I had Norton Internet Security (including Norton Anti Virus) on my computer. They offered an upgrade to the 2007 version cheaper than the annual subscription, so that is what I did. Big mistake! When I contacted their tech support people (in India), they said the software they sent me on CD caused the kind of problems I was having and they said I should download more recent versions. I did that and installed it per the instructions. The install process said the previous version was being uninstalled before the new version would be installed. Those alarm flags should have been sufficient to make me abandon Norton, but I tried anyway.

When the new version worked worse than the version it replaced, tech support said I should uninstall all Symantec software, remove all files with Symantec in the name, clean the registry of Symantec files that weren't removed during uninstall, and start over with a new download and install, following their special procedures. After working a whole day to uninstall everything and reinstall the software (twice because they forgot to specify the correct sequence), I got it to work but I could hardly use the computer because Live Update was constantly on line and when it was on line my computer was essentially not useable. The setting to turn off Automatic Live Update was effective only in running Live Update in the background instead of foreground, which took almost all the computer resources and left the computer almost useless.

At this point, the tech support people stopped responding to my emails or otherwise communicating with me. I finally got the message and uninstalled all Symantec software and removed most of the Symantec garbage, and there were an amazing number of very large files scattered in all corners of the hard-drive.

I requested a refund from Symantec and they denied it on the basis that it had been 70 days since I ordered the product and their refund policy stops at 60 days. The fact that I had been working with their tech support for more than 60 days trying to get their product to work had no effect on their position. They seem to be satisfied keeping my $69.84 now, and never having me as a customer again.

I installed free virus protection software from AVG. It works very well, and the computer works better than it has for a couple years. I now realize that most of the performance problems I have had with my computer were caused by Norton/Symantec. I strongly recommend staying far away from any Norton/Symantec product and if you have some, it should be dumped soon before it can cause problems. I discovered that there are many folks out there with similar or worse experiences with Symantec. Some are proposing a class action lawsuit; I wish them luck.

I am writing this with the hope that it may help some avoid the nightmare I have been through."

It was good to read that he is using AVG and also noted that his system is running better without Norton. I sincerely hope that this does save someone from buying Norton and having a similar experience. Both Norton and McAfee products leave much to be desired. :-(

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Windows Explorer Menu Bar In Windows Vista

When you first open Windows Explorer in Vista, you'll notice that a few changes have been made to the interface. Most notably is the missing menu bar. This familiar bar has File, Edit, View, Favorites, Tools and Help. I found it difficult, or maybe just annoying, trying to perform tasks in Windows Explorer without the menu bar.

If you're as attached to the familiar menu bar as I am, it's simple to bring it back in Vista. Within Windows Explorer, you'll see a button called Organize. Click the down arrow on this button and select the Layout option. Select the Menu Bar option so there is a check mark beside it. This feature is turned on when the check mark is present.

Now when you return to the Windows Explorer interface, the Menu Bar will be available.

It's Just Crap-tacular!

I discovered this earlier today and I have to tell you, I believe PC manufacturers ought to listen up. Any time your customers become fed enough with software that apparently, not everyone wants, then it's time to listen. Dell, HP among others had better stop and pay attention to what is happening around them as it seems pretty obvious to me that today's cutomer's simply are not being heard.

Speaking for myself, I think that this type of software is illustrating the level of frustration being felt by the most computer users today. Now, with that said, I would also say that this method of distributing trialware has obviously generated conversions to the full version of the applications. Because if it had not, do you really believe that Dell and others would bother wasting their time with this? Think about it, annoying or not, I have seen that most non-geeky types do indeed, leave this stuff on their system despite knowing how to remove it after I show them. The only time I have ever seen a spark of interest one way or the other, was to actually explain that in some instances I could free up resources, therefore making their PC run faster.

So what is the best approach? Apparently there are two completely different sides to the issue. I myself, would rather not have extra, unrequested software installed on a Windows box. But by the same token, if it means that someone running XP is using an antivirus because of a trialware bundle, perhaps meeting in the middle someplace here is in order? What do you think?

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Another Security Suite Horror Story.

This was posted as a comment in reference to Norton Security Suite. You may wish to read what happened to this person and hopefully learn from it.

Windows Explorer Menu Bar In Windows Vista

It's Just Crap-tacular!