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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Symantec's standards are slipping, 18 Nov 2004
Previously I owned Norton SystemWorks 2002 (NSW) and decided to upgrade. Well I didnt actually decide, 'forced' would be a more appropriate word. I'm not alone in that suddenly Liveupdate (the small program within Norton Products that keeps software up to date) downloaded that nightmare download. I had nothing but a blue screen after this particular download. Searching around the net, I found this problem was not uncommon. I suspect this is a ploy to force customers to upgrade.Apart from this NSW 2002 was very good and so I bought 2004. I uninstalled the old version and installed the newer one (on Windows XP). I noticed the interface was exactly the same as my two year old version. You are prompted to activate the product and then Liveupdate updates your software. NSW consists of a few programs which are a mixed bunch. Starting with the Norton Antivirus (NAV), I noticed how this new product used up more system resources. There was noticeable slowdown on my system (the virus scanner runs in the background). Scanning also took longer than before but overall the virus scanner seemed to do a great job as before. NAV is supposed to protect you from adware/spyware but this new feature is inadequate, so unfortunately you'll need separate software to do that job. The other great little program you get with NSW is called Cleansweep. It takes seconds to run and deletes all unwanted internet clutter, temporary files etc Apart from NAV and Cleansweep, the remainder are so-so and so you may want to consider before purchase. The Utilities are okay and include Windoctor which scans your system for windows related problems, Speed Disk optimiser (windows can do this), Wipeinfo which lets you permanently delete files from your hardrive, Onebutton scan that briefly scans your registry and other general concern areas. Goback is similar to Windows System restore and also takes up too much system resources, so its pretty useless. Password Manager is new and comesvery handy; your passwords are securely kept on your computer and Norton can automatically fill in website log-in info, credit card info, addresses etc for you after the prompt-- very handy if you shop around the net since it saves you finding all those different cards and CVV numbers. Now the biggest problem. I noticed switching users on XP, that NSW had NOT installed properly. It would not load properly on other user profiles, only on the main Admin account. I noted the error and confirmed on the Symantec site it was an installation issue. They give me a whole list of instructions to do and in my case these procedures required at least 20 restarts. I had spent around 15 hours trying to resolve this problem with no avail. The only comfort i get of not having wasted £40 was the Antivirus seemed to work in the background on other user profiles and stopped viruses, but no other part of Norton Systemwork would 'work'. I have looked around the net and surprise surprise, this issue is not uncommon and NSW 2004 actually has some serious installation issues. Overall, from my experience of upgrading I find 2004 offers little in addition to 2002. In fact apart from Password Manager I really cannot see much to substantiate an upgrade. Add to this the major installation issues Symantec don't seem to have resolved. Many people including myself have lost trust in Symantec in what used to be a very reliable company. Maybe XP caught them off guard so I'll await the next version. Not recommended.
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