Norton Internet Security?

[Two_dogs]

I've finally bitten the bullet and purchased a new laptop.

It's an Acer Extensa 5620. Intel Duo-core 5750 running at 2.0 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 2 MB DDR2 ram at 667 MHz and 250G HD. 15.4" WXGA TTF display and Intel GMA X3100 video. It also has a pretty comprehensive list of the required extras. Dual layer DVD burner, Gigabit LAN, WLAN, Bluetooth, Infrared, Modem, 4 USB ports, Express card slot, PC card slot, 5 in 1 card reader, IEEE 1394 port, VGA port and S-Video out.

Best of all is the Windows XP PRO operating system. I'm pretty happy with it for $1400 and I swapped the $100 cash back offer for a three year extended warranty.

The HD is not really 250GB as it has three partitions installed. One is 6.0 GB FAT32 recovery partition which holds a copy of the factory install , one is C drive, a 113 GB NTFS, and the last is D drive, a 113 GB FAT32 backup partition. It utilises a RAID system somehow for the recovery programs. It can only read from FAT32 formatted drives and is only accessible from a BIOS controlled recovery reboot. I have read that some people reformat the D drive to NTFS format to gain additional storage, but this prevents the RAID recovery system from reading the drive and leaves you with only a factory reinstall recovery option. I guess you could still use the D drive for storage in FAT32 format anyway?

Now to the real question. It came with a 60 day trial of a Norton Internet Security suite which I have not yet activated. Should I just delete it from the system? I can't remember ever hearing a good word said about Symantec software. I have installed AVG 7.5 anti virus with firewall which I have been using for a number of years with good results. I also run Ad-Aware and Spybot SE.

Regards,
Two Dogs

[Background Noise]

I haven't come across that setup before. My acer just had the recovery partition which would re-set the system to factory state effectively rather than keeping a record of newer stuff on another bit of the disc. I guess the downside of having your backup on the same disk is that if the HD fails or the laptop is nicked, you lose the lot. If you decide to regain the raid bit of disk you should get an ext HD for backup and keep it separate from the laptop. Would you have to change the BIOS raid settings too?

As for NIS, I found it had some useful functions but slowed everything down and now use Kaspersky but a lot of the free ones seem just as good. To remove Norton completely you need to run their removal tool.

[Bushfiva]

It utilises a RAID system

Ooh, think I'll call your bluff on that one.

[Two_dogs]

Bushfiva,

You are obviously more conversant with the system than me. I have only had the machine a few days. I do understand it is not a RAID array as such, but I believe it uses RAID drivers to control the recovery process. The installed software is called 'Intel Matrix Storage Manager'. http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm (http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/msm) Clicking on the executable opens the console but an error dialogue opens reporting 'plugins failed to load'. As far as I know the RAID software is controlled by the Acer recovery software and uses the RAID software to copy either the factory installation or user backups back to the C drive.

In the bios it is called D2D and is enabled. I am willing to be educated if you know how it works.

Two Dogs

[spannersatcx]

I used to steer away from NAV in the past and stuck with McAfee for years. Mainly as whenever I tried NAV it ground the pc to a halt. Last year after getting a virus on one of my pc's with McAfee on, I found the only way to clean it was with NAV, I was pleasantly surprised with NAV as it had moved on a long way from what I knew of it and it no longer sucks the life out of my pc's.

I have read of people getting viruses with AVG recently so although it's free it may not be the best solution, I would rather pay a little bit for something I feel safe with.

[langtoftlad]

Now to the real question. It came with a 60 day trial of a Norton Internet Security suite which I have not yet activated. Should I just delete it from the system? I can't remember ever hearing a good word said about Symantec software. I have installed AVG 7.5 anti virus with firewall which I have been using for a number of years with good results. I also run Ad-Aware and Spybot SE.Hate to be the bearer of bad news - because that is exactly what Norton software is.
It is like the worst weed in your garden and unless you get rid of every byte of its pervading root tendrils you risk conflict, crashes & speed issues.

Have a read of this:
Norton Removal Advice (http:www.askdavetaylor.com/how_can_i_fully_remove_norton_antivirus_from_my_system.html)

I recently had to do the same for a friend's new laptop, took me awhile, I couldn't believe how many places Symantec or Norton kept cropping up - grrrr!

I run AVG 8.00 Free in conjunction with Kerio Sunbelt Firewall Free together with my router's NAT and (touchwood) have avoided infection. Also concur AdAware & Spybot are excellent.

[spannersatcx]

it's a free trial give it a try , like it then keep it, don't like it don't keep it. I guess that's the idea of a trial.:eek:

[Tarq57]

Tend to agree most with spannersatcx.
Plenty of people have no issues with Norton, and find it does what they want. (Plenty have a different experience, too.)
Some versions of Norton reportedly run with much less slowdown than some other versions. Some pretty much take full control of security decisions, and occasionally stuff up something important.
There are plenty of excellent free and paid applications, suites or standalones. Personally I prefer standalones.
Regarding antispy apps like AdAware, all the opinions/reports I've read indicate there are many better ones around than the two mentioned. Two that spring to mind as being in the forefront, with good "fix - it" results reported on security forums, are MalwareBytesAntiMalware, and Superantispyware.

[Jamongris]

I'm in the anti Norton brigade. Too big, slows PCs too much, too hard to uninstall, and too well known by the clever viruses.

I also don't like MacAfee and Panda, for similar reasons.

Superantispyware, in conjunction with Avast antivirus, CC Cleaner and IOBit SmartDefrag seem to keep my PCs clean and reliable (the last two aren't anti malware of course, but are useful in keeping speed up so I thought I'd mention them).

[philipnz]

get rid of the norton straight away. it takes over your whole computer and cripples it worse than most virus do

[Keef]

I've removed Norton (and McAfee) for several non-computer-literate friends who have been delighted at the performance improvement from ZoneAlarm firewall and AVG Free. I've not had a single virus arrive on my machine in over three years that AVG hasn't immediately spotted and shoved in the virus vault. Maybe I've been lucky.

SpyBot and AdAware are also needed.

Removing Norton is indeed like removing convolvulus from your garden (or blanketweed from your pond). I don't think it's possible to remove all traces, but you can get far enough down the road that it's disabled. If you haven't run the "install" routine yet - don't!

[Tarq57]

For anyone having trouble uninstalling any program (I imagine Norton included, but I don't know...I manually purged my installation...) This freeware program (http://www.revouninstaller.com/) is worth its weight in ... whatever the virtual equivalent of platinum is.
Runs a built in uninstaller, scans th computer for leftover files and reg entries, gets rid of everything it finds. I've found it usually gets the lot.
Important to not restart when an uninstaller commands it during use, let the Revo program run its course, then restart.

[frostbite]

With much tredipation, having gone to a lot of trouble to remove 'free' Norton which came with my machine, I installed Ghost v12 yesterday.

I've not run it yet (aside from the thing self starting) and I have stopped its default run at bootup, but it appears to be well in the Norton mold having four different components which tried to access the internet even before the opening screen appeared! (all denied permanently)

Time will tell whether it's a good move.

[Tarq57]

I've read some fairly good user reviews of Norton Ghost.
This site (http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm) may be useful to you in determining the legitimacy of running processes, and how important it is they can connect.

[Llademos]

NAV - the spawn of satan!

I had it for a year because it was free. When I finally removed it the speed increase on my PC (for startup especially) was as good as if I'd doubled the RAM.

Now I use avast! wich is free, effective and doesn't get in the way.

Ll

[jake brake]

TARQ57 Hi, Have used the freeware removal tool you reccomend but so far, been unable to remove the NAV from my Acer 5520 Vista H Premium package. Hopefully they can help via email. This computer; a Walmart special, came with NAV built-in. Perhaps it can,t be removed without wrecking the host(whole) system ! Nice !

[Tarq57]

Don't really know about this. You could try the uninstaller (linked at post 12) to see if it shows up/can be uninstalled.
[EDIT] Sorry, just realised that the "freewar removal tool" you referred to was probably the Revo uninstaller.
Yeah, try the tool in the post below. Remove it via control panel>add remove programs, first, reboot whenever commanded, then run the tool.
Make sure you have another AV already downloaded and ready to install before removing Norton, and be offline during the uninstall/new install.

[Background Noise]

You need to run symantec's own Norton removal tool (http://service1.symantec.com/Support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039?OpenDocument&seg=hm&lg=en&ct=us).

[Synthetic]

I used to be a big fan of Norton, largely because it was recommended to me by a very clever bloke called Mark who I used to work with. On the very few occasions he came across something PC related that he did not know, he used to phone a bloke in America called Bill. He said that providing it was installed on a system without lots of other problems it will run well, and yes, it does use more resources than other AVs, but that was because it was more effective. I never had any real problems with it.


That was until they brought out Internet Security 2008:ugh::mad::ugh::mad:

Up until that time, their products could either operate in a very autonymous mode for people who didn't know too much about PCs, or it could be set to do what the more knowledgeable user wanted it to do.

2008 did away with the latter - Hall 9000 is servile in comparison.

As to removing it, the Symantec removal tool will almost certainly not remove it completely (possible revenue loss on update subscriptions) and unless you are comfortable hacking chunks out of the registry, the only way to do it is "Format c:"....:rolleyes: