Norton Internet Security 2008 up to 3 Users [OLD VERSION] Reviews

• Norton Internet Security 2008: Much Better than Past Versions

  
  By A32HO80JA7FD9O on 2007-10-06
  I do not typically write rejoinders from previous reviews, but on this occasion I feel it necessary. As a longtime user and tester of antivirus/antispyware/security suite software, I have been terribly disappointed over the years by what has (or had) become of Norton products. Starting around 2004 they transformed into bloatware, slowing down computers, overhauling the CPU, and basically were a nuisance. NIS 2006 was probably the worst of the lot, although McAfee's security suite software this last year gives it competition in the department of ineptitude.
  
  To give some credit where it is due, Symantec apparently listened, read, and paid attention to the complaints, and they revamped their product. NIS 2008 won over this critic, and I must admit that it was a pleasant surprise when I installed the trial version on my work and home computers (200 GB hard drive, 1.8 GHz Duo Processor, Windows Vista Home Premium on the home laptop). Since I like to test software on my computers to empirically observe the chaos that ensues, I was not expecting much. If anything, my experiences with Norton products instilled in me a sense of foreboding futility. I cannot stress enough how unexpectedly satisfying it was to witness a security software company finally comprehending the concept of listening to its customers.
  
  What impressed me most about NIS 2008 was the ease of use, the simplification of the interface, although its graphics still leave much to be desired (as with the 2007 version), and even featured a more user friendly program with help and assistance options that seem to actually assist a computer user. Best of all, it is not as cumbersome on my computer usage as previous versions, and it is barely noticeable on my CPU. It also has a much better browser defender, which includes one for Mozilla Firefox (after numerous complaints over its past omissions to provide security for non-Explorer web browsers). The browser defender also doubles as a password protector on web pages that you frequent.
  
  Another departure from older versions is that it is easy to install (installs quickly, actually), does not interfere with the booting and re-booting of my computer, and does not slow down my employment of other programs (like Microsoft Office). All of these are areas of progress for NIS.
  
  There are a couple of cautions, however. One, if you do want to use this program, try the trial download first, to see for yourself (it is good for two weeks). Also, if you purchase the product, make sure to download the add-ons for NIS 2008, which contains vital elements like anti-spam and parental controls. You need this add-on (it is located on the Symantec site) for email protection at the very least, so it is highly recommended that you use it.
  
  Compared to other security suite software currently on the market, NIS 2008 is certainly as good, if not better, than the competition. This is not saying much to the extent that much of what constitutes security suite software (like CA, Zone Alarm, McAfee) has over time become gradually worse, less efficient, and slower. NIS 2008 is an advance over its previous versions and the competition. Among the other security suite software, Kaspersky Internet Security is the only program I have tried that is nearly as non-intrusive and maintains the ability to at least detect viruses as efficiently as NIS (although the security tests I used on these programs were more easily detectable than those utilized in more rigorous tests). As long as you are willing to pay and want the protection of a quality antivirus with antispy/malware program, NIS 2008 is a good choice.
  
  

• Better and Improved

  
  By A3CR92IM40WEFO on 2007-09-09
  I have been a customer of Norton Internet Security products since 2002. I have had my share of problems with NIS including slowness, compatibility issues, blocked sites etc., but it has done an excellent job of protecting my computer. I recently purchased NIS 2008 and installed it on my laptop and computer. The laptop was an upgrade while desktop was a new install.
  
  For those of you looking for quick review, here are the main points:
  
  1. There was no noticeable difference in computer's speed. I did not notice increase or decrease in processor or memory usage (bit of a surprise).
  
  2. The installation process was fast. It took less than 10 minutes and a reboots to install on a Pentium 4, 2.4GHz processor with 2.5 GB of memory.
  
  3. The computer started normally (no extra time) after hibernation.
  
  4. The boot process was considerably slow after NIS2008. It added at least 30 second to the boot process. I was expecting this from my experience with previous versions of Norton Internet Security. However, it was even slower than I expected.
  
  5. Identity Safe does not work with many websites.
  
  From a security point of view, this is a five star product. However, the boot process becomes so slow after installing NIS that I was not sure to give it a three or a four star. In the end I gave it a four star because it is a solid security product.
  
  Now some details.
  
  The very first installation screen gives user an option to join Norton Community Watch. Norton Community Watch is a program that collects security and application data and submits the data to Symantec for analysis to identify new threats. It is a good concept and I would love to help in improving the overall security for Symantec users. However, after reading Norton Community Watch privacy policy, I decided to disable the feature. Here are some excerpts from the policy:
  
  "The collected data could contain personally identifiable information...... "
  
  "The collected data may be transferred to the Symantec group in the United States or other countries that may have less protective data protection laws than the region in which you are situated......"
  
  "Symantec may disclose the collected information if asked to do so by a law enforcement official...."
  
  I have no interest in sending personal information to Symantec which may be shared by others. I would strongly recommend disabling this feature.
  
  The installation was a breeze: both on the laptop and the desktop. Online activation is required after installation.
  
  After activation, Norton prompts to create "My Norton Account". This is a password protected site where the license key is stored. This has really helped me in the past when my computer crashed and I couldn't locate the media. I was able to retrieve the key from "My Norton Account". I would highly recommend creating an account and registering the product.
  
  The user interface in NIS 2008 is different than NIS 2007. There are two tabs: `Home' and `Norton Internet Security'. `Home' is the default that comes up when Norton icon is clicked. The first thing that caught my attention was `Network Map' icon on the left. Clicking it brought a screen with details on my network: other computers on my network, their name, physical address and IP address. This is a cool place to check for uninvited neighbors when the network is slow. The `Home' tab shows the status of various NIS 2008 components (virus protection, intrusion prevention etc.). Just know that secure is good.
  
  There is not much improvement in the reporting features. To lookup something you still have to go through activity log, line by line.
  
  One cool new feature of NIS 2008 is Identity Safe. When you visit a password protected site and login, Identity Safe can store your credentials. At subsequent logins, it will log you in by filling the user name and password on your behalf. It can also fill information in we based forms. This feature will save me a time and the hassle of remembering many of my passwords. It works well with Yahoo mail, Gmail and similar sites. I have not been able to configure it for some of the sites like Hotmail and InviteShare.
  
  I also like the Security Inspector feature. This feature checks for common configuration issues with browsers, Instant Messenger, IP Address and Windows passwords. It will be a good idea to run Security Inspector at least once a month.
  
  All in all, I think it that Norton Internet Security is a good security product. I would recommend it.
  
  
  

• Slows your computer down to a crawl

  
  By A680RUE1FDO8B on 2007-12-16
  Proud of that brand new computer of yours with super high-speed CPU, memory, hard drives and video adapter? Want to slow it down to a crawl so you can relive the early days of computing, of waiting and waiting and waiting for a process to complete?
  
  Well, just add Norton Internet Security 2008!
  
  System boot-up times will be extended by a factor of two or three. Just the thing you want when starting up your computer - a nice long wait. A really long wait.
  
  And if that wasn't enough fun, wait until you launch your web browser. All those hours programmers spent trying to build fast response into their browser creations? Wasted effor. Norton Internet Security 2008 helps your browser pass away minute after minute after minute. You had no better use for your time anyway, did you? Norton Internet Security 2008 will slow your browser to a crawl.
  
  Norton Internet Security 2008 will interrrupt you at least twice a day (and generally more) with an intrusive pop-up that new updates have been downloaded and that you need to restart your computer. Oh, how nice: they five you an option of being reminded in 1, 12 or 24 hours - but apparently no option to set the update schedule or turn off the annoying pop-ups. Symanytec's program architects certainly think that the user is not only clueless, but their slave as well.
  
  Symantec has included a "feature" they call "Identity Safe". Every time you type in a password to a site it launches an annoying pop-up asking if you want to use "Identity Safe". You can click on the convenient "Do not show this window again" option a thousand times - and it will ignore you a thousand times. Norton Internet Security 2008 also grabs web browser tool bar space, but fortunately you can turn it off.
  
  Does the product work for its intended purpose? That I don't know yet. I didn't have any viruses on my machine before I installed Norton Internet Security 2008 and it hasn't reported any.
  
  Overall, Norton Internet Security 2008 slows down my computer to such an extent that I think it is unsuitable for its purpose. I'll be looking for a replacement.
  
  Jerry
  
  
  
  

• NIS 2008 much improved over NIS 2007

  
  By A21UX3JXBXJBF5 on 2007-09-15
  I've been a user of the Norton product suite since the DOS days when Peter Norton was the actual author. There have been some good years and some bad years, but, in general, my system has remained virus free with no break ins. Since I have been an early adopter, it seems that every year I am forced to upgrade a week or two earlier than the previous year. It would be great if the subscription, at least for the initial purchase, were 13 months and not 12.
  
  So, my subscription to NIS 2007 ran out last week and I had to either renew or upgrade. Since, with rebates, it isn't much more expensive to upgrade, I, as usual, went that route.
  
  I have had it installed for a week and my first impressions are that it is much improved. My system seems to boot faster and also seems a little more responsive. MS Word, that used to have a noticeable delay when starting, now pops open. I don't have any empirical evidence, just anecdotal impressions, but so far I am very happy. (I just hope I haven't jinxed myself with the review.)
  
  
  

• Junk Software

  
  By A1FI11RM530AV5 on 2007-10-23
  Installs fine.
  
  Uninstalls fine, after 3 hrs, due to phishing toolbar not working properly and chat room Norton Tech advising me to do so.
  
  Does not reinstall, but gives off error popups.
  
  Talk with Norton Techs on Chat line for 4 separate times, with no luck, besides frustration.
  
  Norton Tech Chat Line is manned by uncourteous, non-mannered, non prepared and unknowledgeable people. I was transfered 5 times from different tech's on 1 chat call and then hung up on. Another tech kept asking if this was the first time I contacted the chat room, even after I said no and sent him my prior 3 chat authorization numbers for his verification. Poor Service on assistance.
  
  I used the normal uninstall procedure and then the Norton Total Uninstall icon, both with negative results. The registry is now splattered with Norton Reminants.
  
  Software is now unable to be reinstalled (due to error popups), used only 3 hrs, the first night.
  
  This Junk Software has not changed since the last time I swore I would not use it again (2004).
  
  I hope their refund system works right!
  
  P.S. This is a new Dell Computer I tried to install this software on. I have no other Norton software installed or ever installed.
  
  
  
  
• God help you if you buy this...
  By AT6CZDCP4TRGA on 2008-02-25
  ...unless you have some super-duper computer system (Quad or Dual Core Processor, at least 2.0GHz processor speed, at least 1GB of high quality DDR or if you are so unfortunate as to be running Windows Vista instead of XP then 2-3GB of DDR and at least 128MB vid card, have all your settings optimized for best performance, etc.) in which case it will not be nearly as catastrophic.
  
  I speak from my recent experience of being called by a client to "fix" two of his computers: a 1.6GHz Pentium 4 with 256MB DDR and an older 900Mhz Pentium 3 with 384MB. So I came and did all the usual tweaks with the registry, eliminating needless apps and files, updating all drivers, adjusting system settings for best performance, defragmented the HDDs, etc. Very minute difference, as I expected.
  
  Then I uninstalled Norton Security 2008, installed AVG Free Antivirus, free Lavasoft Ad-Aware anti-spyware, free Spybot SD anti-spyware, and turned Windows XP Firewall on.
  
  WHOA!!! It was truly a night-and-day difference, in every clearly visible, measurable way: both machines booted up much faster, opened and closed applications much faster, performed simple file tasks much faster...my client's jaws were on the floor for the next half hour! Even the Pentium 4 machine, which really needs at least 512MB of memory, was transformed. But it was the Pentium 3 which showed the most dramatic improvement...the guy thought it had a virus or something because it was so deadly slow in performing even the simplest tasks, like refreshing a browser window.
  
  To bad for him, he had just forked out big bucks for a one-year subscription, but he quickly agreed that losing that money was still a lot cheaper than buying two new computers.
  
  I've had similar experiences uninstalling McAfee's security software, which is another notorious and overpriced system hog and which, like Norton, often does not even stop all of the stuff that AVG, Ad-aware and Spybot do.
  
  Both of these big-name jokes are completely unneeded in light of the exceptionally good, clean freeware that I've mentioned above. It really makes you wonder if both McAfee and Norton (along with Microsoft with its new and equally bloated Vista OS) are in cahoots with computer manufacturers to force people to upgrade their PCs in order to run this useless bloatware.
  
  About 20-25 years ago, when Norton first got big, it used to be a pretty decent. Now it's just another shameless, Bose-like scam upon the naive and uninformed masses, corporate and individual. Really too bad...
  
  
  
• Beware of renewals
  By AA09PG8QW9SL3 on 2007-10-09
  I bought Norton Internet Security 2007 with protection for up to 3 PC's. My subscription is expiring and when I go to renew, I find out I have to pay $50 per PC to renew the subscription! Renewal does not buy you coverage for 3 PC's, but one! Symantec wants to you to buy a whole new product.
  
  If Symantec advertises "Protection for up to 3 PC's," then renewal should cover 3 PC's also, not single. And they don't.
  
  
• Awfull: kills performance, inscrutable menus
  By AJH56SEX96IH4 on 2007-12-21
  One of the worst products I've ever had.
  
  (1) It killed performance on my XP machine (500mb ram) even after I had seemingly turned everything except off except the virus checking. Doing anything on the PC was painfully slow after installation, and booting up in the first place was interminable.
  
  (2) The user interface is terrible and totally unintuitive, making it very difficult to figure out how to change settings. I'm a professional programmer with lots of experience and I can't tell you how much time I wasted trying to figure out how to configure this thing.
  
  (3) Adding insult to injury, you can't even uninstall it using the Control Panel's Add/Remove programs, instead you have to download the Norton Removal Tool to get rid of it.
  
  I recommend that you trial any security software before you buy, all of them offer trials
  
  
• Norton incompatible with... Norton!
  By A2H72IS84CKE0R on 2007-10-16
  Gone are the days when a Norton/Symantec product could or should be trusted as an out-of-the-box standard. Long gone. Advice: spend another 10-15 minutes on the internet researching competitor's alternate products and avoid wasting $70 (before rebates, etc.) on this product.
  
  The details:
  
  Norton's latest (on my computer) product, NIS 2008, is incompatible with SystemWorks. Installation of NIS tells you to uninstall all Norton products. Another way to get you to buy yet another upgrade/replacement product? Ingenious revenue generation.
  
  LiveUpdate, the feature that is supposed to keep your anti-virus definitions up to date, consistently crashes with well-publicized errors. Just google LiveUpdate or luall.exe
  
  New "Auto-fix" feature advises that product should be uninstalled with every error message.
  
  Support? You guessed it, India. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES ALLOW SYMANTEC SUPPORT TO INITIATE A REMOTE SESSION ON YOUR PC. They disable your keyboard and leave your PC running Buddha-knows-what diagnostics until the PC locks/crashes. Then, good luck trying to get Mushmed back on the phone.
  
  Are you getting the picture?... "Raving" reviews must be from a) someone who has never used a previous Norton/Symantec problem and truly has no track record with the product family or b) an employee at this illustrious firm.
  
  Sorry I can't rate this zero stars.
  
  
• Corrupted key Vista files, leading me to have to completely reinstall EVERYTHING on my computer.
  By A1A306IAZ3TM1 on 2008-02-24
  I am a long time, very sophisticated computer user (PCs). I've used all the major internet security, anti virus programs, etc. over the years. I'm very technical and know a lot about Windows, etc. I say that as a backdrop so you don't think I'm some newbie that made some elementary mistake. I have a IBM Thinkpad T 61 vintage late fall 2007. Very fast processor, 3GBs of RAM, all the bells and whistles. Despite the many frutrating things about Vista, the machine itself has performed flawlessly. (I still only trust using an XP machine for real work, and this computer is my backup if my main laptop goes down (It's a T60)).
  
  Okay, all you need to know about MY experience is that sometime during the installation of this product, something hung up and Norton started to collect A LOT of information about my computer to send in an error report. I'm telling you, it collected a lot. I'm not a privacy freak--that's not my point. It sent a load of info on to Norton about the "event" and very politely told me (asked me) what it was doing. Okay, well and good, but I find the event caused a major corruption in the Vista system. This led to me needing to COMPLETELY reinstall everything on the computer, starting with the back up CDs that came with it (Actually, the stuff is on the hidden partition on the T 61.) So, now I'm looking at needing to spend approximately a day or more to get my machine back to where it was running fine before I tried to install Norton Internet Security 2008. I left Norton in the 90s because I kept finding their software led to the most confusing, hardest to fix problems with PCs. (They try to do too much.) Came back to them about 3 years ago when they started trouncing McAffee's suite for smartness and efficiency. Have been happy with them to this day, but that phrase "to this day" has some special meaning now. I'm done with Norton. This was such a collossal mistake/problem with their software. I will not give them more of my business.
  
  
• Past experience should be a warning
  By A25PSIGEGEL7DE on 2007-09-14
  As a past user of Norton Internet Security (experience with NIS 2002), I feel an obligation to warn people off of this product.
  
  (1) In 2004, a Live Update apparently created a situation in which my computer's performance slowed to a crawl, with NIS using about 99 percent of the CPU as shown by Task Manager.
  
  (2) More than a dozen E-mails to Symantec's customer service and technical support representatives went unanswered, as did at least one fax addressed to the department's manager. This demonstrates the company's attitude toward quality and customer service.
  
  (3) After early 2006, I could no longer buy virus definition updates. Symantec told me I'd have to buy the newest edition of their software, despite online reviews about it ruining entire computers (people had to reformat their hard drives). I recall that one of their technical support people said it was a good idea to reformat one's hard drive every so often. Instead, I bought Frisk F-prot (same annual price for virus definitions) and it has worked fine for 1.5 years.
  
  (4) I can't uninstall Norton Antivirus via Windows Control Panel. If I disable the registry keys, it jams Word for Windows and every other Windows program that calls for a virus scan. In other words, even though I no longer use it, it still takes up space on my computer and I can't get rid of it.
  
  I was an advocate of Symantec products five years ago. My more recent experience is that its software is of poor quality, and it has nothing but contempt for its customers.
  
  
• Within 9 days it messed up my computer
  By A10386IRVYN20Q on 2008-01-10
  Pro: In my 9 days' experience with it, it didn't slow down my computer.
  Con: 9 days after installation it failed to update itself and pointed me to its web with directions to manually update the product. So I followed its instructions and updated the product. The update appeared to be successful. But when the computer rebooted, Windows XP complained that it couldn't load the user profile. Then I had to back up my computer and profiles, system restore, ... many many fun things that I like more than drinking beer. Finally I got my profile back and guess what, NIS asked me to update it again and failed, and pointed to its web for manual updates. There must be a conspiracy between MS and Symantec to get users into this endless loop. I promptly uninstalled NIS2008 at the end of the 9th day.
  
  
  
  
• Very Disappointing: Norton Name, Not Much Else
  By A37KAUN3Q2765G on 2007-10-06
  I could write a review that will take most of the afternoon but considering the product quality I'll skip it and spend my time on something more worthy.
  
  In chronological order:
  - Installation simple without issues
  - 4 weeks without update issues
  - LiveUpdate error stating update failed to install. Online support advises to wait 2 weeks
  - Waited 2 weeks, same update issue. 2 months later, still same issue
  - Support advises to remove/re-install. If that doesn't work what's next, format re-install WinXP? Norton is owned by Microsoft now?
  - Gave product to Goodwill (seriously)
  
  Whatever happened to the good old Norton Utilities days when Peter Norton was still in control?
  
  
• Gets worse with each version
  By AHU058K1O2ZVB on 2007-11-17
  I purchased the 3 user edition recently. I installed on my own laptop, and have found it is much harder to find settings and configure vs. previous versions. Upgrades are supposed to improve the product, but Symantec found a way to make this version worse. They have dumbed down the UI to the point of making it useless. When was my last virus scan? When was my last LiveUpdate? Good luck finding this info now. They of course make it easy to see how many days you have left in your subscription, so you are ready to shell out more $$$ 364 days from now.
  
  Even more aggravating, I installed on my wife's machine, and every couple times she boots up, it tells her she has to activate the product, when it has already been activated. Sometimes clicking the big and flashy 'Fix now' button takes care of it, and other times it stays broken so that the software does nothing.
  
  Obviously the folks in the Symantec QA and UAT departments are asleep at the wheel. Looks like this is the last time I buy Norton.
  
  
• A Good Product for the Inexperienced, but NO ONE ELSE
  By A26R317OUDGOAA on 2007-10-17
  I don't review products often, but I felt I had to for this one. I recently reinstalled Windows on my computer, and was amazed at how fast it was running. The next day, I installed Norton, and guess what happened? It became just as slow as it had been before. It's a beast of a machine. A real resource hog. And true, while many anti-virus products are a little heavy on the memory, this one's atrocious, even though it's a 'light' version of the 2007 one. Of course, that might be bearable if the protection were good, but guess what? The product's just a pain in every way. The first thing you might notice is that is installs it's own 'Norton Toolbar' into whatever browser you're using. And it locks it in. Seriously, you cannot remove it without uninstalling Norton. Even reinstalling the browser after wiping it clean won't do the trick. Norton just sticks its toolbar on top of the browser every time it detects one. And it only slows your computer even more.
  
  Then of course is the question of reliability. I've only had it for a couple of weeks, but already it's decided not to load correctly twice, and when I try to 'fix' it, or restart it, it asks to be activated (I'd already activated it) Then it says it can't activate at the time, and goes back to the menu asking me to 'fix' its status. So, twice so far I've had no protection for a day or so while it's had these fits.
  
  The menus and configuration too are designed for people who are idiots around computers. If you've grown used to Norton menus though, or aren't much of a computer wiz and need easy menus (but those that don't let you do what you want if it isn't preset) this might be for you, because you probably won't care about the extra toolbars or sluggishness. But if you care about performance, and hate seeing your anti-virus software spam you with a toolbar, popups every time you fill a form (even if you say don't warn me again, it still does), and other random messages, don't buy this. I've never tried another anti-virus suite except for McAffee, which has been criticized as well, but I've had it. I never get viruses anyways, so I might even just uninstall this and run without protection, because this is just unbearable. It might be keeping me safe when it's working, but it's keeping me safe by making my computer nigh unusable.
  
  
• Ad-blocking is no longer included
  By A1L4RDILGM7D9E on 2008-01-07
  I've been using Norton Internet Security for a few years, ever since McAfee turned into a lame web browser app. One of my favorite features of NIS was the ad-blocker feature. The 2007 version didn't include the ad-blocker, but it was available as an add-on. Now the ad-blocker is completely gone. Norton's response when I asked about the ad-blocker was that they expect you to install the Yahoo or Google tool bar. I don't want a tool bar cluttering my screen. So long, Symantec. I'll give Kaspersky Internet Security a try.
  
  
• Major Flaw with 2008 Norton Internet Security
  By A34H2UXO34E6BH on 2007-10-05
  A MAJOR FLAW with 2008 Norton Internet Security is that it is incompatible with previous versions of Norton Password Manager. When you install 2008 Internet Security you will be forced to uninstall the previous Password Manager program and lose all your saved passwords!!
  
  
• BAD SOFTWARE
  By APMIFZBUST7C7 on 2007-12-17
  My sister and I both had Norton Internet Security. She was having problems on her computer because Norton was disabled. When she called tech support, she had to pay $99.95 to have them check the problem and remove some trojans and adware. After working with 4 different tech support people, they still didn't get all the trojans and adware.
  
  She finally took her computer to an IT person who found 6 Trojans and 3 adware files!!
  After removing them, the IT person ran a Norton scan, as it suddenly became available to open and use after that. The Norton scan gave a "no virus and/or spyware found" notice. He ran some more scans from free software downloaded from CNet and found 3 more trojans!!
  
  I am dumping my Norton Internet Security and going with a different software.
  
  Plus, want everyone out there to know this horror story and USE NORTON AT YOUR OWN RISK!
  
  
• Faster and Use Less Memory?
  By A2JC1SOFX6WZUB on 2008-03-15
  Recent advertisements from Symmentec states that Norton Internet Security 2008 runs faster and uses less memory than 9 different competitors. But please check out the actual test study by PassMark software: Boot time for NIS 2008 is at 87% that of Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 (100%), and scan time is at 91% that of Panda Internet Security 2008 (100%). Also, the study DOES NOT measure CPU and memory usage during local file scanning, which explains why so many people complain about the speed of this software. All this data points against Symmentec's recent advertisement claims in terms of practicality.
  
  A software can claim it runs the fastest and uses the least memory...when the computer is off. What do you think of that?
  
  I have the same problem as other people who install and use this product. SLOW!!! My computer is a 3.0 GHz with 3 GB of memory and 200GB of hard drive space, running Windows XP Professional. After spending nearly 10 minutes installing NIS 2008 and rebooted my PC, I saw a tremendously difference on my PC performance...that is, TREMENDOUSLY SLOWER. It took nearly twice as long to boot up my computer now.
  
  I do a lot of Word and Excel editing for work. When I was typing and Norton's antivirus scanning started, sometimes I had a hard time moving my mouse cursor. This alone can tell you how much memory the scanning program uses.
  
  
  
• Incredibly Slow
  By A342O0Q0U05C07 on 2007-12-07
  Norton Internet Security 2008 is a resource hog. It slowed my 2-year-old computer with 1GB RAM so much that it became unusable. My only option was to remove it. You cannot choose to install just part of it (like Antivirus) -- so I will return it to Amazon for a refund. I've used Norton products for more than 10 years, but I'll find an alternative for 2008. Don't buy it.
  
  
• Incredibly Slow
  By A342O0Q0U05C07 on 2007-12-07
  Norton Internet Security 2008 is a resource hog. It slowed my 2-year-old computer with 1GB RAM so much that it became unusable. My only option was to remove it. You cannot choose to install just part of it (like Antivirus) -- so I will return it to Amazon for a refund. I've used Norton products for more than 10 years, but I'll find an alternative for 2008. Don't buy it.
  
  
• if there was an option for no stars that is what I would have chose
  By A3A7ZIDG6DZB03 on 2007-12-10
  once you load norton your computer experience will never be the same. gone will be the days of simply starting your pc and browsing the internet. once you load norton it will take 5 to 10 minutes for your pc to boot, norton will download updates and require reboots almost daily, it will do its system scan for viruses only when you are using your pc. if you buy this product never turn your pc off, the reboot just takes too long. if you but this product say good bye to your pc, norton will own it
  
  
• A virus would be preferrable to this gumware.
  By A1UO3MXE1YUSUC on 2007-12-14
  [Norton SystemWorks 2008 ]
  I've used previous versions of Symantec/Norton Internet Security-Antivirus and as they try to do more and more, it works less and less well. The 2008 version will bring your PC to a dead stop several times a day while it checks in with the mother ship for updates. And no, it does not help even to turn off the auto updates. LuCallBack.exe will launch come heck or high water and this will stall your PC for about 30-45 seconds. The ONLY way to stop this is to block the application from having access to the internet ("end process" is not allowed). That command is buried several layers into the options and so in order to update the virus list daily you have to go down thru the menu, check allow, run updates, and then go back down and turn allow off. What a pain! After 3 mths (1 mth after refunds are allowed) I gave up and uninstalled Norton. Now using Micro Trends and my PC is running much faster, and gee, they even allow you to PAUSE an update if it is running at an inconvenient time. What a concept!
  
  
• Best security suite of 2008
  By A1HTFVBD6DHZ9 on 2007-10-08
  My pc repair class has been reviewing 2008 Security Suites and NIS 2008 is the best. I decided to review Norton because I have hated Norton since the 2004 version. I had the AVG Suite on my computer, but the license was going to end so I decided to purchase NIS 2008 after reading the PCMag review. I installed NIS 2008 about a week ago. So far I have had some problems but none that were big. The install went very well and the startup scan found 3 viruses that AVG missed and found every other virus and spyware that I put on the machine. This version of Norton does not slow down the computer as much as the 2004-2006 versions did. The scans are very fast and detailed. I like the fact that there is an option that stops the pop ups from the firewall and lets Norton think for itself. But like I said before I had 2 problems.
  The first problem was that the phishing protection didn't work when the crimeware protection was on. I chatted with Norton support for about 5 minutes and they solved the problem. The only bad thing about the support team is that they don't know a lot about the computer. Even so that doesn't seem to stop them from fixing the problems.
  The second problem I had was the scheduled scans wouldn't run. I talked to several (4-6) tech people for about 3 hours and no one could solve the problem. When I talked to the last person he stated that the time in the scheduler was off and so was the date. He fixed it and now its fine.
  
  
• Norton...what a waste
  By ALJGZ28ME7AG6 on 2007-12-30
  I've had Norton Antivirus for just over a year (purchased 15 months with a new computer). In all that time the most it ever detected were tracking cookies. I often wondered if it was doing anything or not. Two days ago I got an answer...NOT. Not only did Norton not prevent my computer from becoming infected with some horrible spyware that has been infecting computers for several months now (I've researched it on the internet), I had to go through 3 layers of support before they told me what I already knew. MY COMPUTER IS INFECTED.
  
  One clueless tech after another escalated my problem to the subsupreme tech that dropped large amounts of pretyped text into the chat window that boiled down to "Your computer is infected. We'll fix it $99.95"
  
  If you have Norton, know this...Your computer is NOT protected!
  
  
  
• Poor quality and no technical support
  By A25PSIGEGEL7DE on 2007-10-09
  This is based on my experience with Norton Internet Security 2002. Symantec's products are of low quality, and technical support might as well be nonexistent. Furthermore, Symantec has a nice trick to force you to buy new versions of NIS every few years; it cuts off your ability to download virus updates for older ones.
  
  I am currently relying on Frisk F-Prot for virus protection, so I no longer need Norton Antivirus (part of the NIS package). However, I am unable to uninstall it. If I disable the executable file (e.g. by changing the extension to NULL), it freezes all my Microsoft Office applications like Word, because they still request virus scans from Norton Antivirus.
  
  In 2004, a Live Update from Symantec apparently caused Norton Internet Security to take over a good 99 percent of my computer's CPU while bringing Internet performance to a crawl. Symantec's technical support people ignored more than a dozen E-mails, and a fax to the tech support manager also went unanswered--thus suggesting that Symantec's contempt for its customers comes from at least middle management if not higher.
  
  On the basis of my experience with this product, Symantec is permanently disqualified from selling me anything whatsoever in the future. Its contempt for its customers is quite obvious from its marketing practices (cutting off your ability to buy virus updates for older versions), not having any meaningful technical support, and peddling products that cannot even be uninstalled.
  
  
• Norton: The Gold Standard for Internet Security
  By A4680TVVB0UIS on 2007-10-27
  Shopping around for security software was frustrating. I spent a whole afternoon reading though reviews from amazon.com itself, to Cnet, and other websites which offer reviews. In all my reading and research, I never came across one single product with outstanding reviews. Every program out there had lukewarm ratings at best.
  
  Out of all the negative reviews, two kept coming up as the lesser evils: Kaspersky 7 and Norton Internet Security 2008. One huge concern with Norton was that it slows down your computer, a lot. I've used Norton 2005 which came with my computer, and it always worked great. It didn't slow me down at all and it did a great job at protecting my laptop from internet attacks. I download a lot of this and that from the web, so my Internet Security 2005 always had a workout.
  
  The negative reviews about Norton's memory hogging, IP controlling monster, drove me to settle on Kaspersky. I was just ABOUT to purchase Kaskersky when I found out that it comes with NO FIREWALL!!! What the hell is that about?
  
  Norton Internet Security comes with it all, including a powerful firewall. It's true that there ARE better security softwares out there, but these require an extensive computing knowledge and I would only recommend for advanced users that go all out with their security set up.
  
  Norton is hands down the best, strongest, and safest, security software for the vast majority of internet surfers including myself. It's set up is a snap, and you can rest assured that all of your private information is securely locked down by the Norton name.
  
  If you've used Norton before, expect the same great protection and even more. If you haven't used Norton, I highly recommend it, if you want the best protection you can get, and the least set up headaches.
  
  
• Unstable software and LOUSY support
  By A23B04W2AVFRGN on 2008-01-26
  I have used Norton Internet security for years, but I'm finally fed up with their lousy software and horrible support. The latest debacle came to light when I noticed an error in the status of Norton. When I click "Fix Now" it goes into a Live Update and finds nothing to download. My Auto-Protect has an error but I cannot turn it on. So I submit a ticket to Norton and they responded with a 4 step process (not bad) but each step required me to go to a help page on their web site and that had several steps. So to fix the problem requires me to do about 25 steps. Some steps I don't feel comfortable with and others I simply don't understand. There's no way I'm going to write tickets for each and every question I have. Now the search is on for a quality anti-virus program.
  
  
• Slower boot- slower computer- conflicts with email
  By A19DPOU7NEMKYF on 2008-01-27
  My computer guru friends have been warning me against Norton AV but I've been a pretty satisfied user for many years (through its various incarnations) On at least 3 occasions it saved my computer from a nasty virus.
  
  I just upgraded to 2008 though and I am NOT happy. 1) It was a much longer and slower installation than in the past 2) I briefly lost my network connection but was able to get it back 3) Outlook Pop3 send would not work (and outgoing mail just got stuck in my outbox -I had to disable outgoing mail scan to make it work) 4) WORST of all-- booting now takes forever and my system runs more slowly
  
  I wish I had read reviews before installing it. And when I read over the details of the Norton remove that you must use to cleanly remove it it recommends not using it if you have other Symantec products (like WinFAX)
  
  arrrggghh
  
  I think it's pretty revealing that "my computer runs slowly" is a menu choice when you go to auto help
  
  
• The Worst
  By AO331938Q8GWY on 2008-02-17
  I can honestly say that of all the software I have ever owned, Norton anti-virus and Norton Internet Security has been the most dysfunctional and frustrating to deal with. Over the years, the various bloated and buggy versions I have had have caused me innumerable problems. From my experience, I would call this company the prototypical faceless, heartless corporation. They make no pretense of having the slightest concern for their customers. Tech support has been a joke, and uninstalling the products has typically involved hours of work and multiple phone calls to someone in India. So When I saw NIS pre-installed on my new laptop, I couldn't wait to get rid of it, and I immediately uninstalled it. Then I turned my laptop back on and guess what? I got an error message from Symantec telling me that I had to download an un-installer from their site. Unbelievable!
  
  

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