I hate Norton

NickCat11

NickCat11

Active Member
Reaction score
0
Did I mention that I hate Norton? A customer dropped off their Acer laptop with Windows 7 about 30 minutes ago. They wanted Norton removed and NOD32 put in because that is what's in their other home computer.

Easy enough right? Wrong. I uninstalled Norton, rebooted and there it was, a nice bsod (drv irql not less or equal referring to the ndis.sys file error). Unbelievable. Performed a system restore and I am back in. I tried uninstalling it with Appremover, Revo, and through control panel all with the same result. Did I mention I hate Norton?

Rant over :mad:
 
Last edited:
yesterday a customer asked me to replace McAfee for Norton. The installation failed and the only message was "Installation failed, call customer support". Great!!

I used the removal tool, ran it twice, reboot, and reinstalled but it failed again. Then I download the setup again and ran the removal once, installed and this time it worked.
 
Sorry forgot to mention that, yes I did after going through control panel. System is running fine, I was just ranting and giving everyone a heads up about the issue.
 
Usually the problem with removing Norton is that there are several bits to it, as shown in add remove programs.

You have to remove these in the right order.
 
studiot said:
Usually the problem with removing Norton is that there are several bits to it, as shown in add remove programs.

You have to remove these in the right order.
Click to expand...

  • Symantec Live Update
  • Any other Norton/Symantec components
  • Norton 360/AntiVirus
 
studiot, even removing them in the right order is not always the issue, sometimes it is just broke, period.
NickCat11 is right, norton is not the norton it was 20 years ago... When I still made housecalls, I went to a clients house that had installed norton years ago. This client had paid $75.00 2 days before to continue their glorious all-in-one super protection.
When I got there, the computer was up and running, and the little norton icon proclaimed it's dilligent sentryship boldly in the system tray. Well. With Norton antivirus running and their total internet security suite what could possibly be wrong? I clicked on the norton tray icon and the computer crashed.
I repowered the system, and much to my chagrin found that we still had not successfully reached desktop in a 10 minute period. Excrutiatingly slow. So I rebooted with my trusty handy dandy UBCD4WIN and began my magic. We removed over 1,000 viruses and trojans. I'm not kidding you. According to norton everything was fine. I even verified the client was telling the truth about paying the $75.00 over the internet to update it all, and his receipt was right there, and the software indicated it had been paid in full.
I have no respect for Norton Antivirus. At least McAffee is trying. Peter Norton supposedly left that company or sold it to symantec, much like John Mcaffee became whatever it is Network Associates I think... Anywho, I have never seen a product fail so miserably, as Norton.
 
I uninstalled it the proper way. I've done it a million times. There is definitely an issue there so just keep a look out :)
 
PcTek9 said:
We removed over 1,000 viruses and trojans. I'm not kidding you. According to norton everything was fine.
Click to expand...

:eek: Is Norton really that bad? My God- do they even put an attempt in testing their products any more? I've never used Norton on a full-time basis myself so I have no idea how it really works, but was the live-protection mode even on?

I could of swear I read an article recently that they are changing for the better now. I guess that was a flat out lie. Oh well. Microsoft Security Essentials it is.
 
I just got a laptop in this morning that was running Norton 360. It was also running 4 different viruses.

Its now running AVG 9.0
 
NYJimbo said:
I just got a laptop in this morning that was running Norton 360. It was also running 4 different viruses.

Its now running AVG 9.0
Click to expand...

Isn't that amazing how a computer can come into the shop basically non-functional due to viruses and Norton still displays that beautiful green check-mark. Unreal.
 
NickCat11 said:
Isn't that amazing how a computer can come into the shop basically non-functional due to viruses and Norton still displays that beautiful green check-mark. Unreal.
Click to expand...

Norton and McAfee. I get so many McAfee machines proudly showing the red M in the system tray and scan logs showing zero viruses, but sure enough those viruses are in there.
 
studiot, even removing them in the right order is not always the issue, sometimes it is just broke, period.
Click to expand...

Nice to chat with someone here.

I did say usually. I know that sometimes it is a bitch to remove.

Sometimes someone has deleted part thinking they were removing it.

Sometimes it's the Symantec rootkit that is part of the package.

Sometimes someone has managed to install other security products in addition to or over Norton or an outdated Norton that has stopped working.

And sometimes it's the 6th Friday in the month.
 
Absolutely it is.

JosephLeo said:
:eek: Is Norton really that bad? My God- do they even put an attempt in testing their products any more? I've never used Norton on a full-time basis myself so I have no idea how it really works, but was the live-protection mode even on?

I could of swear I read an article recently that they are changing for the better now. I guess that was a flat out lie. Oh well. Microsoft Security Essentials it is.
Click to expand...

Is Norton really that bad? YES. I would not have beleived this had I not seen it with my own eyes. Beleive me if you stay in business long enough, you'll see it. If someone from Norton wants to inquire, I still have the customers name, address, and phone on file, and I am quite sure they would tell you how bad it was without a hesitation.

Just take it in stride. I have a client that decided he knows more than I do and he recently bought a 10 license copy of norton, and put all their business machines on the internet, even their accounting servers. I warned him against this. On the other hand I just can't wait to see how much money I'm going to make off this mess. I very politely tell someone my opinion when they ask me. But I'm 41, and I repaired computers when the personal computer first came out, up till now, I got into it heavy back in 1981. LOL. So if he doesn't want to listen to someone that has been building hardware, surfing the web, removing viruses and fixing computers for 27 years, that is his decision and his money. (I had a computer when I was 13, and started fixing apples for a teacher that ran the school computer lab.) Later I got an a.s. and b.s. in applied computer science, and even went to school for electronics engineering. LOL.

I try to be as humble and as nice as I can be. But that client is very arrogant. He does pay me a lot of money though, even though sometimes he asks me to hang the moon on a bush.

Is Norton really this bad? YES. Have they improved it? I hope not. LOL.
 
It's this type of situation that makes me a little nervous with remote support. If I removed Norton remotely, rebooted the computer, and then was stuck on a blue screen, I'd have my hands full getting the customer to do the necessary steps to recover the OS. This would also make me look bad considering everything was fine before. I don't think I'll be removing Norton remotely anymore...
 
Same deal here, just worked on a laptop running 360. The machine had decent specs but was running incredibly slow. Killed norton, ran malware bytes and AVG and came up with 72 viruses and malware (not counting cookies and such which was in the quadruple digits). Left AVG and laptop is running nice and smooth.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

sapphirescales
I HATE Windows 10 "Apps"
2 3
Replies
54
Views
4K
NviGate Systems
NviGate Systems
M
Uninstalling Norton 360 - BSOD
Replies
4
Views
2K
Computerpete
Computerpete
B
Is PC repair a dead business?
2 3 4
Replies
67
Views
16K
Simplify
S
JosephLeo
My Business Blueprint: Foundation
2
Replies
21
Views
6K
Alan22
A
Back
Top