Do you like Norton Anti-Virus Software?

United States
September 19, 2008 2:25pm CST
I was just wondering if anyone else out there has ever had a problem with Norton. This happened to me recently. I kept getting a virus called Spyware.CometCursor.com. Norton would remove it then tell me I had to reboot to completely remove the threat. This was happening on a daily basis! I was getting sick of having to reboot every time I wanted to use my computer so I got live help online. I let the tech have control and she/he did a bunch of stuff I didn't follow and told me I would never have the problem again. 2 days later, I get the same virus again! So I get back online and get a tech who tells me sure I can fix this for you, will you give me control of your computer? as i'm typing yes, okay, he/she sends this: we will fix for you for $99, shall I go ahead? I went ballistic with him/her/it (knowing full well this wasn't their fault, they are only employees), told them they could put Norton where the sun don't shine and said good-bye. I promptly went back to McAfee and uninstalled Norton. I have been a happy camper since.
3 people like this
21 responses
@mirage108 (3402)
• United States
19 Sep 08
I love norton as an Antivirus program I stoped using it as it is a memory intensive program. I have now been using McAfee for about 4 years now with out a problem fast sleek and stays updated with virus definitions so I don't get infected. and I have not had a computer virus in over 10 years now. Sorry you had that problem with Norton.
1 person likes this
@mirage108 (3402)
• United States
20 Sep 08
Norton is good, dont get me wrong on that, it is just that it is a memory intensive program
• United States
20 Sep 08
I have never had a problem with McAfee either. The only reason I used Norton was because it was free for 1 year with the purchase of my computer. I had always used McAfee before that. I'll never go back to Norton.
• China
20 Sep 08
so if as you said the norton not so good. but actrually, the anti virus software alway can deal with the virus 100%persent. but in most of time which are good. we use our local anti virus software , it is very cheaper now, sometimes we use two anti virus software, another is free. we are in China, i found the western country protect the intereste or big company , but here , our things good but very cheap.
1 person likes this
• United States
21 Sep 08
Things are not so cheap here anymore; but I do get McAfee and my spyware free now so I am much happier. Thank you for responding and I hope you have a wonderful day!
• Philippines
20 Sep 08
well norton could be the best anti-virus software but as you also know, it has also one of the most scariest price, very expensive. I believe norton has come a long way in terms of system protection. i really like norton but i just can't afford it... thanks for posting this post... i really like this...
• United States
21 Sep 08
What ticks me off is buying the software and then having to pay for tech support. Give me a break. You are more than welcome and I'm glad you enjoyed the post. Have a wonderful day!
@SunnyV (13)
• United States
20 Sep 08
I used to have Norton installed on my computer a few years ago and experienced the problems you speak of. I had also experienced instances where I would scan my computer and totally come up with nothing which I thought was impossible. When you first log onto the internet you have spyware and other things coming at you. Since then I've purchased ZoneAlarm Security Suite and truly recommend it to anyone. It gives you the security of being on the net in stealth mode (you are invisible to other computers who may wish you harm). You receive alerts when another computer tries to scan yours. It also warns you when you are about to enter sites that could potentially harm your computer. McAfee is nice as well; but having two different programs could possibly cause conflict.
1 person likes this
• United States
21 Sep 08
I'm liking the sound of this ZoneAlarm Security Suite. I've recently been hit with adware (twice this past week). McAfee caught it both times but I would rather not have gotten it at all. Thanks for the suggestion, I will look into the ZoneAlarm.
@Cubus93 (96)
• Poland
20 Sep 08
No. I don't like Norton. It can't find all viruses, which other antiviruses can find. So I used AVG Free 8.0, and now I'm using Kaspersky Antivirus 2009 and I think, that is the best antivirus.
1 person likes this
• United States
21 Sep 08
I'm hearing a lot of positive reviews on Kaspersky too. Before I posted this, I had never heard of them. Thank you for the input. Have a great day!
20 Sep 08
Me and my friends at Microsoft hate Norton with a passion as it's not that good and slows your pc down, i'd recomend either Nod32 or AVG i use both and i don't have many problems, also if you have spyware try spybot search and destroy it's free, fast and quite good
• United States
21 Sep 08
My son, the computer geek, used to highly recommend Norton but has switched to AVG 8.0. I'm glad to be done with them. I haven't had one problem since I went back to McAfee. Thank you for the response. Have a good day!
• United States
20 Sep 08
Everyone tells me that McAfee or whatever your internet service provider has is much better than Norton. I have gotten a lot of negative comments about Norton, so I try never to use it.
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Sep 08
I, for one, will never use Norton again. That seems to be the general consensus in this discussion and we can't ALL be wrong. Thank you.
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
20 Sep 08
Well I have used Norton for years and never had a problem with it. I am still using the 2003 program I bought and have never upgraded. I just renew my subscription to the anti virus every year. For spy ware I use spybot and I have not been attacked by a virus for years.
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Sep 08
I had always heard Norton was the best out there so I used it when I got the free sub with my puter. I guess it's just like anything else out there, some people like it and some don't. Thank you.
@hotsummer (13837)
• Philippines
20 Sep 08
i still have this norton on my computer. i don't really have that problem. but the norton program really takes a lot of computer memory. and so it is not really advisable for people who have so many large files on their computer. but me i really don't mind since i have big computer space.
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Sep 08
That seems to be a common problem with Norton. Thank You.
• India
20 Sep 08
I'm using Norton corporate and spyware and adware to make my pc secure and i use some PC tools to increase my PC speed now my PC was safe and secure.
1 person likes this
• United States
21 Sep 08
Maybe you can give some of these other folks who do use Norton some tips on how they can speed up their PC's? Thanks for your response. Have a good day!
@tonytt2009 (1706)
• China
20 Sep 08
I don't like Norton in anyway.I prefer Mcafee which is much much more smoothly than Norton and easy to upgrade and solve the virus.My ex-company used Norton as its Anti-virus software,the result you may image,the pc of everyone's start up slow,say at least 5 mins.We always push the start up botton then left to get a coffee or sth like that.Then,If you need to upgrade you Norton,we will have to stop all our on hand work,just to wait till it successfully installed....lol~McAfee~~
1 person likes this
• United States
21 Sep 08
Wow, I know that was a nightmare for you and your fellow employees. I like that McAfee automatically installs my updates and lets me know it has done so. Norton did that too but it wasn't very good at catching viruses for me.
@Antzon (159)
• Singapore
20 Sep 08
I used Norton before however it is expensive and somewhat memory intensive when scanning the computer. Thus i changed to AntiVir personal edition, apart from it being free, it provides daily update to definitions of viruses and i never get a single virus attack till now. I used Avira AntiVir to clear viruses and spybot search and destroy for spywares. I have tried AVG however it is not as good as Avira's.
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Sep 08
AntiVir is another I've never heard of. I'm writing all these down in case I have to go Anti-Virus shopping again...lol Thanks so much for the info Antzon.
@rizzu87 (860)
• Malaysia
20 Sep 08
I hate the anti virus softwares as they are not of much use. When ever you get viruses in your computer they clean up some and some viruses are not cleaned. Then what's the use of these anti virus softwares? IT slows down your computer as well. When ever i install a anti virus My computer works really slow.
1 person likes this
• United States
21 Sep 08
Maybe you should try some of those suggested by the people who responded here. It couldn't hurt. Thanks for responding. Have a good day!
@snipero (358)
• Italy
20 Sep 08
i don't like it so much,it's very heavy and takes a lot of processor and memory usage, i prefer AVG 8.0 + ccleaner all freeware, for the things i must do on the web are ok,are lite and during the scanning etc, you can run without problems all the applications you want.
1 person likes this
• United States
21 Sep 08
That seems to be a common complaint with most everyone who doesn't like Norton. I've heard a lot of good things about AVG 8.0 and not only on here. Thanks for your input. Have a good day!
@stealthy (8181)
• United States
20 Sep 08
I used to use Norton and was fairly happy with it and then a couple of years ago I got the new version and in addition to not working as well against spyware, etc., it had incompatibilities with Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft XP that caused all kinds of problems. So I switched to McAfee which has not been completely trouble free as some things have gotten through and I had to use their paid survice to get things clean but at least the incompatibilities are gone.
• United States
20 Sep 08
Okay, this is what got me about Norton. I paid for a 2nd years subscription to them and then when I had a problem, they wanted to charge me to fix it! What the heck did I initially pay for? I won't mind paying for McAfee's service should I need it because I get it free. I had McAfee before Norton and never had any problems and thus far it's been all good.
@RedX922 (143)
• Romania
19 Sep 08
i don't like this antivirus because it can't stop viruses,i used 1 year kaspersky then another year nod32 with zonealarm firewall protection, and now i don't use any antivirus...i reinstall my operation system every 2 months...
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Sep 08
Wow, isn't that a major pain to have to reinstall your operating system every 2 months?
@hichamov (507)
• Morocco
19 Sep 08
hello i really don't like, and i have my simple reason, i have it with lecense and all, so while im working to my computer it's become too Slow, i also pluged off the connexion cable and still Managing all files and scanning, make my CPU Going Fast and become HOT... my computyer wanna Freeze.. i use a antivirus under a Computer not under a Server.... lol it's Annoyed me a lot, so i simply Threw it to a Trash.
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Sep 08
It's looking like a lot of us here decided to throw it in the trash hichamov. Seems that's a good place for it.
@joshua85 (71)
19 Sep 08
I hate norton. It screws your computer up big time. Its bulky and useless. So much better versions out there, and lots of them are even free. Why pay for rubbish.
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Sep 08
My thoughts exactly! Thanks joshua85.
@Cubus93 (96)
• Poland
19 Sep 08
I tried Norton Anti Virus, but I didn't like it. Kaspersky Anti Virus 2009 and AVG Free 8.0 are better that Norton. I use Kaspersky and it find all viruses, which other anti viruses couldn't find. So In my opinion, Kaspersky is the best anti virus ever.
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Sep 08
I've never heard of Kaspersky but my son has recommended AVG Free to me. I really like McAfee myself.
• Philippines
20 Sep 08
Our Anti-virus before is Norton but we decided to remove this anti-virus because as if it doesn't delete virus. It only make our computer heavy. the reason why i shift with another antivirus like AVAST.
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Sep 08
That seems to be 2 common problems with Norton. Thank you for your input worldbestwriter2008.