Symantec details flaws in its antivirus software

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5646871.html?tag=zdfd.newsfeed

Regards - Charles

 

Hi Christer,

I'm going to NAV2005 in May when the sub for 2002 runs out, so this caught my eye.

I'm going to format and re-install the OS just for this occasion

Regards - Charles

 

Charles,
I took the plunge and upgraded to NIS 05 today. I installed it overtop NIS 03, because the 75 page instruction booklet said that Norton would use my previous "rules" if I did. I did all my back ups first (of course) but the install was easy, painless and everything seems to be just peachy. As an old hand with Norton, you won't have any trouble navigating through the set up routines.

I had to enable some services that previously were turned on by default, so be sure to poke around all the screens. NIS 05 also removes the familiar AV icon from the system tray, and I haven't found the "tattletale" globe yet.

I shopped around online, and found the best price from Symantec. I allowed them to scan my comp for an existing product, and received an automatic $30 off (upgrade status). They also threw in Norton's Password Protector for free. I opted to receive the cd by UPS (if you choose the download and trash XP, you have to replace your Norton) and it came 2 days after I ordered it.

On a humorous note (to all of us die hard Norton users) the "User Guide" contains explicit instructions for how to make emergency boot disks, and has a section that explains remedies for Norton glitches. It tells what to do if AV cannot repair a virus, and then says that if your Master Boot Record, boot record or system files are corrupted, the solution is to replace using your OS disks.

Gotta love Norton!

Johanna

 

Hi Johanna,

Thanks for the encouragement.

The instructions for NAV2005 - just the AV - is to uninstall anything older than 2003.

I have other reasons to reinstall, this OS has been running for more than 3 years now and I think time for a fresh install and I'm going to replace the 3 year old drive its running on and use it as a backup drive untill it drops dead.

Regards - Charles

 

I would do just as you describe in that situation, too. I definitely prefer the "planned housekeeping" to the emergency kind. I seem to be having trouble connection to ordinary websites, tonight. My ISP had a meltdown earlier this week, so I'm not going to go insane trying to "fix" Norton yet, but if it turns out that Norton is the culprit, I will do a reinstall of XP and put eTrust on. This is Norton's very last chance with me. I have been using eTrust on all the older computers I see, and have no problems or complaints as a result.

Johanna

 

NIS 05...sigh

I have been using and supporting Norton protection products for years. I consider myself pretty savvy about Norton and its idiosynchrasies. NIS05 is DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!!

My IE problems and inabilty to upload onto my websites were due to my ISP, (they are doing major upgrades this week, and they skewed some databases, according to my clueless tech) but I am getting little prompt boxes from every shortcut and icon "Medium Risk- an unknown module of fill-in-the-blank is trying to access the internet." Choices are limited to allow once/ block once. I went through the entire list of internet enabled programs (Whew! And why does Minesweeper and Spider Solitaire have to get online, anyway?) and created rules for ALL of them (auto, block, & allow are the choices) and I am still getting these annoying prompts. OE is set to "automatic ", but "unknown modules" are trying to go online, for example. Arrgghh!!!

I will NOT be putting NIS on my mom's computer. I do not want the headache. If Norton is being a royal pain for me, I can only imagine how frustrated an "ordinary" computer user must feel. My mom doesn't know the names of the programs she uses. Ring ring "Johanna, is it okay to allow msimn.exe???"

I read the book that came with NIS05, and it promised to retain its spam training. Ha ha ha! It is flagging legit mail from people in my address book (yes, I even allowed Norton to "integrate" with my WAB) and moving every forum message to the spam folder. I am about to turn the spam filter off because regular messages come with {Norton AntiSpam} in the subject line which throws off what text I can see at a glance. Call me old fashioned, but I can better determine what is legit and what needs deleted faster than any software!

Too bad it couldn't retain my firewall settings. My NIS 03 firewall was well trained. Trying to duplicate those settings on 05 demonstrated that the new NIS is not as configurable (is that a word?) and is ten times more clumsy.

And, I miss my "Alert Tracker ", my little tattletale globe that told me what was going on out of the corner of my eye. It doesn't seem to be available in 05.

Johanna

 

I had so much trouble with NAV 2005 after installing SP2, that a month ago I removed it and upgraded my ZoneAlarm Pro to ZoneAlarm Security suite which includes an antivirus module.

So far it is good and has a lower performance overhead than NAV

 

Hello onclejean,

I had so much trouble with NAV 2005 after installing SP2
That's why its going to be installed with a fresh XP installation.

I also have software that can control NAV's processes that I don't find useful, such as LU and it's associated processes.

Regards - Charles

 

Charles
I found that installing NAV overwrites some SP2 system files which leads to memory address errors becasue the page file is not correctly loaded

Of course once you know this you can fix it by running
"sfc /scannow "
with the SP2 CD present in the CD boot drive.

However I think that NAV is past its best and I have abandoned

 

Hi onclejean,

I found that installing NAV overwrites some SP2 system files which leads to memory address errors becasue the page file is not correctly loaded
Thanks for the warning and will certainly look out for it.

However, I do not think this is a widespread problem; in all my reading about 2005, aside from the usual Symantec neuralgia points, this issue hasn't come up.

I installed an XP with SP2 right on top of it on another drive and then added all the apps - different forewall (ZAP) and different AV (NOD32), went flawlessly. I understand not everone is in a position to do this and certainly understand your attitude towards Norton.

Regards - Charles

 

Charles,

Good luck, you will not have any problems with NAV 2005 as long as you have default virtual memory settings.

 

Ah, something specific, thanks onclejean.

Regards - Charles

 

To update:

Installed NAV2005 over the weekend. After disabling things that I don't use - LU and the Worm Blocker, this version increased RAM usage on average about 10 to 15 MB's.

Also implemented StartupDelayer http://www.r2.com.au/software.php?page=2&show=startdelay because having added NAV, it would bog down the startup sequence. StartupDeleayer controls the timing of the startups.

Regards - Charles