lose their minds. Although they spoke English with moderate skill, they would make me repeat my story over and over, transferring me, putting me on hold, and often pretending not to understand what I was articulating in painstakingly clear language.

Finally, after paying them to remotely "clean" my computer, only to have worms and trojan horses reappear within a month, I asked for, and was promised, a refund. It took 3 phone calls and a form to the BBB to get Symantec to post the refund for my subscription only. First they denied that I was eligible (after having agreed to the refund the week prior), and then they would simply not post the refund. Only after I contacted the BBB did I get my $ back.

I now have McAffee for free, and it works fine so far. I hear that BitDefender and Web Root softwares are both very good with good, free customer support

I strongly caution anyone considering this product.

User Rating: 1/10

BUYER BEWAREby kayab - November 4, 2006

Pros: Cusomizable levels, powerful

Cons: Subscription good for less than one year!!

Review: Unlike other products, NORTON Internet Security ceases to function after 11 months, prompting user to renew before product may be used again. This is false advertising to the max. Why do they call it a one year subscription when all they provide is 11 months??

User Rating: 1/10

Norton Sucks a activation Bug!by btalex1990 - October 11, 2006

Pros: None at all

Cons: Activation, False acusations of abuse, messing up computers, hurting the poor, not very good product, quality sucks

Review: They suck. Heck when I tried Norton (you know I paid for it) after 5 times I could not reactivate it, not even a year after even using it. They even said I was abusing their connections. I pay all this money but can't use the software. Suck a Bug stupid piece of junk.

User Rating: 2/10

A paranoid programby pguillem - September 10, 2006

Pros: Very good protection

Cons: Constantly checking everything, extremely slowing the performance

Review: It seems that Norton Internet Security 2005 was intended to fight Al-Qaeda at the airports. All programs are checked at each restart, all downloads are analyzed, no new window can open before being checked. All of this is very frustrating and time-spending. Moreover I had difficulties to uninstall it because it claimed about a missing Windows installer file. Google helped me finally to find the uninstaller file on the Symantec site, which worked perfectly. What a pain in the ass !

User Rating: 7/10

Easy to live with / Hard to get rid ofby wlsmith - August 20, 2006

Pros: Automation

Cons: Difficult to upgrade. Nearly impossible to get rid of.

Review: A lot of people like to repeat the mantra about NIS that it is "bloatware." That is not my complaint. NIS is hardly the first, only or last application to hog disk space and CPU. Like Microsoft, Norton/Symantec is the company people love to hate, kind of like the school cafeteria. For me, NIS does the job of several applications, all coordinated in one, user-friendly and largely automated package.

My problem with NIS and other Norton Products is that they make it difficult to upgrade to a new version and next to impossible to get rid of it all together.

Every time I upgrade, including from version 2005 to 2006, I have to download and run Norton's special tool to uninstall the previous version. I can't simply run a normal uninstall program or uninstall from the Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs. The new version still thinks the old version is there, and it will not install.

If I try to uninstall NIS and use a product from a competitor, the other product complains that Norton is interfering, even though I ran uninstall. Norton simply does not understand the meaning of "go away."

User Rating: 2/10

Complete garbageby Dalton Ames - July 12, 2006

Pros: easy to install

Cons: slowed... my PC..... to .....a .............crawl

Review: Instead of buying this product, just remove the RAM from your motherboard. It will have the same effect. This thing took over my computer and slowed it to a craw. It won't even let you disable it, so you have to ctrl-alt-del to shut the thing down to play a game. I have owned some crappy software in my life, but this may be the worst. After a month of frustration, I uninstalled the program and threw the CD in the garbage. I'm now using AVG instead, and my computer works at blazing speeds.

User Rating: 4/10

Stay a way form Norton Antivirus and Norton Personal Firewallby Tearo - July 1, 2006

Pros: I can't think of anything positive to say about Norton anymore

Cons: The latest Releases of Norton Internet Security suite brings my P4 3.0GHz machine down to its knees, and very expensive about $70 pulse yearly renewal of $40 and no human customer support

Review: I've used Norton for the past six years, but finally gave up on it
Their latest version brings my P4 3.0GHz with 1GB RAM PCs down to it's knees it takes about 4 minutes at the startup before I can use my broadband internet
it uses all my CPU, interrupts anything I'm running and now I can?t even uninstall - Norton! After searching the internet I found that Norton know about their problem and posted removal program called "RnisUPG.exe" This is the only way I was able to remove the rubbishy software from my machine and forever. I will never use Norton products even if they give it for free.
In top of that very expensive products, and no human support!!

Would not purchase again

User Rating: 9/10

Excellent, as usualby atkins1 - June 7, 2006

Pros: Easy installation of updates.

Cons: No significant problem after 2 weeks of use of the 2005 version.

Review: Have used NIS since 2003.

Installed the 2005 version in a W2K 2.4GHz Intel system 2 weeks ago.

Has had strange requests for registration at least 2 times, although it has been registered. Had to click the YES button and it went through a brief pause and thanked me for registering.

Last year, I tried McAfee, which always had problems with updates and also Trend Micro, which missed one e-mail virus. I had to uninstall both of these.

User Rating: 2/10

Bad choiceby Mike_cnet - May 15, 2006

Pros: Fair anti-ad filtering.

Cons: Crashed internet connection after upgrade, nagged every day for a month to renew and then left high and dry.

Review: I opted for the full suite the last time I renewed my AV software and discovered just how useless their antispam tool was.

When it did an automatic upgrade and lost my internet connection losing 2 days to fix it, I decided not to renew. This was reinforced when there was no way to stop the reminder every day for the last month before the updates ran out.

The final straw was when the updates expired (I figured I would use the old virus definitions until I found a replacement) and it suddenly refused to run leaving me high, dry and completely open to the internet! Most other av software continues to run without updates - these guys take renting your software to a whole new level.

Never again. I've switched to ZoneAlarm.

User Rating: 1/10

Turns computer into sludgeby whitesoxrule - May 12, 2006

Pros: Does a good job with antivirus

Cons: slows machine wayyyyyyy down

Review: I intalled the 2006 version of Internet Security on my Celeron 1.3ghz, 256mb ram machine. I hated it and was glad to get it removed.
1. My machine took 13 minutes to start up - it was scanning the machine and wouldn't let me start any other process. After removing it, the machine now takes less than 2 minutes.
2. The software doesn't allow the user to shut down the scanning process at start up. When you load the soft ware..you are stuck using everything whether you like it or not.
3. To uninstall..you have to go to thier website and download 3 processes..otherwise you cannot uninstall the program.

We are also using it on a machine with a gig of ram and it seems to run better. But also have a third machine with a gig of ram at my church office...there is no way i will ever load internet security on it.

User Rating: 2/10

Pathetic Tech Support Led Me to McAfeeby ssif21 - May 8, 2006

Pros: Effective WHEN It Works

Cons: Buggy; Pathetic Tech Support

Review: I had NIS on three computers in my home network for a number of years until I ran out of patience. As the CNET review indicated, I found it effective and rich in features, but a memory hog and very slow to load. What drove me away was the tendency to randomly develop problems. For a while, I had to turn the automatic virus protection on manually. It went away and came back, seemingly on its own. Then the firewall decided to randomly block my wireless print server even though the rules called for allowing it. NIS would not let me manually override it so I had to disable the security suite to print. The chat Symantec tech support had me delete all my firewall rules and rescan the programs. That wasted some of my time but worked. Then a week later the program decided to block the Google Desktop. I again went to chat tech support, waited my turn, and explained the program. The agent said "he needed to research the problem and would get back to me." That was a lie. He never did. I waited four days and tried email tech support. After a day, I got an email that basically said, "I understand your problem is..." and then paraphrased my email. Duh! After another day, I got a follow up email telling me to run a virus scan. I replied telling them I ran live update and full scan every other day. Then a day later I get the next follow up which told me to run live update. At that point, I uninstall NIS and installed the McAfee suite. Never again with Symanetc!

User Rating: 4/10

Check out other suites before this one.by Greyhaired - March 1, 2006

Pros: Reasonable package but pricey

Cons: Contact support terrible

Review: I purchased this suite one year ago and was reasonably happy with it and was going to renew the subscription, as I had spent a lot of time over the year configuring my personal settings. About a MONTH before it was due I was constantly bombarded with popups to renew. Even when I skipped this it would constantly connect to the server when new virus definitions were due and repeatedly ask if I wanted to renew, even although it was not due for weeks. I had to press skip 4times on every occasion before I could even get my latest definitions. This was really annoying but worse was to come. I decided to renew under this pressure but Norton asks for a subscription key which I did not have as the product was purchased new and came with a year free downloads. After going round in circles in the web pages I emailed them only to receive a standard email directing me back to their web page. Don't even think about phoning for help!!!! In disgust I un-installed and purchased Zone Alarm Suite6 which is proving an all round winner.

User Rating: 1/10

This product is garbage.by IndecentAngel - February 23, 2006

Pros: I can use it as my glass coaster!

Cons: So many...........Its doesn't work!

Review: A very expensive coaster! Save yourself the time & money and don't buy this garbage.

User Rating: 2/10

Terrible Productby adviceinc - January 26, 2006

Pros: Seems easy to use

Cons: Doesn't actually work

Review: I had been using Norton Anti-virus for years. My prior experience with the anti-virus product and Internet Security 2004, led me to buy 2005. Almost immediately after installation I started having trouble getting to the internet, slow machine load times and generally a tough time getting anything done on the machine. After hours of frustrating "conversations" with Symantec support, I uninstalled Norton Internet Security 2005 and installed the equivalent McAfee product; the machine has run fine since.

User Rating: 10/10

My first Paid subscription of Internet sercurity software! It's working like a charm!!by dulun19 - January 9, 2006

Pros: Easy to use, provide everything you need for online security

Cons: expensive customer support , take up RAM space, not for Novice user ( when coming to tenical support from the website)

Review: This software working great on my system, the only thing that mising is anti-spyware, which should be included in the package. But i had Microsoft Beta to cover for that so everthing is fine.

i love the automatic updates, and it's easy to install and use.

and yes, i does take up RAM space like other programs do, and like others Internet security software manutures, the customer support is lacking and expensive for live support. and the online help is not suitable for novice users, since FAQ tend to be for the older version of the software, but the step are the same since there's not a lot of change between versions.

so if you are new to computers, then you should leave the settings for the software at the recommended settings. Don't adjust the settings if you don't know what the functions is. But in case you want to do it anyway, then you should keep a log of it so you know what to change back if something is wrong.

Beside the things that i mentioned above, this software working great, no problems so about 5 months since i installed it. ( well there're problems but they are easily fix with the help of the site FAQ)

also, if your software not responding after you upgrade the version for liveupdate. leave me a comment. i think i can help you with that since i just solve the same problem on my computer. It's very easy after you know the steps and what's the cause is.

User Rating: 2/10

Norton Internet Security 2005 Is Buggy Software That Blowsby vbgunltd - January 5, 2006

Pros: Can't Think Of Any Reason You Or Anyone Else Would Want It

Cons: Too, Too, Too, Numerous To Detail With Only Ten Characters

Review: This program is lousy! I installed on my PC then upgraded my mobo. Since I bought it on line I had to contact Norton to re-down load the program. They have lousy customer support and their "real" person tech support doesn't exist. After getting several automatic emails I was finally able to download the program. It recently did an automatic live update. Since then my pc won't shutdown. I get a CCAP error saying "the program is not responding".
I tried the fix that I found on their website that said to uncheck "Scan floppy disc in "A" at shutdown".
This didn't work!
I've been trying to access my account by using their website but it won't recognize my e-mail address, customer order number, etc.
I tried another email that just generated an "auto response" w/ the usual weblinks (that won'work) to access my account.
I want to remove it and re-install it but have had no luck in getting a download.
For now I've removed the program from my startup folder and I'll rely on my XP Firewall and Google pop-up blocker.
My subscription expires in a few months and I certainly won't renew!

User Rating: 1/10

complete waste of moneyby zombie01 - December 15, 2005

Pros: Box is pretty and it rarely breaks things if you throw it really hard

Cons: Slows system. several uninstalls, poor tech support

Review: I have had NIS 2005 for almost A year now and from day one its been nothing but problems. Slow preformance, uninstalls and viruses.
Slow action to release updates in the hopes of milking customers out of even more money to upgrade to daily updates.

Sober worm was the last straw.
I spent hours trying to undo the damage that NIS 2005 did nothing to stop. Not to mention following their removal instructions for the sober worm removal crashed the opperating system.
They need to spend more money on upgrading their products,testing and tech support. Less on expensive advertising.
In the end you will only end up with A headache and A pretty yellow box.

User Rating: 1/10

Norton's Medicine Is as Bad as the Diseaseby matthewm0 - December 15, 2005

Pros: Maybe another version of Norton works?

Cons: Cripples PC performance

Review: My version of this software was preloaded on a Compaq Presario V2000 notebook delivered in December, 2005. I can not evaluate the quality of protection Norton provides because the software interfered with my computer's performance so much that I had to remove it from my system. From the start, I found myself wishing that I was able to use my computer as much as the cursed programs running in the background.

The Symptoms:
* More than two minutes from the time I opened my user account before my desktop was fully loaded and ready to let me work.
* At shutdown, a message indicating ?ccApp? was not responding brought the process to a standstill, requiring me to force it closed.
* Practically every program launch or right click was met with an hourglass as the Norton program second guessed the simplest actions, even when I was not connected to the internet.
* Norton took over security settings all over Windows, including the firewall, security overview and networking connections. By the time it was done, there was no easy way to know what it was doing or where, or whether I could run other programs like LavaSoft?s AdAware without messing something up.
* Interference with the icons in the ?notification section? of the task bar (near the clock) The battery meter icon, among others, would not appear no matter how many times I enabled it and rebooted.
* The PC?s performance was bad enough to give me buyers remorse and regret not spending twice as much on an Apple iBook (widescreen is the only reason I did not) .

My Education as a Software Engineer:
To figure out what was wrong, I had to open the task manager, see what process was hogging the system resources, then search on Google to find info about this frustrating Symantec/Norton program. It took another research project to figure out how to get to the auto start program folder in Windows XP so I could take the system-retarding application out and launch it only when I wanted to do a system scan. More research revealed that the ?ccApp? program is necessary for Norton to function. The Symantec site cautions not to interfere with it, and rightly so. When I took it out of auto start and rebooted, I could not run a manual virus scan. A reboot or two later and the program put itself back in the auto start folder. This is the kind of PC problem that must have less tenacious people living in misery and wondering what they paid for. I am not a techie but have a few years of experience trouble-shooting PC issues for my employees before they are escalated to a helpdesk. I know it does not have to be like this because I have used an Apple eMac for my home computing for more than three years and it has never been this frustrating. Finding solutions for Macintosh issues was never this Byzantine. Why isn?t the Windows/PC software establishment embarrassed enough to improve the experience of using their products?

This solution has increased my PC's performance to a very satisfying level:
* Delete all Symantec/Norton software from the computer, then restart the PC
* Install an anti-virus program. I found AVG 7.1 good enough that I will pay for it after the free trial expires.
* Turn on the firewall in Windows XP (with Service Pack 2)
* Install an anti-spyware program, such as LavaSoft?s AdAware.
* Set the the anti-virus and spyware software to run in the background and to check for automatic updates. (They will usually check daily when you connect to the internet.)
* Initiate manual scans at least weekly, more if you download much from the internet.

I know many people would prefer an all-in-one security solution, especially if you leave your computer on and connected to the internet all the time. If you do not want to take my piecemeal approach, then you should search for another all-in-one security suite. Maybe a different version of the Norton software works better.

P.S. Editors: Your opinions are now suspect.

P.S. HP/Compaq: Not including a security program would be better than continuing to preload Norton. This is a serious irritation in an otherwise satisfying purchase.

P.S. Microsoft: Bless you for advancing computing during the last twenty years and making a good profit but could you please stop selling software that is essentially in beta version.

User Rating: 1/10

Fan for years, Doubt I'll be back though.by maxmugsy2000 - December 12, 2005

Pros: big company

Cons: big company

Review: I used them many years on different pc's but got a new laptop juiced to the limit recently. Of course, Norton was pre-installed with 60 day trial. So I got it up and running right away. I had so many "goofy" problems, I thought I had a issue with my computer. Outlook wouldn't connect to email server, couldn't get opera or firefox to work, Java applets(yahoo) always worked but then hung when I closed them, CCapp(Norton) almost always hung on shutdown, etc. I checked firewall settings, nothing about outlook, firefox ... that should affect it.
Uninstalled Norton, Installed Mircro Trend Internet security, works like a charm.
I can't believe Norton was causeing all those problems.
Get some PC-cillin and feel a whole lot better. Maybe Norton needs to try to gain their market share via putting out a good product rather than making their product virtually free every year via rebates.

User Rating: 1/10

Internet Security sucks hard!by zukunftblau - December 11, 2005

Pros: NONE! THIS PRODUCT HAS NO PROS!!!!

Cons: constant pop-ups that you can't turn off!!!!!aaaarg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Review: I can not believe this product sucks so bad. I had the previous version, and it worked just fine. I dropped 50 bones on this a SAM's CLUB and wish I would not have. The pop-ups NEVER END. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER NORTON PRODUCT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Updated
I still like Anti-Virus, when it is not doing updates without asking, but the firewall makes me want to try someone new

User Rating: 4/10

Multiple programmes all built into one :)by chit_n_chat - December 10, 2005

Pros: Lots of programmes in one application. Some of it is useless to me (parental controls)

Cons: I'm told that it is a memory hog!

Review: It was half price with my PC and I proberbly wouldn't have bought it as i'm a fan of freeware and wouldn't spend that much on programmes like that but I don't think i'll renew the subscription when it runs out, i'll get some of the freeware alternatives!

User Rating: 10/10

Norton Does Security Better Then Anyone Elseby spotmark - December 3, 2005

Pros: Protects your computer from all the crap out there.

Cons: Having to pay for renewal

Review: I have never given a 10 rating on any of my product reviews. (There's always room for improvement.) However, after seeing how badly Norton got panned by everyone here, I felt they needed a boost.
I am coming up on my expiration date. Which means I have been using this for just about year now. I haven't encountered ANY of the problems mentioned in previous reviews. The security center has protected me against more then a few viruses, and has never interferred with my email, or anything else for that matter.
The Spam filter, Firewall, and security, do everything Norton claims with no problem. As far as slowing down my machine, it doesn't. I have my task manager up as I'm writing this and CPU usage is between 1 and 5 percent. So much for slowing me down.
When viewing Norton's options for renewing I thought about going with the new 2006 version, but then I thought, why should I spend the extra money for the new version when 2005 works just fine. Norton here's my $39.99. Keep me protected for another year and keep up the good work.

User Rating: 1/10

Email killer: Blocks normal outbound Emails!by michaelfu163 - November 23, 2005

Pros: Extensive high security

Cons: Blocks both normal and spam emails, hard to use, slows system down

Review: Do not buy this software!
I have been a avid fan of Norton anti-virus products for 5 years, but this software release (Norton Internete Security 2005) is a nightmare!

After installation, I went to Microsoft Outlook to write emails. And I noticed that after I pressed "send" to send the emails, the emails are stuck in the OUTBOX folders. I spent over 8 hour checking all the parameters and talking to Symantec technical support. But we still have not found a solution yet.

Symantec technical support told me that it is because Norton Antispam is scanning and blocking my outbound email. But even after I turn off the Antispam feature, the emails are still blocked. I am an IT professional, and I am appalled by the difficulty to use this software.

Norton should be ashamed to release such a terrible software that cause coutless hours lost to the "debugging" of their bug-infested Norton Internet Security 2005.

User Rating: 4/10

Average productby shankar_ramani - November 19, 2005

Pros: Does its basic job

Cons: As mentioned by CNET does certainly slow down system, also poor support

Review: Unfortunately, I read the review on Norton Antivirus 2005 3 months after I had purchased Norton Antivirus 2005 obviously, like many, relying on the Norton brand and its name. For 3 months, I could not understand why the most high end laptop that I had was slowing down especially during startup - my configuration was 2 GHz processor and 1 GB RAM and then I saw this review. I reinstalled Trend Micro PC - cillin instead. Although its too early to comment on this new product, I can definitely say that CNET's observation that Norton slows down the system is absolutely right, now my laptop flies! I also tried to download another copy of Norton just in case I could reinstall later if required. Forget it! The online sites were too slow and after several tries, they could not even locate my order number to provide me with another download, that is, I could not even register for the extended service feature.

So poor support and memory hog. I would say though that it does a decent job of virus scans and a timely notification of any threats or intrusion attacks, with Norton's name, you would expect it to do at least so much, wouldnt you?

User Rating: 1/10

Worthless antispam componentby Vastvoid - November 18, 2005

Pros: not much when so many alternatives are out there

Cons: slow, causes conflicts with other programs

Review: Not only is its antispam worthless, it screws up other better antispam programs even with Norton antispam is disabled. Only uninstallng Norton will allow better programs to work correctly. Norton is notorious for slowing systems down badly, and missing important virus updates, as well as causing odd firewall and spam behavior. Zone Alarm is a good alternative. Mail Frontier is a much better antispam. Spamfighter is a free antispam program that works. System Mechanic is a reasonable alternative to this very clumsy package. If you don't wanna spend money, get the free Zone Alarm firewall, AVG antivirus, and Spamfighter. Total cost $0.

User Rating: 1/10

Taking this to the firing range - IT's GLOCK Timeby The Handicapper - November 16, 2005

Pros: Easy download and WAS great reputation - I did finally get my refund.

Cons: This product is an abortion. I damn it to hell.

Review: I have a much higher opinion of Chinese free shareware than this crap. I can not believe it rates a 7 from CNET. Slowed my system down. Kept telling me to re-install. This means uninstalling, many reboots, reinstalling, updating and rebooting again and again. Customer non-service had me reinstall just to fail again. I think their "support" is outsourced to India. The language/comunication just didn't work. If there was a rating of zero, I'd award it to this product and company.

User Rating: 1/10

Terrible, resource hog, hangs oftenby dtyoung1 - November 12, 2005

Pros: Symantec's reputation

Cons: Resource hog, hangs up often, imcompatible w/some apps

Review: Don't buy this!! I used 2004 Norton Antivurs with minimal problems. Norton Internet Security has been a nightmare. Its ccAp is a resource hog, delaying shutdowns and reboots- not to mention tying up memory. Help/support has been bad at solving issues. Can't use interface to adjust settings w/out the program freezing over and over again. After spending 20 hours or so to fix problems, I give up. I think I'll avoid Norton/Symantec products forever after this. What's with the Editor Rating being a 7/10? Did they actually USE this program on a system with a multitude of programs????

User Rating: 1/10

Norton Internet Security Sucksby CaroleShafer - November 5, 2005

Pros: There are no pros

Cons: I can no longer send email

Review: The firewall won't let me send email. The documentation sucks and you have to be a computer expert to configure it. The website assistance is a joke. Oh, and the best part, is I can't turn it off or uninstall it. I say again, this product sucks.

User Rating: 10/10

Perfect!!!!!by johncriley - November 3, 2005

Pros: It is GREAT!! The software installs quick, scans are fast, auto live update, great virus, some spyware removal

Cons: Ok Tech Supp, better than McAfee.

Review: This software is well built. I install it on all of my clients computers.

User Rating: 1/10

Terrible piece of softwareby rgupta - October 31, 2005

Pros: All in one package

Cons: Everything! It is slow and buggy.

Review: I have been trying to use it for months now and I finally gave up! It crashes my system regularly and no amount of tweaking/updating it has worked. I would not recommend this to anybody!

RG

User Rating: 2/10

Uncontrollable Resource Hogby mwcorg - October 27, 2005

Pros: Easy to install

Cons: Slows down PC; Locks Up; Basically does not work

Review: I have used either Norton Internet Security or Antivirus software for the past 5 years. I upgraded to Norton Internet Security Anti-Spyware 2005 about 6 months ago. The installation lost all of my previous settings, which cost me about a lot of hours to put back. Over the next 2 months, my PC got slower and slower. Then suddenly this PC, which is also my print server, became invisible to the rest of the LAN. On top of that, everytime I tried to adjust the security settings, it would lock up and I would have to physically power down my machine by holding the power button. I spent about two weeks with their online support, trying a variety of things. Nothing worked. Finally we came to the dreaded uninstall/reinstall. So I did. It worked good for about a month or so and then I was right back in the same situation: invisible and locked. So I removed it completely and switched to ZoneAlarm Internet Security. It was also very easy to install and my PC runs much, much faster than it did with Norton.

User Rating: 1/10

Is it actually a internet security pack?by spritez - October 26, 2005

Pros: This product is absolute rubbish!

Cons: The software is a defo "no-no"

Review: I bought this product for £49.99 from a retailer, I install the product, use the key given, and it tells me that I'm using counterfiet software! Now even when i used it for a day on "trial", the product slowed down my internet, blocked all my wanted programmes, what's it playing at???, Bye bye norton, I'm back to Mcafee

User Rating: 8/10

Better Than 2004 For Stabilityby dav_id83 - October 24, 2005

Pros: Great Protection All In One

Cons: Unable To Remove Spyware

Review: I used to own IS 2004 and that was really bad, scanning wise it was really slow and took ages just to scan 60,000+. I decided to keep with the Norton brand and buy 2005 and it's a lot better scanning it faster. There seems to be less system resource hog and people always seem to bring that up which I don't get. Your protected aren?t you from Internet and virus attacks what more do you want yes the smallest amount of memory usage would be nice but maybe they'll cross that line soon enough. The firewall is excellent as always this and it working together with my routers firewall. I feel twice as protected keeping up to date is easy with Live Update and with now scanning for spy ware you can find if there's any on your machine. But have to remove it using a 3rd party software that's my cons anyways I rate an 8/10 worth the money.

User Rating: 7/10

One of those unavoidable products we use anymoreby windowlight - October 9, 2005

Pros: It seems to work and has not slowed my new pc too much, it seems better than the 2004 edition

Cons: I'm unsure if the version I have (the "antispyware edition") is like the recently released 2006 version, which may be a source of confusion for Norton customers

Review: Back in the day (1999) I used various and sundry products to keep my pc clean; using at times McAfee and Norton and Zone Alarm and some I can't remember anymore. In the last 3 years or so I've settled on Norton products, with more than a little trepidation, as threats to my pc's seemed at times to outpace my protective software. Recently I had Norton Antivirus 2005 and Norton Personal Firewall 2005 on the pc I had to retire, and so with the purchase of a new pc I decided to risk buying Norton Internet Security 2005 (AntiSpyware Edition) - attracted in part by the claim of having defence against spyware - that Bugaboo of us all. My hardware seemed up to the challenge of Norton Internet Security 2005 (AntiSpyware Edition)- as I knew from experience that Norton Internet Security 2004 could slow down a computer if it has less than 512 MB RAM et cetera. I have found no unusual drag on my pc from Norton Internet Security 2005; but the issue of this program being slow to launch is quite true, and the 1-2 hour time frame for a complete hard drive scan is also true. But the software works like it should (for me anyway). I can only imagine there are more satisfied Norton customers than unsatisfied. I would recommend this product. FYI, I also installed another paid copy of this product on my mother's pc (though to allay her fears I had to promise I'd buy another computer for her if the software screwed up her eMachine). In time I'll probably upgrade to the 2006 or 2007 version; that is, if no diaster befalls my computer(s)and the creek don't run dry.

User Rating: 1/10

Avoid PC's where this is pre-installedby highcut - October 6, 2005

Pros: Couldn't find any

Cons: Slow, intrusive, interfering and impossible to remove without wiping the hard disk. Worse than a virus.

Review: NIS came pre-installed on a new laptop for a 3 month trial and I wasn't unhappy about it. As I used the machine the shortcomings became apparent. It required five downloads before it was up to date and displayed a pop-up box at regular intervals until you carried this out. I installed Thunderbird and tested it and the Spam manager immediately held back innocuous e-mails. When I tried sending an e-mail it prevented the connection with the server. Opening an attached Word doc was also impossible prevented by NIS. Using Firefox I was prevented from connecting to a secure server to pay.
Unable to configure it to stop these things from happing I disabled parts of the NIS that I considered were causing the problems only to then get more pop-ups telling me that I should re-enable them.
When I attempted to un-install NIS I discovered that Control Panel only uninstalled a small part of it. A visit to the Symantec website told me that the inability to connect to a secure server was an existing bug. I also found an exe that purported to complete a partial uninstall but this had no noticeable effect when I ran it. I then disabled all the NIS services in Admin Tools but even then I could not connect to a secure server. I have now wiped the disk and installed XP Pro and have a machine that I can use properly for the first time in three weeks.
Anyone who at the end of the trial period decides understandably that they don't want to pay for it will either have to put up with annoying popups and its lacklustre performance or attempt to uninstall it. A case of pay up or suffer the terrible fate that we have contrived should you try and uninstall it.

User Rating: 1/10

You it slow down a PC any more?!?by King_Tut7 - October 4, 2005

Pros: None at all

Cons: Makes a top of the line computer run like crap. Does not pick up all spyware.

Review: I work for a computer company out of Boston, and last night I worked on a PC with Norton Internet Security. The user wanted to know why since he installed Norton his computer was not responsive at log in for a good 4-5 min. The PC had a 2.8Ghz with 512 M of RAM. As soon as I took off the Suite it ran like it was new. I replaced with Panda and will be talking every user I see out of Norton and into buying Panda.

User Rating: 7/10

Works for meby Maleus - October 3, 2005

Pros: Simple enough; have good default settings

Cons: Does not support encrypted email connections

Review: In general this software does its job well. I did not try other similar products however. The only thing that I don't like is that it does not support encrypted email connections, so Anti-Spam does not work for them.

User Rating: 7/10

Works for Meby Motherbored - September 22, 2005

Pros: Easy Install, No Conflicts

Cons: None So Far

Review: Originally unloaded Norton to install Zone Alarm 6.0. For this low-tech user, that was a big mistake. Back to Norton now and don't understand the poor reviews. The install is simple and quick. I'm on Broadband, and in the years I've been using Norton I've never gotten infected. Luck? It works well with my email. Once in a while, Xoftspy picks up a cookie or adware that Norton missed, but I haven't noticed the spyware issue since installing Norton 2005. In the past customer service was not effective, so I took points off for that. I usually have decent speed surfing, so not sure if Norton slows me down. The bottom line, I do not experience the problems other reviewers complain about, and I'm puzzled. Based on the negative reviews, I'm waiting for Armegeddon. Zone Alarm so completely messed up my system, I'm not sure how it got such good ratings without a serious caveat for users like myself who want to install a product that protects without performing major surgery. I'll stick with Norton until the other shoe drops.

User Rating: 1/10

Piece of crapby redhouse - September 20, 2005

Pros: Nothing that is not expected from a software of that price

Cons: Cannot be uninstalled cleanly

Review: Tells you the problem files you have and that it could not do anything about them. Why do I need it?

User Rating: 1/10

DONT BUY! Norton isnt worth anyones timeby Greg465 - September 18, 2005

Pros: Nothing, it can kill ur computer if u hate ur pc that much

Cons: EVERYTHING!

Review: I have a brand new PC
Amd 64 3400+
512mb of DDRAM
250Gb HD(7200)

Norton Screwed it up big time, i had to reformat the hd and reinstall windows! Never buy any Norton Products!

User Rating: 6/10

To be avoidedby davy-1 - September 10, 2005

Pros: Easy to use and install

Cons: Can be problematic

Review: I had NIS2005 about 4 months and had to do 4 complete installations, due to corrupt download files giving various error and which their knowledge base only helped to solve one of them.

Using AMD 2000+ and 768Mb RAM it did slow the computer a notch, was'nt messenger nor MSN, they'er disabled, the odd ocasion the compter would hang after the 'Welcome Screen', only did it with Norton installed.

One ocassion I was left unprotected for over a week and only found out by accident, the date in the staus window was almost two weeks old when checked against the release date on Symantecs site under the Live update heading.

Updates are released every Wednesday except for the Corporate edtion which is done daily and which you pay an arm and a leg to get.

This made me think-:
Suppose you have an update on a Wednesday, you catch a new virus on a Thursday, it lives in your computer doing nasty things for a week until you get the next release date a week later - Don't sound good does it?

I often read comments that so and so caught a virus that Norton missed - Is this not the reason why?

Clearly there are better AV's out there even the free AVG7 updates daily, why can't Norton?

An antivirus programme is only as good as it's update...! I would avoid this product and look elsewhere.

User Rating: 2/10

Cannot install on XP with Norton Antivirus 2004by Orterator - August 30, 2005

Pros: Yet to know, technical support is available

Cons: Technical support suggest that I reinstall XP

Review: Despite using special programs from Norton to uninstall previous versions of Norton Antivirus 2004, 2003 and etc, I cannot install the Norton Internet Security 2005. Then, guess what, they told me to reinstall XP. I do not know if the 2005 version is any good but I start to worry if I need to go through the same routine next year after my subscriptions ended. The only reason why I did not give it a 1 is because I did not lose any data.

User Rating: 3/10

Longtime user but very dissatisfiedby jfholstein - August 27, 2005

Pros: LiveUpdate

Cons: Deceitful marketing, maddening "support"

Review: The subscription extension page of Internet Security 2005 didn't allow me to simply extend the subscription (provided nothing to click for it) but forced me to buy the "upgrade" package (with password protection), which was the only thing available to click. I uninstalled the current program and installed the new one, but after I downloaded and installed I had the same warnings that my subscription was running out, the same expiry date. I spent hours trying this and that, to no avail. After a couple hours hunting, I still haven't discovered how to send an e-mail to ask for help.

User Rating: 1/10

Don't waste your time buyingby Randy Boyer - August 23, 2005

Pros: Easy to Install

Cons: Unreliable and no technical support

Review: Used to be a loyal customer of Norton but not anymore. NIS lost its activation and ended up talking to someone from India that barely understood English. Net result was they could not help me. I removed NIS from my computer and went with Trend Micro PC-cillin. $15 after rebate. Much better product and technical support. PC runs better without NIS installed.

User Rating: 1/10

Don't Bother trying to get supportby jwreiter - August 21, 2005

Pros: Nothing at all

Cons: Email / CCAPP.exe

Review: In order to use Outlook, without timing out, I have to disable the Norton app.

A process, CCAPP.exe, often causes my cpu to go to 100%.

This was a working system until I installed Norton. Support can only advise you to shut everything else down. I've yet to get any indication they know what the ccapp process is. All I've gotten is "form/faq" email.

Last time I buy anything from them.

User Rating: 1/10

Cant protect my computer or yours!by Jedi_1 - August 19, 2005

Pros: Nothing, absolutely nothing

Cons: Has alot of worthless features, couldnt stop 2 adware and 1 trojan viruses that infected my computer....I could go on for days

Review: Without doubt Norton Internet Security is the worst "anti"-virus program ever made. There are no redeemming features on NIS 2005, it slows your PC down, cant protect my computer or even scan files for viruses for example...I discovered that 2 adware and 1 trojan viruses thru norton scan and it couldnt delete them oe even quarantine them! I called Symantec and asked them for help but they said that I DID SOMETHING WRONG! I immediately removed NIS 2005 from my hard drive before and got McAfee which istantly delelted all the viruses and freed up room on my hard drive

User Rating: 1/10

Slow and Flakyby Josh Hill - August 19, 2005

Pros: Antivirus and Firewall Effective

Cons: Slows Your System, Activation Unreliable

Review: I've been using Norton products since Peter had his column in PC Magazine. Unfortunately, Norton Internet Security has gotten worse with each release.

The 2005 version makes your system run slower than a petrified turtle. It's product activation can crap out when you use system restore, leaving your computer without a firewall, which seems to me unacceptable in a security product. And there's a serious bug in the activation scheme that can make it demand reactivation /every time you reboot./ There's a fix on Symantec's site -- but really!

Also, Norton's interface is slow and clumsy, and it's too aggressive about meddling with other programs on your system -- for example, it took me days to track down a conflict it caused between Outlook and Outlook Express.

I've just replaced Norton Internet Security with PC-Cillin 2005 on one machine and Zone Alarm 2006 on the other, and it was as if I'd bought two new computers, so great was the speed increase. CNET, how could you give a decent review to this crap?

User Rating: 1/10

Don't get sucked in by the brand nameby mgjlists - August 19, 2005

Pros: None at all

Cons: Slows computer, Antispam Freezes Outlook

Review: If this product works for you then it will protect you, but it will slow your computer down significantly. If it doesn't work you will curse the people who wrote this bundle of dog s$%t

User Rating: 4/10

It's not as secure as I thought!by alsdock - August 16, 2005

Pros: installs easily and is somewhat intuitive

Cons: a little confusing trying to make custom settings, especially for family members

Review: It did not guard against a peculiar adware or malware. My computer was infected severely! I was very disappointed that I would be charged for speaking to a person for help and the errors told me to contact Microsoft. I felt my older version of SystemWorks 2003 edition was a better package. I ended up using, spybot and NOD32 to clear things up. NIS-2005 is not as good as you may think. More accurately a real "ouy gevalt!"

User Rating: 1/10

Norton Should be Shot!by hdupre - August 12, 2005

Pros: The advertising is very convincing.

Cons: It doesn't work!

Review: Installation was a nightmare because the authorization didn't work. Once installed, it would periodically crash or prevent access to the Internet or any files on my system. It even prevented an uninstall. This product is a joke and takes up more of my time than any virus I've ever encountered.

User Rating: 10/10

Negative Reviews Shock Me!by pisces03x - August 10, 2005

Pros: Wonderful Firewall, Privacy Control, AntiSpam, Outbreak Alert, Parental Controls, AntiVirus, Ad Blocking, Intrusion Detection, Everything!

Cons: There are absolutely NO Cons for NIS 2005! It's fast, furious, and PERFECT!

Review: Being a Norton Internet Security consumer since 2002, I can say that NIS has significantly improved since their dull non-protectant version in 2002. NIS has been in my eyes the absolute BEST Internet Security protectant that I could find on the market. Being a Program Tester, I can say that NIS 2005 has passed all of my company's tests for quality, standards and overview technology. It's up-to-date LiveUpdate applet allows you to update your version of NIS until your renewal date comes, giving you advanced security for as long as you want. NIS Parental Controls give you state-of-the-art Parental Controls, blocking Children and Teenagers from changing any settings, and accessing harmful material that you specify. The Adult rating allows the user to change (most) of his/her settings, while the Supervisor rating allows you to change anybody's settings. NIS 2005 has gone above-and-beyond my expectations, and I am truly shocked with all the negative reviews on the product. NIS 2005 is fast, reliable and works great on my super-slow Pentium III 256 RAM Windows XP SP2 Computer at home, and if it works that fast on such a slow computer, it must work at the literal speed of light on a Pentium IV Extreme Processor, the new state-of-the-art processor. It doesn't take up much memory, and is the absolute best product on the market. Those who say it isn't a wonderful product just made an error causing it to malfunction. Trust me. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced user on the computer, NIS 2005 is the best product for you to use. With NIS 2005 by your side, you have fast, reliable protection whenever your modem is working, 24/7.

User Rating: 1/10

Nothing but problems. A Norton user for 15 years - NO MORE.by itisitis - August 8, 2005

Pros: none - stay away - a complete waste of your time

Cons: Will not LiveUpdate. Support non-existent. Multiple installs. A mess.

Review: I used to swear by Norton (for 15 years), but they have simply changed to the point where their former reputation no longer matters. I am an EXPERIENCED tech. Releasing this product onto the market is akin to stealing. I'm going to get a refund.

User Rating: 8/10

Pretty Good Stuffby kc2gow - August 5, 2005

Pros: Easy To Use, Solid Firewall, Great Virus Protection

Cons: Can slow down SOME Machines

Review: I run Norton with windows XP Home and a good system, no problems. Running on (you may laugh) Windows ME, it brings it down to a stand still at times. Otherwise I think it is a good buy.

User Rating: 2/10

I'm leaving Norton after 4 years of loyalty; refund requested and standing by after 4 days of HELLby bronzbabe - August 3, 2005

Pros: Integrates with Outlook; user-friendly (sort of)

Cons: Absolutely TOO MANY ERRORS

Review: This is by far the worst program I've ever encountered! I tried installing it on my brand new dual processor Gateway and for the last 4 days since, I have to turn OFF the firewall to access anything internet. Customer support was polite & knowledgeable but with such a lousey program, all their efforts to resolve were totally in vain! I'm DONE Norton ... I'm downloading McAfee's proggie tonight to give their Trial version a shot at my business ...

User Rating: 1/10

I want my money back!by MachWon - August 3, 2005

Pros: none that I can think of

Cons: bloated, slows system to crawl, crashes progs.

Review: I can't believe that Symantec let this one out the door. I've been using their products for many years now, however, will no longer. It slows program opening/use enough to frustrate the user, misses spyware that search and destroy finds and I can still not figure out just why it continually asks me to block the same program from accessing the net. Is it that obtuse?? Total waste of cash and I, for one, am going to demand mine back.

User Rating: 1/10

Har Har Har!by HerrGarman - August 2, 2005

Pros: None as such

Cons: The whole product

Review: We were testing a range of network security products in our lab environment.
Guess which product tried to attack itself and then produly reported stopped attacks?

You are right. Stay away from this pile of gunk!

User Rating: 2/10

Horrible Do Not Buyby durgam6 - August 1, 2005

Pros: frequent updates

Cons: Operation is too slow.

Review: Slows system to a crawl. Takes over 5 minutes until system becomes usable. Not worth the money.

User Rating: 2/10

I have a new system and it slowed it down a TONby lawgone - July 23, 2005

Pros: updates are fast and unobtrusive

Cons: Slows down you're system like you wouldn't believe

Review: I had a new 3ghz 1mb ram system for two months and then I installed the internet security. It ran well for a couple weeks and then my system really slowed down a ton. I couldn't even play music files b/c it would stutter so bad. I went back to system restore and slowly started reinstalling programs. Everything was fine until I reinstalled Norton. My system began lagging again and locked up twice. Pathetic software. I'm going to try zone alarm and see how that goes.

User Rating: 1/10

killed my pc, 20 hrs 30+ reinstalls, still a messby brill sevy - July 22, 2005

Pros: symatic was on the phone more 6 hrs one day to help

Cons: still problems not resolved

Review: The same thing happened with a second pc so I think the problem is with symantics program...

User Rating: 1/10

10hrs,5 re-installs,messing up the computer.Still doesn't workby rabeckett - July 18, 2005

Pros: none found

Cons: doesn't work, what a waste of time

Review: save yourself some time and money ,use something else. Wish I had read the reviews befor I bought it.

User Rating: 1/10

Not even worth the give awayby PeteGreg - July 14, 2005

Pros: Easy to uninstall... I hope

Cons: Everything after you install it.

Review: This was a freebee with a new mainbaord I got at the beginning of the year. I waited for my existing Trend subscription to lapse before installing the 3 month trial version think I might save a few $$. Well its not worth it! I'll happily pay for another year of Trend and get rid of this after less than a week. Everything (on a top end system) has slowed right down. I used to think a slow start up gave me time to make a cup of coffee. Now I have time to drink it as well. No two ways about it this product is a dog!

User Rating: 1/10

Buy this and give it to your enemy....it's like a bad dreamby emachines15 - July 13, 2005

Pros: You get some cardboard you can recycle

Cons: It slows down my computer (2.8 Ghz amd 64 anthlon with 512 ram runs like it only has 1 Ghz and 384 ram)

Review: AWFUL AWFUL I DESPISE NORTON I DESPISE SYMANTEC!!!!!!! This "software" has allowed 1 spyware app through and 2 trojan hoarses...I have tried to update the virus definitions and it took me 26 times to make it go on my 56k modem, and if you don't updaye the definitions, the popup warnings about the virus definitions are as bad as those that come with the worst adware you ever saw. I am seeing red and tomorrow I am going to (once again) wipe my hard drive due to the latest trojan hoarse and try zone alarm....may this conpany go bankrupt before they can sell more "virus protection" to innocent unsuspecting people

User Rating: 1/10

Woof, Woof, scratch, scratch -this is a dog with fleasby tbdropbox - July 11, 2005

Pros: Virus protection is adequate

Cons: Greedy with system resources, buggy, bloated, bad tech support, potential installation killer

Review: I'm not sure if my previous review got submitted, but here is a quick rundown:

Symantec/Norton was once the standard bearer for virus protection and internet security. That was perhaps five years ago. Every single new release of this since around 2000 has grown larger, greedier, slower and buggier.

Tech support apparently can only speak pidgin English, which is a real problem, since it is a strong possibility you will need expert help with this product at some point. Uninstalling it sometimes results in trashed Windows installations, and the same thing can happen with hung installs, a not uncommon happenstance. It would be prudent to have another computer not running this product at hand to fix whichever computers you have that are running it. I'm not kidding.

I've ended up with two alternatives on my home and work machines which are very satisfactory: ZoneAlarm Pro has a better firewall and a fine antivirus, and SystemSuite 5 has the same with the added bonus of a nice suite of general utilities easily the equal of Norton Utilities (basically getting you a better internet security suite than NIS and a comparable utility suite for less than either NIS or NU). Both are much easier on system resources and less buggy overall.

I will go so far as to say that it would be better to download and install the free version of ZoneAlarm and one of the free Antivirus programs, such as AVG or Avast than to use this product. This program is a menace.

User Rating: 2/10

Slow, buggy, crashes XP servicesby trecooldc - July 7, 2005

Pros: Comprehensive

Cons: Slow, buggy, crashes XP services

Review:

User Rating: 4/10

Installed with no problems; Made my computer slow even with 512MB RAM P4; Nice update featureby gmrusso - June 22, 2005

Pros: Frequent and useful program/definition updates; Comperhensive scanning options

Cons: Very slow startup and uses a lot of memory; Slows entire computer to a crawl

Review: I am ditching this product for ZoneAlarm Pro 5.5

Norton Internet Security has a good name behind it however it is a memory hog.

User Rating: 6/10

Loads slow, but works wellsby force23 - June 20, 2005

Pros: Integrates well with other Norton products, numerous updates, easy to use interface

Cons: Slow to load, expensive,

Review: I have used both Zone Alarm Suite and now Norton Internet Security Suite 2005. I liked Zone alarm as it was very easy to install, quick to load and had a good update system, but after less than a week the program crashed on startup with no way to recover. I then switched to Norton Internet Security and while it does take a while to load it works flawlessly. When it does block an intrusion it gives an explanation of what was blocked and gives you a chance to override the program. I recommend the program highly.

User Rating: 1/10

did absolutly nothing to protect my computerby luigi_iverson - June 20, 2005

Pros: The display looks nice

Cons: does not protect, does not remove all spyware even after you get updates.

Review: my computer was slow even after I did weekly scans. I did updates so it could find new kinds of spyware, it still didnt work. I called dell to assist me and they recommended me not to use it. They told me to use spyware protection like ad aware, spybot, and X-cleaner. they told me to go to a website called DSVS.org and get all the protectio you need they show you all the top spyware protection. it helped my computer go back to normal, and my computer is going so fast that a cop actually came over my house and gave me a speeding ticket, which I loved cause i was happy that it was going fast. JK haha.

User Rating: 1/10

Technical Support told me to reinstall XP!by registration2099 - June 14, 2005

Pros: Still trying to install it

Cons: Reinstall xp to install new version

Review: Upgrade from 2004 to 2005 - technical support told me to reinstall windows after repeated installation failures. What more do I need to say!!!

User Rating: 2/10

$57.60 for just a packageby nexus_215 - June 13, 2005

Pros: Colourfull application and very good in blocking pop-ups and getting rid of ads

Cons: Ridiculous protection for a ridiculous price

Review: NIS is far too expensive for what it give you.
- You're computer for a start becomes slower than a snail.

- The so called symantec's new system of detection misses out on many viruses that you can get from browsing.

- Trojans that are detected by PC Cillin's Housecall are completely missed by NIS.

- I frequently format my computer because it gets rid off clutter that I can never seem to find, and not realising it, there are limited number of installations that symantec allows you. I now use no virus protection because the risk of having damage caused by a virus is about the same.

- I must admit that the pop-up blocker is the best I have seen and the Ad blocker is quite good as well, but spending nearly $58 is unjustifiable for just a pop-up and an Ad blocker.

Conclusion: not good value for money, BUY McAfee instead!

User Rating: 1/10

NIS will make your computer lethargicby jibbravo - June 9, 2005

Pros: It does protect your PC

Cons: It will consume lots of resources!!!, makes your fast PC sluggish

Review: Norton Internet Security 2005 will completely take over your system processing time bringing your computer to its knees!!. NIS will protect your PC, but it will also convert a P4 2.66 GHz with 768MB RAM in to a lethargic computer. For NIS to run it uses more than 21 processes that take almost 40MB of your valuable system RAM, it is absurd.

Worst of all, try to access their inexistent support... you don't have the right for even one call. They only take calls from corporate customers/products.

Go for some other product, don't use this one!. I did not followed others reviews, what a big mistake!!

User Rating: 1/10

If you've never used Symantec don't start now!by Perfesser - June 5, 2005

Pros: I can't think of any

Cons: Where do I start?

Review: OK- I'll be honest - I'm reviewing NIS 2004, not 2005 - but the editors say they're almost the same. 2004 works OK on my Pentium 4. But it almost destroyed my Pentium 2 running win98. But that's not the worst of it: removing it was an incredibly labor intensive process requiring numerous calls to tech support (where nobody speaks understandable English) and e-mails to tech support (where they mostly give boilerplate replys rather than authentic responses to your questions). I finally managed to partially remove it myself after downloading dozens of articles from the tech support site. It took me at least 42 hours of labour to remove this dog, and in the end I could not completely remove it without first taking a university course- so I worked around it by re-installing NIS 2002 (which works real well). Unfortunately, the computer never totally recovered - I finally wound up re-formatting the hard drive. I will NOT re-install Norton, even though my subscription hasn't run out.
Even though the program works OK on newer computers, you should steer clear because the removal utilities are so poorly written - once you've tried it, you're hooked, unless you're willing to wipe your disk clean. I wasted a couple of months worth of spare time because I didn't know this company has no competent (or honest?)programmers left.

User Rating: 1/10

Best of the worstby Jacob9 - June 2, 2005

Pros: i can't really think of any

Cons: this crap will slow down your computer by 500%, bad parental controls

Review: It's more like an app to slow down your computer.

User Rating: 2/10

Not worth the money!by twoshea - June 1, 2005

Pros: Auto update is a great feature

Cons: Auto update has system problems.

Review: There are much more complete security systems out there. Support should not be this expensive!!

User Rating: 4/10

Protects but SLOWS down your PC!by SPD - May 30, 2005

Pros: Protection Really Works,

Cons: SLOW SLOW SLOW SLOW SLOW SLOW SLOW, oh yeah did I say SLOW!

Review: I have the ever so powerful HP zd8000 notebook with 1gb RAM, Pent 4 650 3.4 Ghz. Even with this power, my notebook was slowed down dramatically after I installed Norton internet Security 2005. Use it if you absolutely LOVE Symantec Product. IF not, use something else

User Rating: 1/10

slow slow buggyby rcplank - May 28, 2005

Pros: nothing I can think of

Cons: slow slow buggy

Review: a very large piece if s--t. auto downloads hijack my system, take forever, have to restart. Vague threat warnings of 'rapidly spreading threats' if any feature is turned off. Parental controls take "forever" to update (even though they're turned off). And worse the whole thing turns off randomly all by itself. Takes forever to load. I want my money back

Updated
its uninstall is crude. restart black screen have to regedit to pull roots. adios

User Rating: 2/10

Don't Consider This Product - There are better alternativesby Ron M - May 25, 2005

Pros: Anti-Virus is the strongest part of the suite

Cons: Resource Hog; Fails to Hold Settings; Dismal Customer Support;

Review: Represents a major slippage in quality from Symantec - NIS 2005 w/ Anti-Spyware is a serious resource hog. The Firewall program is very undependable - set the rules for your programs, and 2 weeks later, it forgets the rules, and when you try to redefine the program, the system will not take / remember the setting. Very touchy after updates - the program has had several major problems that required uninstallation then reinstallation after updates. Uninstallation is very touchy - if the Add/Remove doesn't work just right, you are faced with a major manual uninstallation process. Extremely frustrating experience with this application - and the Symantec customer support is worthless. If the knowledge base doesn't have the exact answer you need - you will need to uninstall / reinstall. I've swtiched to a competitor's product because of the constant problems with Program Control and Update corrupting the application. It isn't worth the headache or the performance hit to keep running this suite. Zone Alarm's suite is clearly a superior product.

User Rating: 2/10

Don't waste your moneyby CosmicBreeze - May 21, 2005

Pros: Does protect you from virus, intrusion. etc

Cons: UNBELIEVABLE resource hog

Review: I'd rate this product a one but it actually will protect you from all those nefarious virii, attacks, etc so I reasonably assigned a two -- for terrible. HOWEVER, it exhibits memory creep unlike any other software product I've seen. Yes, I installed all the patches, de-installed (An excercise worthy of a scathing review on its own) and re-installed ... all to no avail. My PC nearly crawled to a stop (HP Pavilion 734n that is actually quite beefy). Its (Norton) off my system now and I am totally happy with Micro Trend's PC-cillin. So if, after reading this small blurb you're still thinking of purchasing Norton all I can say is: "Caveat Emptor!"

User Rating: 1/10

Make your broadband work like a dialupby mjdk - May 21, 2005

Pros: Norton Product?

Cons: Unbearably slow - in other words useless

Review: I bought and installed NIS 2005 a few months ago - used it for 3 weeks and uninstalled it. It made my computer so slow that, I would rather risk a virus. Granted, I did have a slow computer 800Mhz and 256MB Ram - but accoring to NIS requirements it should have been OK. Considering the cost of $100 - I think that they could have done a better job - certainly the last time I buy a Norton product. Henceforth, I will take the product reviews with a grain of salt and rely more on actual user reviews.

User Rating: 1/10

A bloated memory and CPU hogby Bibi Zienoti - May 20, 2005

Pros: Frequently updated and probably effective

Cons: Slow to operate, hogs the memory, hard to configure

Review: Originally I intended to prolong my old NIS 2002 subscription, but instead I decided to upgrade to NIS 2005. What a mistake.

Well, the installation is somewhat better perhaps, and it far less reboots and live-update downloads to get this new version completely updated and operating.

However, this creature is a huge memory and performance hog. The basic application, "ccApp.exe" takes no less than 90MB of memory. Opening the application's screen takes an aditional 40MB. All of this for a few screens with lots of unimportant graphic effects and many obscure checkboxes.

I don't know what got into the programmers at Norton. Their user interfaces have always been buggy, slow and memory consuming but this has gone too far. Why don't they learn from products such as Photoshop or Firefox, which have a far more sophisticated user interface, yet are able to perform without taking so much system resources?

Well, if that's how the symantec programmers write the GUI, I doubt if they know how to write their Antivirus engine. Well, I have no doubt their engine works, and it does block viruses (no doubt about the previous versions of 2002 and 2001), but at 90MB memory footprint it seems completely obvious that they don't know how to write an efficient code.

The Norton Anti Spam is included in this package, but don't get your hopes high: it is almost impossible to configure. It shoots down legitimate mail, and even though I had friendly addresses in the "allowed list" - it keeps flagging them down as Spam.

As for the "Support"... Well, they have a huge online knowledge base which is rather difficult to navigate through... But what do you do when your problem is not listed? I'm a very experienced user, and it took me more than an hour's worth of trying to navigate through their site and find the simple form where you describe your problem and hope to get an answer. What a futile waste of time - even then, they only provide answers from their knowledge base, and they never bother to consider the problem could be genuine, and that a bug is possible in their system. Oh and of course, the ultimate solution for all problems is "Reinstall NIS 2005". Does anybody have another hour to spare?

Symantec's hardward specification for this product is "300MHz processor or higher and
128 MB of RAM". Well, I've tested it with a 800 MHz processor and 256 MB and it brought my PC to a halt. NIS worked far better on a P4 1.4GHz equipped with 1.5GB RAM, but still - the interface is slow and the memory consumption is outstanding.

In any case, you should look for alternatives. I will return my product and request a refund. A complete waste of time, memory and CPU power. I gave this product a "1" mark not because it is completely bad (hey it catches viruses! it blocks net attacks!) but rather because Symantec deserves a slap on the hand. They deserve the real shock of customers leaving them. They need to get their heads together and come up with a fresh new software, and a better programming quality.

User Rating: 9/10

Internet Security Works for Meby GradyPhilpott - May 18, 2005

Pros: Easy installation. Easily configured. Comprehensive Knowledge Base. Daily updates with Intelligent Updater. LiveUpdate automatic updates. Attractive, intuitive interface.

Cons: Slow scanning. Can't auto-delete .dll file left over from WeatherBug, though Symantec provides detailed information on how to do it.

Review: I'm giving NIS 2005 a 9/10, because it really works for me, but I really don't have any means to judge it against other products or to objectively measure it's performance, except some test sites available on the internet.

Contrary to what many consumers on the internet have reported, I had zero difficulty installing this program. First, I made sure that my hardware would handle the program and then I shut down every process that I could, except I forgot to exit Microsoft AntiSpyware. Still, there were no problems with installation and while I didn't time the installation, it was not excruciatingly slow. I ran LiveUpdate three times to get all the available updates. I started the installation right after midnight and there may have been a new LiveUpdate release while I was installing the program.

I had NIS 2004 and I had no problems with it and it did what I expected it to do, so when my subscription ran out, I decided to go ahead and upgrade. Everything seem familiar to me, except I think the interface is easier and more intuitive than last year. There is no access to LiveUpdate in the taskbar, but that is a minor issue and probably not important. I update my virus definitions daily from Intelligent Updater, so I really depend on LiveUpdate for other, less critical updates.

The virus scan is very slow, taking one hour twenty minutes to scan my nearly half million files. This is not a problem, as I run scans every night using the "Scheduled Task" feature in Windows XP.

Both NIS 2004 and 2005 locate a left over .dll file from WeatherBug which is identified as an adware threat. Unfortunately, NIS can't remove it, but detailed instructions on how to do it are provided. I don't have a problem with the file, as there are no pop up problems on my computer, so I just ignore the notices. Someday, I might get around to deleting it.

In addition to NIS, I also use BHODemon, Spyware Doctor, Spybot Search & Destroy, SpywareBlaster, Microsoft AntiSpyware, CWShredder, and LavaSoft Ad-aware SE.

I have no reason to suspect that I will be less satified with NIS 2005 than I was with NIS 2004 and I have been very satisfied with NIS 2004.

Updated
One thing that bothered me about NIS 2004 that annoyed me was that it spent an inordinate amount of time scanning my thumbs when down loading pictures or opening picture files. NIS 2005 is much faster. So much so that I don't know that it is doing it.

Intrusion detection pop ups are a lot less intrusive and the spam feature works very well in Yahoo.com. I got nearly 400 emails from the same address in two day from one address. On the second day, I added that address to my block list and nothing has shown up since. Now, any thing that goes to my bulk email and is in fact spam goes immediately to my blocked list.

Ad Blocker really works and I know because one day, I accidentally turned it off and every one of my favorite sites were bombarding me with ads. I checked my settings and turned on the Ad Blocker and now they are gone.

So far, everything about NIS 2005 is better that NIS 2004. I am very please with my decision to upgrade.

I'll keep you posted.

Updated
A few days after I installed NIS 2005, I did a system restore. Unbeknownst to me, this has been known to cause problems with the subscription, so on the date that my NIS 2004 was supposed to expire, Intelligent Updater started informing me that my NIS 2005 subscription had expired. It took six days to get a fix, but I was still able to get LiveUpdate, so my computer's security was not compromised. Still, I am accustomed to updating my virus definitions daily and I was not going to be satisfied to let LiveUpdate do it for me.

Ultimately, the problem was solved and there was no harm, except for my nerves. The Customer Service and Technical Support staff were courteous and all, but email support is slow, no matter how you stack it.

I hope that Symantec fixes this bug, because system restore is a very useful utility and using it should not mess with the Symantec file that keeps the subscription date.

My overall impression of this product is still very favorable and I will view this a very minor blip, if all goes well for the next year.

Updated
For the second time, since installing Internet Security 2005, the software has decided that my subscription has expired so that I cannot download updates daily from Intelligent Updater. This might not be a problem for most and, in fact, it probably isn't a problem for me, but I prefer to download the updates myself, rather than waiting for LiveUpdate to do it.

This is the last straw for Norton, as far as I am concerned. The fact is that Norton slows my machine down far more than I realized. When I uninstalled last time to fix the problem, I booted several times and I just couldn't believe how fast my computer boots without Norton installed.

I have Comcast Cable as an ISP and they are now providing McAfee for free, so at some point, I will give them a shot to see how it works. I've heard that it slows things down, too, and if that happens, I will go to PC-cillin.

I'm really sorry it turned out this way, considering how much I praised Norton in the initial review. My experience with NIS 2004 was not so bad as this and when I didn't have any installment problems, I was hoping for the best.

I really have found out what everyone else was complaining about. When you consider the problems that I have had, the almost complete lack of customer support and the effort it takes to correct problems on your own, Norton is no deal, at all.

Sorry Norton.

User Rating: 4/10

Good (Terrible when something gets by)by Tec Consumer - May 12, 2005

Pros: Usually works well. . . usually

Cons: No wireless security, conflicts with other software, gets eaten by viruses, tech support useless

Review: This is good software and it works well--when it works, but when it doesn't the whole system is toast. I caught a virus that basically ate NIS. It made the server think my license expired, and deleted most of of the NIS components. Had to reinstall XP and start from scratch. Not fun.

There is no wireless network security feature. That is something that everyone should have now that wi fi is the thing.

It thinks that Microsoft Fax console is an outside attack on my system and it thinks StopZilla is TojanStartPage. Security softwars should know whats good and what's bad--even if it is a competitor product like SZ. When I contacted Symantec about SZ coming up as a virus I was told to remove it and only use NIS.

I thought NIS 2004 was excellent--not a single problem with it, but as soon as I upgraded to the 2005 version the trouble began.

I just ordered a new lap top and to go along with it I also ordered Trend Micro PCC to protect it. I think my Norton days are over.

User Rating: 10/10

Solid and Reliable Protectionby SeamusAdams - May 9, 2005

Pros: Powerful Software, Easy Interface, Good Wizards, Seamless Integration

Cons: Needs more advanced instructions

Review: This software is wonderful, I wish I would have purchased it sooner. All Norton applications integrate seamlessly with one another, and all update together through LiveUpdate. The firewall is easy to use, yet offers advanced settings for those who want them. The Antivirus is top of the line and knocks out spyware/adware as well. The Privacy Control and AdBlocking work superbly, it's great to surf the web without advertisements and without websites taking your private info without your consent. AntiSpam is good enough to buy on its own and is ESSENTIAL for any outlook version prior to 2003.

Long Story Short: BUY THIS AND USE IT!

Don't be dismayed by all the disgruntled naysayers, Norton is a top player for a reason, I've never been disappointed by their software...in fact I've been consistently impressed. I also recommend using this along with Norton SystemWorks 2005.

User Rating: 10/10

the Knowledge Base article you're looking forby Cassady - May 6, 2005

Pros: this is not a full review

Cons: it's a heads up about an extremely useful KB article

Review: I think this is the Knowledge Base article that people have been looking for:

Cannot connect to the Internet after installing a Common Client program update
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/sharedtech.nsf/7e7f15291a25d938882567e50048a048/76cb956bcccfe60d88256f900083a3f9?OpenDocument&prod=Norton%20Internet%20Security&ver=2005&src=sg&pcode=nis&svy=&csm=no

Except for this big mistake on Symantec's part, I've NEVER had any problems with Norton AntiVirus or Norton Internet Security.

Symantec should have done more to get this easy remedy out there, but I'm sure they're hesitant to send e-mail to their registered users.

User Rating: 3/10

Schizophrenic.by mike_m - May 5, 2005

Pros: Works fine on XP Pro.

Cons: Absolute junk on Win98SE.

Review: Worked fine on my XP Pro machine, so I decided to update my Win98Se machine (from NIS2003). A disaster. Instalation crapped out two seperate times. I use Zone Lab products on a third computer and am now in the process of downloading ZL software for all computers. This software is, in my humble opinion, a piece of junk.

User Rating: 1/10

You blew it Norton!by blaster46 - May 3, 2005

Pros: Hard to think of any

Cons: Just about everything

Review: I used to use Norton for my anti-virus protection. With the virus proliferation a couple of years ago I decided to add a better Firewall than MS offered and purchased Zone Alarm Pro. The combination worked very well but I when my anti-virus subscription came up for renewal I decided to combine both so I purchased Norton's Security Suite 2005.

BIG MISTAKE!!! This product was probably the worst sofware purchase I ever made. I found it to be very slow and frustrating to run and update, as well as being very intrusive when it decided to launch itself.

At times while I was using the Internet in the middle of a project I would find my system locked-up and frozen solid for no apparent reason; I couldn't refresh, exit, reboot - nothing. All of a suden I would get a balloon showing me that this program had launched itself - mind you I didn't have it scheduled to run, it just ran.

It would then hold me and my system hostage until it had completed its' task. During that time I would have to stop what I was doing and leave until it finished, there is no provision made to cancel the the task if you don't want it to run. It had my system and that was that.

The support was just as good. If I could get through and was able to understand the person's dialect they would be happy to help - for a price. No Thank You!!

I cut my losses, uninstalled the program and purchased Zone Alarm's Security Suite. I highly recommend you do the same. Zone Alarm's Security Suite makes this product pale by comparison. Norton may put out some good products but this isn't one of them.

User Rating: 2/10

Not Impressedby Weeman - May 3, 2005

Pros: Easy to navigate menus

Cons: Slows things down to a crawl

Review: I recently upgraded from Norton 2004 (which worked fine) to the 2005 version, thinking that I was getting something better - boy was I wrong! My laptop now takes 7 MINUTES to boot up, my broadband connection is so slow that I would be better with dialup and I can't access my e-mail account. Even opening Word documents takes ages.

I'm wish I had never done it - what a waste of money

User Rating: 1/10

window smasher takes all of recent system resourcesby btoft - May 1, 2005

Pros: complete features

Cons: hog sys kills net

Review: I have used Symantec products for a LONG time and have finally had it. Live update killed my internet and, after running all support suggestions, killed my email. Good Bye Symantec Hello Pc Cillin!

User Rating: 7/10

surprised by negative reviewby 187583650780340964213112022056 - April 29, 2005

Pros: blocks pop ups, monitors activity of programs

Cons: setting up rules

Review: I am frankly surprised by all of the negative reviews. I have been using NIS on 2 seperate computers and have had limited problems, and have enjoyed the benefits. An alternative firewall to the windows xp firewall, monitoring my system for suspicious activity and programs attempting to access the internet, and best of all the most thorough and effective pop- up ad blocker I have seen. At first it can be annoying receiving notifications that some safe programs are accessing the net (IM for example) but the frequency is not overwhelming. Setting rules can also be cumbersome, but overall this is a very good program.

User Rating: 4/10

Norton Support Needs HELPby gschne - April 22, 2005

Pros: Easy to set up and use

Cons: Incompatibility issues with XP-SP2 security updates

Review: I've used Norton IS for several years. I installed the 2005 version, which worked well for about 1 month. That is, until I downloaded a security update for SP2. Subsequently, I could no longer update core program components via Live Update, but could update the virus definitions using LU. I regularly used Intelligent Update at the Symentec site for updates also. Had an on-going dialogue with Symantec support, at first via email, the last one via their new 24/7 phone support. In every correspondence, they went through troubleshooting by the book, but ultimately suggested I re-install the app, and referred me to MS KnowledgeBase articles. I re-installed thrice, and it just got worse, telling me that my subscription had expired, which had the net result of preventing me from using IU. The telephone support I got during the week of April 10 was the last straw. I could barely understand the individual, located in southern India (I work with several first generation Indian immigrants, and we have no communication issues). She did go through troubleshooting by the book, but when she suggested I uninstall SP2, I knew the end of my days as a Norton IS user were over. Not that I am a proponent of XP, which certainly has more than it's share of issues. Bottom line: I dumped the NIS program, and every file associated with Norton and Symantec (Many remained after the dump). I purchased a program from Computer Associates, EzArmor, which will end up having cost me $10 after I recieve my rebate. Seamless installation, much more interactive than NIS, much more detailed info regarding attacks (if you want it). It updates the virus definitions virtually daily, as well as updating core components, both done automatically. I'm very happy with it thus far. Also downloaded MS AntiSpyware Beta, and everything has integrated very nicely. Submitted my complaints to Symantec, regarding what I experienced and where I have gone. I've had no reply in 2 weeks; Bye Norton!

User Rating: 1/10

Should be banned from the marketby LordNykon - April 20, 2005

Pros: it makes you laughing

Cons: all you can imagine

Review: i already posted an opinion on the Security suite with the anti spyware. so, the only thing i have to say here is: Symantec, put your eyes in trendmicro. you might learn something

User Rating: 1/10

The last Norton Product I'll ever take for freeby David Trebacz - April 19, 2005

Pros: It was free after rebate

Cons: Slow to load, run, configure.

Review: I was upgrading from Norton Systemworks 2004 (free after rebates). I was disappointed in the upgrade process. None of my firewall settings transfered to the new application, the live update process repeatedly failed on one step, and no help was available from the links provided in the error message.

I did some surfing with the privacy controls turned off -and images in Internet Explorer were magically missing. The user interface is incredibly slow -in spite of the "read me" file listing improved user interface speed as one of the benefits of this version. My hardware exceeded the specifications they wrote -why the poor performance?

Now I'm in the process of unistalling and reinstalling the application. What sort of idiots would call this an upgrade?

Next time it's AVG and Zone-Alarm.

Congrats Symantec -another loser product release.

User Rating: 2/10

what a waste of money !!!!!!!!!!!!!!by mac89 - April 13, 2005

Pros: none at alllllllll!!!!!!!!!

Cons: slows down start up time, internet speed, support is non-existant!!!!!!!!

Review: had more problems-multiple infections-after I bought the product..never again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

User Rating: 1/10

Worse internet security software EVER!by DeeJay114 - April 12, 2005

Pros: NONE AT ALL- ZERO

Cons: Will not activate on PC's using existing Norton products

Review: I bought this software and after 8 times trying to get it to load on my Windows 2000 equipped PC I am sending it back to Symantec for a full refund. IT WILL LOAD BUT WILL NOT ACTIVATE (read down further- without activation you cannot use the software)! I am not some novice computer user- I have been trained in computer programming and operations. I have used a PC for over 15 years. With all my experience I could not get this crappy software to work. And don?t expect much help from Symantec. The website is very evasive in allowing you to contact their customer service via email (but they have no problem posting their phone number for customer support- and it costs $30 bucks per call! Why should I have to pay $30 to INSTALL software!?). The email I received gave me a dead link to their site about info in un-installing my old Norton 2003 SystemWorks (yes- they say you have to un-install your old, working Norton software in order to try to get this garbage installed and activated! Meaning you will have to re-install it and then download all the updates you ALREADY had!). No matter what they told me to do it didn?t work! I suspect the problem is Symantec?s new thing of requiring you to register the software in order to activate it. This is their way of stopping people from using their software on more than one PC- I have no problem with that if it didn?t cause all sort on activation problems! I had used Norton products for 10 years- I am no longer a customer! DO NOT BUY THIS OR YOU WILL BE SORRY.

User Rating: 2/10

OMG what garbage!by micaylah - April 11, 2005

Pros: None that would take me to the store to purchase this.

Cons: Got an hour?

Review: After receiving this software with my new computer, it has never worked right; continously telling me to reinstall as the repair feature didnt work!

6 emails to Symantec (honest to gawd, I got 4 "its not our department" blurbs) finally produced a halfhearted response. One that left no solution, just an email blaming this on EMachines. Thinking this was an isolated case, I started trying to solve this somehow as it had become personal. Only to find out that 2 other friends who bought computers recently (not EMachines btw) have the same issue.

My take on this.....step away from the Norton unless you want faulty software and no one at the office to care enough to solve your issues without blaming someone else.

If you want peace of mind knowing that your software is working for you....buy PC-cillen.

User Rating: 1/10

SCREWED UP MY INTERNET ACCESS, ETC.by twendt - April 8, 2005

Pros: configured when installed initially

Cons: nonexsistant customer support

Review: Where should I begin?? It came to pass that I was unable to access the home internet page. I contacted my ISP and determined that it was not a problem frm that end.

The problem was that Norton internet security would not allow me to access any of the internet pages.

Thinking that something may have gotten changed accidentally I uninstalled then reinstalled the software. Or should I say I tried to reinstall the software. I got errors and as a result I installed half an application. Now I had Norton files scattered all over my disk drive.

I had to go back and do a system restore from a system checkpoint 2 days earlier. The Norton was there but you couldn't open it and I still had problems with the internet.

I called the customer support number and wasn't able to get anyone. Having enough of this I removed it and am working with a trial version of TrendMicro's Internet Security 2005. I HAD NO TROUBLE INSTALLING THAT SOFTWARE AND I HAVE THE INTERNET ACCESS THAT I SHOULD AND HAD BEFORE ALL THIS HAPPENED.

User Rating: 1/10

CRAPPY!!!!by ANDxEST - April 8, 2005

Pros: NONE! There is nothing good about this software!

Cons: EVERYTHING!!

Review: Other people here who posted their opinions have took the words exactly out of my mouth. This software is just plain crappy! So disappointed... Try Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security 2005. I haven't tried it yet but there are a lot better ratings on it.

User Rating: 2/10

That's What You Get...... Bye Bye Symantecby cacarson - April 4, 2005

Pros: Solid past reputation, up to date antivirus definitions

Cons: Nightmare to install, noticable slowdown in boot times, noticable slowdown in normal system operation, occasional system hangs, support stinks, some features don't work without a lot of effort

Review: Well what can I say other than I'm extremely dissapointed. I've been a loyal Norton, and then Symantec customer, ever since Peter Norton came out with his drive utilities back in the early 80's. Never have I had the problems with any of his, or Symantec's, products that I've had with Internet Security 2005.

I am licensed on 3 systems for this product (I'm a glutton for punishment) and have had problems on all 3. Two of them run XP Pro (SP2) and the other is on Windows ME.

On the ME system I have spent roughly 30-40 hours trying to get the user account feature to work the way it did on previous versions. No luck. I finally just gave up and said the heck with it. Since this system was primarily used by my younger kids I disconnected it from the Internet (problem solved - yea!).

On the XP systems I was locking up once a day. The CCApp process would start out taking 20 MB or so of memory and progressively would get up to around 90 MB before the system would freeze. Once my system would not reboot at all and I ended up restoring my C: drive from a recent backup. In day to day operations my system has been noticably slower even when things seem to be running correctly. Called tech support and talked with some guy in India about these problems. It's interesting talking with someone who is A) hard to understand, B) probably can't understand what I was trying to convey, and C) is trying to get me off the phone as soon as possible. You may wonder what the resolution to my problem was. Well, I was told to make sure my LiveUpdate was enabled and to check for updates over the upcoming weeks. No further explanation. About a month later Symantec did release a patch so my system only locks up occasionally (once a week or so).

My smaller XP system has 512 Gb of memory installed and normally I have 150-200 Gb available after a reboot and starting a few select applications. After installing Internet Security 2005 it is routine for me to see less than 60 GB free under the same circumstances. At times I have checked and the available physical memory has been close to zero.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Symantec had outsourced some of its development to India based on what I'm seeing with this product.

So Symantec as a reward for your poor product quality and support I'll be looking somewhere else for my utility software. You may have my $69.00 (X 3), but you will forever lose my business. Adios!

User Rating: 3/10

Disappointed by Nortonby oro30 - April 4, 2005

Pros: Effective at identifying threats

Cons: Consumes resources; slows DSL down; awful customer service.

Review: Having been a Norton used for several years, I was pleased that Norton Internet Security 2005 came pre-loaded on my new notebook (Compaq w/AMD Athlon 3200, 1GB RAM, etc.). In the past, I had accepted the resource consumption by the application as part of the sense of security.

After the first day of using the notebook, I noticed my surfing on DSL was considerably slower than my old notebook running the 2002 version of Norton. Grudgingly, I accepted this with the notion that I would dig further into the problem later.

One morning, I was confronted with having to do a system restore (long story) and tried to run LiveUpdate the following day. I received an error which caused me to spend the next two days attempting to download a fix, then reinstalling Norton several times from OEM disc and finally calling Symantec and faced with a choice of $3.95/minute or $29.95/occurrence. I chose the latter and 90 minutes and $30 poorer, I hung up on the rude "customer service" tech who merely had me do over what I had done prior. Though not a computer "pro" by any means, I was appalled at how I was treated.

In my anger, I removed ALL remnants of Norton and installed PC-cillin which co-exists peacefully with Zone Alarm. I've had the program for about a month and I am very content with the application. My internet connectivity has definitely sped up and I have no problem with viruses.

User Rating: 1/10

Worst user interface ever, and other serious problemsby kenaran - April 2, 2005

Pros: It blocks viruses (I think)

Cons: Makes itself the most visible and anoing thing on your computer, instead of staying in the background until a problem occurs like a good anti virus suite

Review: I bought this because I've used Norton antivirus and firewall in the past and recently upgraded to a wireless network. The 2002 versions of antivirus and firewall were fairly easy to use and caught several viruses. The firewall had a three click or so process every time a new program tried to connect to the net, and I was fairly certain what was what and that I had set up the rule I wanted afterward.

OK, enter Norton Internet Security. I consider this to be one of the biggest wastes of money I've ever made. I'm NEVER buying ANY Norton product again, and any free cd's that come with other hardware or software will be joyfully MICROWAVED into OBLIVION.

OK, now for the review. As most of the other reviews mentioned my system slowed significantly after installing this POS. Every third reboot or so it will suddeny pop up a window detecting a new wireless connection, ie the same connection it's been connected to for the last 6 months. There have been periods of weeks where I had to disable it just to connect to the internet. When you disable it doesn't just disappear like previous versions of Antivirus, it sits in the system tray near the clock and blinks at you, and every few minutes it'll do this mini pop-up banner telling you that you're at risk. It does the same pop up banner for live update now too. *** is the point of blocking pop-ups if you're creating them? The firewall is a whole new pit of hell. 15-20 or so clicks to set up a rule, and you have no clue what you've done afterward. The parental security has mysteriously tured itsefl on a few times and blocked serveral sites that I frequent, including Cinescape Magazine's website, I can see blocking that site as a 'maybe', the most serious problem is that it turned on all by itself.

Bottom Line: I've had more cheerful and less damaging viruses.

User Rating: 1/10

This program totally stinks!!!!!by debbdoo - April 1, 2005

Pros: No Pros Here - Only Cons

Cons: Program is basically useless

Review: Do not buy this program!!! Norton Internet Security 2005 uses way to many resources. Any high speed internet will become slower than dial up. The program itself is very slow. The adware component finds adware and spyware, but won't delete any of them, you have to have another program to do this. The Update rarely works. The parental control won't remember your password. Not worth the money at any price.

User Rating: 3/10

Renewal and Customer Support Stinks!!by Big Daddy 8 - April 1, 2005

Pros: Product appears to do what it is supposed to do

Cons: Every year, EVERY year!, when it's time to renew the subscription something goes wrong. Good luck getting help.

Review: The only thing this product has going for it is that it seems to work once you get it installed. If you have any problems, you're out of luck trying to get it resolved. Every year when I have to renew my subscription (for any Symantec prodcut) the renewal process doesn't go smoothly. After three years it came to the point that I started writing notes about what went wrong, so that I don't have the same problem the next year. Turns out it's always been a problem on their side, and after HOURS of struggle on my part, I'll get it resolved. I only seem to have problems with my Symantec software.

Unless you're willing to pay $30 to get over the phone help. You'll spend days trading emails with some guy in another country. I've decided that this year I'm going to take my business elseware.

User Rating: 1/10

NO SUPPORT... never buy againby carebearteacher - March 29, 2005

Pros: NONE... totally un happy

Cons: NO SUPPORT... never buy again

Review: on line support is like finding a needle in a hay stack. If you are good at reading technical manuals in Japanese... you might find the support you need from Symantec. I don't read foreign languages though, so I had no luck getting support.

Charging customers for support is ridiculous. They should call it Customers Paying for Help, not customer service. Just to find a phone number to call was like doing a clueless crossword puzzle.

I've been a customer for 10 years and I have decided that I'll never buy another Symantec product ever again.

There has to be a product out there that gives SUPPORT; what a novel idea.

User Rating: 1/10

Fan of Norton for many years will never buy Norton product againby belias - March 28, 2005

Pros: previous reputation as having a quality product

Cons: Difficult to install, noticeably slows computer, expensive tech support hard to understand

Review: This product has been a nightmare from the start. Has conflicts with Windows XP SP2, the Symantec website has instructions on how to get rid of current viruses so that you can load the software, but their instructions don't work. Fortunately they are willing to have someone that barely speaks English tell you the real way to get rid of the virus over the phone for only an additional $69.95. Once installed the software burns alot of available resources and has slowed my computer considerably. Try McAfee, Zone Alarm or any other product before even thinking about this one.

User Rating: 1/10

Horrid, disgusting, not the Norton of "old"by carr_e - March 21, 2005

Pros: absolutely NONE

Cons: non-compliant ms-windows usage, support STINKS & stupid

Review: Every install since Norton 2000 versions have PROGRESSIVLY gotten worse in terms of reliability and additions of restrictive, non-windows complaint "features". Tech support personnel can hardly speak English; are typically arrogant along with being simply rude and stupid.

2005 versions take the cake. First of all IF one moves the default shortcuts folder "Norton anyproduct" from start menu-->programs to another folder - a NORMAL and STANDARD FEATURE that ms-WINDOWS allows from every version of Windows EVER made then
version 2005 live update will fail. Moreover the anti-virus programs will fail on system start with nasty messages about needing to uninstall and reinstall.

Second, for upgraders especially from the almost equally horrid 2004 versions, The 2004 uninstall FAILS to properly and fully uninstall the product (I deliberately let my subscription run out to get full usage of it since Norton renewals take place on day of renewal thereby effectively screwing a purchaser out of remaining time for exisiting renewal period). That failure to fully uninstall leaves registry settings that indicate to live update that subscription services are expired. Upon attempting to update 2005, you get messages regarding expired subscription, yet when you verify with Norton "Doesntworks" web site, your license is current.... Until you manually remove the crap 2004 unintall failed to, this situation will not resolve.

Anybody using 2005 and willing to live with the ridiculous and non-compliant to ms-windows normal usage by not allowing any user to organize the folders in start-menu.programs is a fool for not pursuing alternative products from zone alarm, trend lines (pc-cillin), mcaffee, computer associates. The idiots at Symantec do not see this restriction as a problem and challenged me to prove to them this was not a non-compliant to ms-windows usage standard. The best result and message to send is simply stop using your product if you already have a version and instead competitive upgrade to a ms-windows compliant product alternate.

Not to mention that other evaluations of Zone Alarm and pc-cillon have superior ratings as well. McAfee is not as bad as Norton, but their software is an unprofessional install in that a user cannot specify the destination location but they too like Norton make manual update a major pain. And I for one, do not want nor allow any software to blindly update in the background. Instead I want to manually downloaded updates, preferably and exe that can be run after the download completes. Norton in version 2005, attempts to turn on the auto-update EVERY darn time you run live-update - ANOTHER MAJOR NUISANCE -- from idiot programmers who a trying to foist their version of how you should run YOUR computer on you. McAffee requires you to manually download three or more files, manually stop the product, move files, and restart. The OLD Norton was great, download an update exe and run it - simple, effective, convenient --- and effectively GONE from version 2005.

User Rating: 2/10

Norton No Moreby Careful - March 12, 2005

Pros: Anti-Virus OK

Cons: Internet Security Very Dissatisfied Again

Review: As a long time Norton customer and fan I have increasingly become unhappy with the products & support. When only the Anti-virus program is installed it seems to perform OK, but watch out if you have a problem that needs support. I have installed System Works & subsequently Internet Security 2005 on a couple of machines only to have had to hunt, become a technician, be patient and pay to try to get problems resolved. NO JOY! The last two purchases $100+/- I'm writting off - Uninstalling and moving to either Pc-cillin or AVG Anti virus, with consideration also to Zone Alarm. Not to be unfair and give benefit of doubt to my experiences, I have surveyed other users and spoken to certified experts to confirm my opion. Today I contacted an expert who put it best "When DOS was in so was Norton - but No More!

Updated
Misspelled opinion - caught it too late & didn't realize these opinions cannot be corrected/edited once submitted.

User Rating: 1/10

buyer beware!!!!by TOden4 - March 9, 2005

Pros: Well if you like the color yellow on the box

Cons: its nortons

Review: I was a faithful nortons fan for a while. I never had a problem til now. this program is horrible. it take too long to update stuff keeps popping up all this since i updated it. and the virus defs done update.

User Rating: 1/10

Does not work with Eudora 6.2 and slows down performanceby Jane Birkenstock - March 6, 2005

Pros: There was nothing postive about this experience

Cons: Caused drive:a to become non-functional, huge performance slowdown

Review: NIS 2005 installed on an AMD 400 MHz processor/Win 98SE caused a negative impact on performance, drive a: became non-funtional, would not work properly with Eudora 6.2 and software would not establish a connection with the internet. Tech Support said I should upgrade to XP and install more memory though my system met their requirements for this software.

User Rating: 4/10

Computers Are Supposed To Make Our Life Easierby SoftReview - March 1, 2005

Pros: 2004 Version Worked Great

Cons: Doesn't Like Norton System Works Profesional

Review: All I wanted to do was extend my virus def subscription for another year. Downloaded NIS 2005 ($29) from Symantec web site. NIS 2005 does not co-exist with NSW Pro. NIS 2005 will not activate. Now, neither work and I can't uninstall them. Anyone know of a good RegEdit tool? Buy the Cd version of NIS 2005, not the download.

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