Others say...

"Installation Hard, Tech Support Variable"
I've used Norton for years. I had trouble installing it too. At one point, I had a tech support guy (the only one who really knew what he was doing) remotely control my computer for three hours after five earlier calls to tech support to install it and uninstall the old one. The pre-scans often failed but when I skipped them, it worked better. One other suggestion is to make sure all symantec folders are deleted before installing the new version, including folders in the Windows Registry. I too couldn't install GoBack and just went on without it.

"Don't install Go Back"
After reading the reviews here, I was downright scared to put this version on my computer even though I have been using Norton to protect my computers for 10 years. Their record for both easily installed software and customer support has worsened by the year.
The only good thing I can say is that if you can get these products installed on your computer, they do a great job of protecting your computer.

One mistake I think some folks are making is not uninstalling the previous Norton product before installing the new version. I didn't do this a couple of years ago and ended up with a four day relationship with technical support. And they wanted money. So this time I uninstalled first. My mistake this time around was not choosing which componenets to install, I let them all be installed. This was a big mistake I have now learned from. Go Back went around and around in circles during its installation for 1 hour and 50 minutes. Finally I stopped it's installation and uninstalled what had been installed. During my next go at installation, I specifically requested in the setup that Go Back NOT be installed. I just selected the core componenets of Norton Antivirus and Norton Utilities. Installation went very smoothly as did activation, live update of my virus definitions and so forth. With Norton Personal Firewall, I uninstalled the previous version first and the installation went fine.

Not an uneventful installation, but one that I was actually expecting to be much worse. I think a huge key is uninstalling the previous version first.

On the up side, I feel confident that my computer is well protected. And even though Norton claims to look for spyware/adware, I really wouldn't rely on theirs and would go for a third party application such as Webroot Spysweeper. Spysweeper is coexisting with Norton just fine and I think does a much better job for adware/spyware. Norton's forte is viruses and firewall protection.

"NAV and go back OK but protection center stinks!"
I really like the go back- I used it and it works very well.I do reccommend the go back it work much more precisely than XP does. The anti virus is the normal symantec thing, works good but sometimes their updates mess things up and it pulls resources. Oh and the worm protection thing won't let me get my email in outlook express? I had to turn that function off.. and I had my definitions get corrupted and had to email symantec as to how to get it fixed.. They helped me fix it but the process of finding the support email is difficult and to call you have to PAY!!!
The protection center that is included in the system works really is a resource hog and I wish I could uninstall the stupid thing but I don't think you can?? I would not recommend this because of the protection center software.
I decided not to use the firewall after all because I have it on another computer and it keeps shutting off my email and won't allow it to download.

"Here is the secret to getting the best system utility"
Read the reviews of the 4 or 5 major system utilities (Systemworks, System Mechanic, Systemsuite, etc). Guess what? Depending on which review you read, they are all outstanding products, or they are all trash. Not a single product gets glowing reviews from everyone, and each product has lots of people who had major problems. What to do? Do what I did. Just try one until it works.

I have used Systemworks and System Mechanic on various computers over the years with pretty decent results. For the last couple of years I've used System Mechanic with absolutely no problem. I just bought a new computer, and one of the first things I did was slap a copy of System Mechanic 6 Pro on it. The results? Completely trashed my brand new computer. Not really a big deal since the computer is new and I didn't have much (any) time invested in new software installation. All my documents are on my old computer, so I lost nothing. I just did a complete disaster recovery and got back to normal.

The next thing I did was install the Systemworks 2006/Personal Firewall bundle. Guess what? Flawless installation. Have run all the diagnostics and checks. Absolutely no problems.

So what does this mean? If you try one of the system utilities and it trashes your system, just uninstall it, try to get your money back, then move on to another one. I am absolutely convinced that it is a total crapshoot as to which utility will work on your system. If you think about it, they all have about the same features, so the issue is not what they can do, but whether they are stable and will work on your system. System Mechanic didn't work for me. Systemworks does. Just the way of the world. If you tried to read too much into all of the reviews, you would never buy any software for your computer, because there are always horror stories from people who had their systems crashed.

Off topic, but as an aside, it's the same thing with other programs. I am into video editing, and trying to decide between Pinnacle and Roxio Easy Media Creator. Absolute horror stories from users of both products about how unstable these products are. So....I tried the Roxio product, it works, and its stable. Good enough for me!





"Cannot Install This Software and No Technical Support"
I had Norton Internet Security 2004 pre-installed on my Dell PC. My 15 month subscription is about to expire so I bought Norton Systemworks/Personal Firewall 2006 Bundle thinking it would be a good way to upgrade. Unfortunatlly Neither of these titles will install on my PC. I've gone through all of the documentation from Symantec's web site and done everything their techincal support people suggested via email (they want to charge you $30 for phone support). It also took a week for them to reply to my call for help. Now they are unable to help me install it. No matter what I try the installation fails.

I find it amazing that a software company expects it's customers to pay for support when all I am trying to do is get their software installed. Most reputable companies will at least provide phone support if you are having problems with installation -- Not Symantec. I once thought Symantec was a reputable company but not anymore.

From now on I'll stick with McAfee!
If there was a 0 or negative star rating I would have given it.