ZDNet UK


Skip to Main Content

ZDNet.co.uk - Winner of Best Business Website 2007
  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Blogs
  4. Reviews
  5. Prices
  6. Resources
  7. Community
  8. My ZDNet

 

ZDNet UK RSS Feeds


IT Jobs

Toolkit

Talkback

Post a comment


Story: Why you should ditch Norton AntiVirus

  • Previous comment

Posted by: Alec Bowman (Friday 12 November 2004, 7:34 PM)

  • Reply

Recently I tried to disinfect my slepson's PC. He had allowed his AVG Virus definiions to get out of date and had picked up a heavy dose of electronic clap.

This prevented the AV software from running and difficult to uninstall. It also prevented access to most AV websites and affected the abiity to use File Find, MSCONFIG etc from within windows.

Although Norton Anti Virus could apparently be installed, any attempt to run it resulted in the application hanging. It was not possible to install McAfee, Panda, AVG and a range of other AV products.

Never mind I though, I'll run my Norton Anti Virus from the CD. Having consulted the Symantec Knowledge base (a trial in itself), it is apparent that the most recent Virus definitions can be copied to the hard drive for this scan.

Great - except that running the software from CD means that it will not recognise an NTFS partition. By now it surely would be expected that Norton would expect a significant proportion of Windows XP users to be using NTFS?

There followed a surreal conversation with Symantec's technical support. Their recommendation to allow NAV to be installed correctly was to remove the virus, and their recommendation to remove the virus was to install NAV!!

Eventually someone at work found that Trend AV did the trick.

  • Previous comment

  • Reply to this comment
  • Return to story
  • Report this as offensive


Full Talkback thread

Story: Why you should ditch Norton AntiVirus

  1. What about AVG antivirus as a replacement for Nort... Anonymous
  2. I use AVG and sygate as an antivirus/firewall... Neil McLeish
  3. AVG is very good and it FREE!!! I use th... AVG_user
  4. The problem with AVG at the moment is version... Anonymous
  5. I am worried by all this discussion. There s... Stuart Holmes
  6. Don't know how old this post is but if y... Mashed Spuds
  7. Anybody else tried bitdefender? Fantastic all... Claire
  8. Norton sucks your system resources to the flo... Andrew Woodhead
  9. Norton is a memory hog that halts your w... Anonymous
  10. I already DID ditch Norton. On the recommenda... Anonymous
  11. I ditched it in 2003 after many years as norton us... Anonymous
  12. Funily enough i had been having problems with my N... James George
  13. Why pay at all? AVG AntiVirus is Free and so are t... Allan Burton
  14. because avg is the best you will not go wrong... paul
  15. Seriously people, AVG sucks balls, its about... Dan
  16. Recently I tried to disinfect my slepson's PC. He... Alec Bowman
  17. Did you try an online virus scan from the Tre... Neil
  18. I should have read this before I tried to upgrade... Nicola Carr
  19. I'd have to agree with a number of posts abou... cyphon
  20. I've consistently used Norton and had NO problems... Grayson Walkter
  21. www.free-av.com FREE and it works a treat. www.syg... Rory Truman
  22. As someone who actually looks into anti virus soft... Dean
  23. Are you insane? Symantec and McAfee run by t... Mcafee man
  24. have you tried the eScan from MicroWorld... Mohammed
  25. We've been long time users and VARs... Craig Powell
  26. You only seem to review toys and not proper soluti... Anonymous
  27. Don't forget FREE Avast anti-virus. Its great for... John Rollins
  28. If you think Norton Antivirus is dire you should t... Toby Downes
  29. I've experienced my share of Norton horror. H... Ray Boyer
  30. Their after sales service is awful. I spent two we... bill greig
  31. We couldn't agree more. As an ISP in South Africa... Bill Keenan
  32. AVG let the viruses in time after time so don... Paul
  33. http://english.mks.com.pl/products-descriptio... LOkii
  34. In 2004 I have ditched Norton Anti-Virus Toolkit d... Colin
  35. Firewall: "Tiny Personal Firewall 2" (last freewar... Anonymous
  36. I ditch Norton Antivirus long time ago. Iam using... Pierre Benoist
  37. Av's ,Anti-Spy ,etc. that's all fine to me BU... Chris M .
  38. Your reviewer says: " ...latest viruses and w... Disgruntled
  39. I totally agree witheverything you say. I fin... pop
  40. Another Reason to ditch Norton - a Norton update/u... Anonymous
  41. I've a Norton user from the beginning but when i u... Tony
  42. Norton is out of the ballgame. Their antiviru... Anonymous
  43. avast its free and suppotts p2p, got to admit this... Anonymous
  44. forgot to mention it also scans your hard dri... Anonymous
  45. Have used Norton for several years and a... Anonymous
  46. Not sure how old this post is but i will post... Anonymous
  47. How many AV programs offer protection to us x64 us... G. Telford
  48. Why pay for something that slows your computer dow... Chris Carter
  49. Is PC-Cillin still extremely parasitic? i.e., hard... zombie
  50. Agree Norton is dreadful - have had horrendous pro... Anonymous
  51. I could not agree more. I got up this morning... Anonymous
  52. I have used Norton for several years, but I had a... Anonymous
  53. I used to use avg and have no complaints but made... Anonymous
  54. I have a big problem with Norton antivirus.... Anonymous
  55. Trying to install a security software update for N... Joe Donoghue
  56. I completely agree. I'm an IT professional an... Anonymous
  57. where is peter norton? Anonymous
  58. Peter Norton os dead, as is his software. As... Raymond A Jones
  59. On the 15 oct 2005 I tried to renew my Norton subs... Anonymous
  60. Im trying to get rid of my Norton Anti Virus.... Antony Rothwell
  61. I have managed to get rid of my Norton A... C.Beasley
  62. Purchased NAV 2006 in May 2006. In October I... Alex Csendes
  63. My computer got slower and slower. It started shu... Bruce Fisher
  64. I WANT TO GET RID OF NORTON ANTI VIRUS AND I UNIST... Anonymous
  65. There are a vast array of products and many of the... Matt Newnham
  66. I would have to agree with the poster concern... Simon Rolfe
  67. My purchase of NAV has caused nothing but problems... John Young
  68. the program is an absolutel nightmare if you have... john shearer
  69. We use Windows XP 64 Edition, with which Norton (n... Colin D Moon
  70. guys all the norton users are complaining about th... JHON
  71. pc-cillin used it for 4 yrs nuf sed brill ! Anonymous
  72. where to download free AVG antivirus version? Anonymous
  73. WE DO NOT RECOMMEND NORTON ANTIVIRUS! Because of... Jim Pro. Computer
  74. I recommend Solo Antivirus, especially if you're o... Anonymous
  75. I was fed up with Norton Antivirus window popping... Yvette Medworth
  76. I'm delighted to say that all my programs are back... Yvette Medworth
  77. Further to my last comments. I decided to agree t... Yvette Medworth
  78. I ditch Norton as soon as i see it on a pc. I'm do... Grame
  79. Norton (and others) scan OUTGOING email, this cann... Mick Haskell
  80. It does appear that it is impossible to turn... Petri
  81. I spend every renewal tryind to download for the n... stephen french
  82. Has anyone had any experience with Fsecure system?... Anonymous
  83. i have been with norton antivirus ever since i fir... Anonymous
  84. Norton davyjones
  85. BitDefender 10 basca

Back to: Why you should ditch Norton AntiVirus