Why to never buy Symantec/Norton products

From: Big Mac (no-email-in-usenet_at_zzz.org)
Date: 03/15/04 

Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 03:13:58 -0800

Re: Norton firewall wont install without errors

"MARGARET" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> Have you ever tried to get support from Symantec. I have
> been trying to get help from them since March 5th with no
> replies yet. What kind of support is that. I am the only user
> on the computer so I am the administator. Very frustrating

As a user of Symantec products who uses these successfully -
SystemWorks 2004, Norton Ghost 2003, and Norton Personal Firewall
2004, you'd think I'd jump to Symantec's defense, right? Well I am
no going to defend them. I am darned lucky these programs work. They
seem to work well too with my 2.1 GHz Athalon.

But I did have a problem with updates with SystemWorks 2003 and it was
tough luck - I wasn't going to pay "$29.95 per incident" to call them.
I just happened to upgrade to 2004 because the thing was on sale and I
got double rebates back, and it included the Personal Firewall too
with it, so I took a $15 chance, otherwise I would have never touched
a Symantec program again. BTW, the Personal Firewall would not let me
view web pages with Earthlink dial-up, so i was out of luck there too.
Only now it works since I am with Comcast cable.

*** OK you Microsoft people who read this newsgroup:
It's about time you stopped being soft on Symantec (you need to just
come out and say their support completely sucks). It's about time to
start to post all over your websites and wherever that "Symantec
supports COMPLETELY sucks worse than anything else BY FAR" and to
advise people to not buy their stuff only because of this - not that
their products are bad for most people - only because of the
OVERWHELMING sucky support issue.

No voice tech support unless you pay mucho. And email support - HA!
I can't find it, but people tell me it is buried somewhere. But even
then it takes 4 weeks for an answer if they ever get one. And zero
Usenet support. Not even a user based Symantec newsgroup with XP
included in it.

All they have is a website devoted to probs you might have, but if it
ain't covered, OR if you are not technically minded as many people
are not, you are s#%t out of luck.

I just don't see hoe Symantec gets away with it.

Big Mac

Relevant Pages

  • Re: FYI: Security Problems Plague XP SP2 via Symantec/McAfee
    ... Because eTrust & your Firewall are complimentary programs, ... the same company what happened isn't a violation of Firewall rules. ... >> Norton System Security, Norton Utilities, etc. are another thing ... >> Symantec has definitely lost their reputation in the past 5 years or so. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Symantec Common Client update prevents OE retrieving mail
    ... I turned email scanning back on and tried sending and receiving in OE. ... access them after disabling Norton Personal Firewall. ... I followed the instructions for "To restore the default General and Trojan Horse firewall rules." ... I have version 2005 and downloaded ISRIRstr.exe This is on the Symantec web page. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress)
  • Re: Windows Security Center Shows non exisitng Symantec firewall
    ... After several hours of chatroom discussion with Symantec suport people, ... I still see the same info about Norton Internet Security ... being ON in the firewall section if I turn off Windows firewall. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: Stack Overflow in Third-Party ActiveX Controls affects Multiple Vendor Products Including So
    ... Vendor Products Including Some Symantec Consumer Products and Automated Support ... The vulnerability identified in the Symantec shipped controls could potentially result in a stack overflow requiring user interaction to exploit. ... Symantec worked closely with SupportSoft to ensure updates were quickly made available for the identified controls. ...
    (Bugtraq)
  • Re: Virus Protection Problem?
    ... Symantec can still be an acceptable choice. ... locking step with Norton, investigate other vendors. ... is that I still cannot use and recommend McAfee. ... That's where Norton Firewall is a better choice. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)