Sunday, October 14, 2012

Problems with Norton Internet Security?

Pinched from Angry Harry 
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Problems with Norton Internet Security? 
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It must have been about 13 years ago when I first underwent the horrors that Norton Internet Security inflicted upon me.

It crashed my computer endlessly, slowed it down to a snail's pace - with the hard drive whirring away for minutes at a time - and my download speeds on the internet were continually abysmal.
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This went on for about three months.

At the time, I had no idea that Norton Internet Security was the source of all my woes.

I thought that it was either my browser or one of my programs that was messing things up or, worse, that my computer was infected with some awful virus.

These problems went on for weeks.

Then I came across someone writing in a forum about how his computer had gradually ground to a halt over a period of weeks and that his anti-virus software - Norton Internet Security - was the culprit.

I decided to follow his advice and uninstall Norton Internet Security and, like magic, my computer was completely transformed. It was back to its whizzing self.

I was so traumatised by the whole ordeal - constantly losing data and losing, literally, days' worth of time and effort, that I did not install any anti-virus software for about three years! - until I got a new computer.
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And despite the fact that I surfed the internet for many hours every week, not once did I have any problems caused by viruses or malware.

With my new computer, I installed a product called Zone Alarm, which worked really well.

I seem to remember that it cost about $20 per year, and I never had any problems with it.

About three years later, I stumbled across a product called AVG which had very good reviews. And it was free!

So I gave it a try, and I have been using it without problems ever since.

Well, it seems that Norton Internet Security is still causing terrible problems to users judging by the thousands of horror stories that seem to be all over the internet, and so my advice is to avoid it like the plague.

Here are some recent examples of comments from all over the place, ...

I upgraded to 2013 on a machine where 2012 had some problems hoping that the new version would have fixed them but actually I think I am having even more problems...

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DON'T WASTE UR TIME OR MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I have had norton for 2 years now and purchased the 2013 NIS. It keeps freezing my computer which I never had a problem with. It just stopped working had to uninstall and reinstall. It messed up my dvd drive everytime I uninstalled it I had to run fix it to get it back

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After installing it I decided to run a full scan. While it was running I had to run an errand. When I got back, I went to check the scan and it didn't even scan 9,000 items, and the scanner was just "hanging there." Not doing nothing. So, I went to stop the scan, and it wouldn't close. It just kept hanging. I tried closing the whole Norton screen by right clicking on the task bar to shut it down, but still it wouldn't.

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I can't put up with the lack of help and customer support anymore.

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Please be aware that I hate Norton with a passion, and am taking the time to worn unsuspecting people. Symantec who makes Norton is a greedy company that Doesn't care about their consumers.

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Speaking to the amiable back office people in India and I discovered the data was lost permanently with no chance of ever recovering it

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After a total of five hours of trying, I gave up and installed the cable company's free software (a version of McAfee); it installed and worked fine.

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I will NEVER purchase another Norton product. I installed NIS 2013 shortly after upgrading to Windows 8. NIS 2013 simply doesn't work with Windows 8. I started having problems downloading emails, then problems installing program/app updates.

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In conclusion, save yourself a lot of grief, time, and money and go with another competitor's product.

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Actual viruses are less harmful to your computer than this garbage.

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1) Norton disconnected my WIFI connection treating it as a threat. I no longer have WIFI and can't re-establish it without removing NIS, which I am doing. 
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2) It inactivated my Canon camera software stored on my computer's hard drive. 
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3) It affected another driver, which one I am not sure...I am now receiving Windows messages asking me if Windows should try to restore a disabled driver. 
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4) It has significantly slowed down the loading of Websites.

5) When I try to run a full scan using NIS, it stalls for at least a minute before the actual scan begins. 
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6) My computer comes to a stand still or becomes sluggish when NIS is running some updates. ...
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Stay away from NIS 2013; it is buggy and therefore Norton is trying to unload it from their inventory by selling it for $25. It's totally invasive to your computer system.
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Horrible!!! Removed itself for no reason and crashed both computers! 

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DO NOT BUY ANY NORTON PRODUCT. NORTON SUCKED A DECADE AGO, AND HASNT CHANGED.
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NIS 2013 nearly ruined my windows 7 laptop.
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It slowed my computer WAY down - actually it froze many apps. I could not use my Google Chrome with it, and ended up "uninstalling" it after 2 days .
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Couldn't get it to work on my laptop. When you loaded it on the internert wouldnt work. When you removed norton the internet worked!. Just downloaded microsoft security for free and everythings fine now.
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As soon as i installed it, Norton anti virus 2012 slowed down my computer and internet so much that it was a total joke... then the kick in the teeth came when i uninstalled Norton and for some reason the uninstall removed all device drivers and crippled my PC!!!!!!! SAVE YOURSELF DAYS OF TROUBLE by NOT buying this total joke of a so called software.... more like MALWARE!!!!
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The worst problem of all is that it takes an inordinate amount of time to reach a useable desktop.
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Upggrading to 2013 just lost all but six of my logins out of 90 and a bunch of confidential notes. I cannot believe how amateurish the algorithm must be to allow such a thing to happen. The upgrade does not make a safety backup and so the failed migration has in effect cost me an incalculable loss of confidential data. AVOID IT at all costs and get another brand
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What was Symantec thinking by releasing this piece of garbage??
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How to Uninstall Norton Internet Security
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Type "Uninstalling Norton Internet Security" into Google and you will see thousands of Norton users wanting to uninstall Norton Internet Security in order to protect their computers and their sanity.
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Indeed, the product is so bad that some companies out there are actually offering a service to help users with their problems with Norton Internet Security.
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Here, for example, you can get help with Norton Internet Security for £109 per year! ...
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Link
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Unbelievable, isn't it?
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Take my advice. If you want proper protection for your computer, go for AVG or Kapersky.
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You will likely save yourself a mountain of headaches and hours and hours of frustration.
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It's bad enough when you buy a product that just doesn't work properly, and so you have to send it back.
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But when a product actually messes up your computer and/or destroys mountains of your data and documents, then I think that you should be entitled to compensation; not only for your loss, but also for your time.
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Indeed, if you bought any other product that caused you such damage, you would, indeed, be entitled to some compensation.
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So why should we allow companies like Symantec to avoid their liability for causing significant losses to their customers?
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Finally, not everyone has problems with Norton Internet Security, but a very large percentage - about 20% - appear to have terrible problems with it - problems which gradually get worse as the months go by.
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So my advice is to uninstall it if it is pre-installed on your new machine as a trial version, and go for some better product.
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Indeed, the only reason that Norton Internet Security is often pre-installed on new machines is because computer manufacturers get good money from Norton for doing this.
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So, be warned!