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Riding Shotgun

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Norton may slow computers down

Submitted by Adam on May 11, 2006 - 5:38pm.
  • Riding Shotgun with Adam

ALERT!!

Today I saw a client with a slow computer. I removed Norton Antivirus and the computer instantly regained the speed of its youth.

Later in the day I saw another client with a slow computer. I removed Norton Antivirus and the computer instantly regained the speed of its youth.

There seems to be a trend here because over the past two years I have seen dozens of computers with slowness problems. After removing Norton Antivirus the computer instantly regained the speed of its youth.

Now, this could just be a fluke thing. I am not ready to release a verdict until I have seen it happen more than just the 70-80 times that I have already witnessed it.

When I remove Norton Antivirus, I typically replace it with AVG Antivirus. In about a 20 percent of the instances AVG has found a virus (one of those times was today). What? A virus on a computer that had Norton installed? It seems that this is the case.

Once I have AVG installed and the viruses eliminated, the computer continues on with youthful vigor.

If anyone wants to challenge my statements that Norton slows down a computer and doesn't catch as many viruses, I will be happy to challenge them to an antivirus duel. 

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Do not purchase Norton products

Submitted by Smart Computer User on August 7, 2008 - 8:39pm.

Norton Internet Security absolutely cripples your computer. What good is virus protection if your computer runs like an old Commodore? Ridiculous.

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Ugh. Corporate IT department uses Norton.

Submitted by Smart Computer User on July 30, 2008 - 10:11am.

My company's IT department uses Norton. Apparently they forgot to install it on my computer when they sent it over to me. They realized this a month ago and installed it. My computer now runs at about a third of the speed it used to.

This is the reason I stopped using them at home and switched to McAfee. But, I had never heard of AVG before, so I may have to check them out.

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Rick's picture

Norton Professional

Submitted by Rick on July 30, 2008 - 9:20pm.

I have to say that the few times I have seen Norton Professional (the large company Norton security product), it seems to run pretty tight, and doesn't have too many problems. I'm wondering if they installed the Professional version on your PC or one of their consumer products?

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dead computer

Submitted by Smart Computer User on July 22, 2008 - 1:23pm.

I installed the newest version of Norton just two weeks ago, and it crashed my laptop. I can't even get the damn thing to turn on!!!! Now I have to get my information out of my hard drive so that I can remove Norton and start all over again. Guess its good I was looking at buying a new desktop anyway now that I'm out of college. grrrrr.

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Huh??

Submitted by Smart Computer User on June 27, 2008 - 8:57pm.

My computer is fast and i have Norton Internet Security 2008.

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Norton

Submitted by Smart Computer User on June 25, 2008 - 1:37pm.

I just saved a friends 5 yr old HP by removing Norton and installing AVG 8 (free). It was running so slow that they thought it was necessary to get a new one but now is running much faster.

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Norton

Submitted by Smart Computer User on July 3, 2008 - 6:21am.

Norton, which comes free with my Internet package, has slowed my computer dramatically, start up taking 15 minutes plus. I had AVG free installed until a week ago and my computer was fine but AVG wanted me to subscribe and as I had the Norton package free of charge, I decided to take advantage of my ISP's generous offer. Big mistake, I have decided to scrub Norton and pay for AVG

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Rick's picture

It pays to visit HelpMeRick.com EVERY day!

Submitted by Rick on July 3, 2008 - 6:34am.

Ahh, my little grasshopper, I could have saved you a lot of trouble and money if you had just read or even peeked at my site EVERY day. AVG is still free....read this.

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Got refunded

Submitted by Smart Computer User on May 14, 2008 - 10:44pm.

Earlier today, I had purchased the downloaded version of Norton Internet Security 360 for some 80$. But then I found this webpage warming us about Norton. I immediately returned the product and got refunded. It was easy to get my money back from Symatec since I never got to install NIS360 and to use it. However I had to "chat" online with a Rep to get my refund because it takes forever for someone to answer at their 1-800 number.

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Want a Refund

Submitted by Smart Computer User on April 23, 2008 - 10:39pm.

I caught a virus . . . rebooting computer and then immediately purchased Norton . . . my computer is aggravating me w/ it's speed . . . I Google "norton slow computer" and vala . . . this information . . . does anyone know if there is a refund after 2 days? If so, how do I go about getting a refund . . . I'm thinking that I can go through my credit card? any suggestions?

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Rick's picture

Refunds are rare, but...

Submitted by Rick on April 24, 2008 - 6:40am.

If you are persistent, you may be able to wrangle a refund from Symantec, but be persistent, yet polite.

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Smart Computer User???

Submitted by Smart Computer User on April 22, 2008 - 3:03pm.

Why is every complaint here submitted by someone called "Smart Computer User"?

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Norton 360

Submitted by Smart Computer User on April 15, 2008 - 10:46am.

My computer was very fast and pages would download right away on the internet, but ever since I renewed my my subscription and installed Norton 360, I can't play any videos from Youtube and Yahoo takes forever to download. Can I safely uninstall Norton 360 in its entirety and replace it with some other protection?

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norton

Submitted by Smart Computer User on April 5, 2008 - 10:02pm.

from 5 minutes to startup to 0. i have it installed but its out of msconfig. : Run: msconfig:

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UNINSTALL NORTON

Submitted by Smart Computer User on March 18, 2008 - 1:37pm.

norton came on my new computer first thing i did was uninstall norton .now if i dump vista all will be fine

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Re: UNINSTALL NORTON

Submitted by Smart Computer User on May 12, 2008 - 12:20am.

Well just format your C drive and install XP or 98se or whatever you want :)

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Norton

Submitted by Smart Computer User on March 28, 2008 - 9:17am.

Add me to the list of people dumping Norton. I was a Norton customer for three years. I installed it on my laptop and the laptops of my two kids. Over time I noticed the computers were slower, but I just figured it was because we were loading new programs and taking up disc space. Then I read a Consumer Reports article about antivirus protection, where they had Norton well down on the ratings performance list. I immediately went out and purchased the #1 product on their list and the performance difference has been incredible. Not only am I finding far more spyware than with Norton, my computer operates much faster when on the web.

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What can be done short of Uninstalling??

Submitted by Smart Computer User on March 18, 2008 - 10:39am.

I too fell victim to downloading the new 2008 version of Norton when it came time to renew my subscription. My husband is on the computer for what seems to be 20 out of 24 hours a day and he is complaining of the lock ups and slowness ever since I upgraded. Since I paid for the darn thing - is there anything that can be done (turned off, etc.) that will still keep me protected so I don't feel like it's a complete waste, but regain the speed we used to have?

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Rick's picture

Nope...

Submitted by Rick on March 18, 2008 - 9:42pm.

Bite the bullet, uninstall Norton, then install AVG AntiVirus.

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Norton

Submitted by Smart Computer User on April 11, 2008 - 6:39pm.

Rick you're so very right. I used Norton for about 4 years. The software in incrediably overrated and it doesn't even keep up with updates. Even when you have it set up to do so. I'm using bitdefender right now for firewall and all. Yet I'm very interested in switching to this AVG AntiVirus once my subscription ends. Thanks for the heads up.

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Heartily agree

Submitted by Smart Computer User on March 6, 2008 - 11:07am.

It is a fact that this happens with Norton products, and Norton seem oblivious to the fact (or don't care!).
Even a new, fast, snappy machine (Athlon 64 5200 3gb RAM etc) will take MUCH longer to boot and also to actually load the Norton interface if you dare to try and use the program itself.

Oh, and it tells you have a virus but can't do anything about it :-(

Oh well, Avast here we go..........

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yes everyone is right

Submitted by Smart Computer User on February 28, 2008 - 7:42pm.

I just freed my computer of all Norton products, unbelievable how much faster everything is.

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Me too!

Submitted by Smart Computer User on January 29, 2008 - 3:13am.

I upgraded from 2007 and guess what? My browser can not even load Yahoo. It shows the title page then stuck. I got to use firefox. I also have this stupid Norton tool bar that I can not turn off the Phishing protection! God damn it

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SOOO SLOW

Submitted by Smart Computer User on May 23, 2008 - 12:53pm.

My computer is so slow. We were having alot of problems and wound up reformatting the hard drive to its original. We installed Norton 360 and the computer is so slow. We hardly have anything on it now. It has to be that darn Norton. I'm about ready to get rid of it. I'm just ticked that I paid for this. Even watching videos is slow. I also tried to get rid of that Phishing.

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Norton 360

Submitted by Smart Computer User on January 18, 2008 - 6:47pm.

I wish that I hadn't been under such stress over so many things that I had read these before I upgraded? to Norton 360 when my Norton subscription expired. My pc has been running like a dog ever since I installed it. I thought at first it was just my DSL service, but for a few weeks now I've been certain that it's the Norton. I really wish I hadn't spent the money on this product, and I won't be renewing it.

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360 STINKS!

Submitted by Smart Computer User on March 26, 2008 - 9:21am.

Ditto:

Wish "that I had read these before I upgraded? to Norton 360 when my Norton subscription expired." " I thought at first it was just my DSL service, but for a few weeks now I've been certain that it's the Norton. I really wish I hadn't spent the money on this product, and I won't be renewing it."

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I'm with ya!

Submitted by Smart Computer User on January 18, 2008 - 10:30am.

I spent over a month trying to figure out why my boss' computer suddenly jumped out of hyper speed. I assumed it was a virus, adware, or some type of other beastie causing the problem, and ran every scan imaginiable. I even tried so registry cleaners.

After doing some reading on forums, I thought maybe the CPU fan was over heating. The power pack WAS over heating, but replacement did nothing to speed up the computer.

After some more reading on the Internet, I finally decided to see if the problem occured in Safe Mode. Nope. The CPU usage dropped from a constant 100% to 5%. Hmmmmmmm. I disabled all start up programs and wa-la the problem was solved. After I uninstalled Norton, everything worked fine.

I'm beginning to have my doubts about Symantec products as well.

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Norton Super Virus

Submitted by Smart Computer User on September 14, 2007 - 1:42am.

I installed Norton Security suite to my Home Comp, it was a disaster for the poor old girl.I spent night swearing and cursing trying to see web pages or having microsoft programs being so slow they were almost unusable. Then there was my phone bill, my Dial up connection was continually dropping out and redialing, making me think my modem had a problem. The moment I would connect to the internet a monotonous growl was continously emitted from my hard drive.I was sure my faithful old computer that had once been my pride was close to death.
Then there was another little problem..Norton would occasionally tell me my trial version had expired and i would need to activate it! This happened once to often an despite having a full six months of subsciption left i unistalled it in a fit of rage!I ran norton sweeper and cleaned the rubbish entirely from my comp.. AMAZING!!! My comp takes no time to load and AVG has cleaned the viruses missed by Norton. and i can click a web address and the page appears like magic!!!And my Dialup doesnt continually drop out and needs only 1 attempt to dial in and not 5!!MY ADVICE TO ANYONE>>CUT YOUR LOSSES AND GET RID OF NORTON SECURITY SOFTWARE>>NOW!!

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Norton 360 slows the computer to almost stand-still

Submitted by Smart Computer User on January 14, 2008 - 1:36am.

I installed a demo-version of Norton 360, because it would have been an upgrade from my Norton System works. After completing the installation with "live update" and a re-start. It took ages for the XP to come to the desktop. When I tried to open a program I saw the time glass for a long while. It was impossible to work on the computer. I ran the defrag, but no use, still the same. I adjusted the startup through msconfig, but still the samt. I had to re-store the computer through my Acronis True Image program. Because the system restore did not work either. I tried many times. I thought that something has gone wrong with the installation, so I reinstalled it. But it was still the same.
Now I am using AVG anti-virus, and it is working fine.
My computer is Athlon 64x2 Dual Core Processor 3800+ 2,00 GHz , 1GB Ram with XP service pack 2.

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Norton ggrrrrr

Submitted by Smart Computer User on December 26, 2007 - 6:22pm.

I had no virus protection for five years before I got a virus. I had it removed and then I broke down and tried to install Norton. I had a terrible time trying to install it from the internet so I went to the store and purchased a basic Norton Antivirus 2007. I have had nothing but trouble with my computer ever since. Ever since I installed Norton Antivirus, my computer has been slooowww. It kept getting slower and slower until finally it crashed. I took it to my computer expert and he said he thought it was the Norton. As soon as he took the Norton Antivirus off, my computer was up and running as fast as ever. The Norton runs so much garbage with the program itself that it slows down the computer to a crawl. I have a GB of memory with hardly any memory used. Well, I tried to contact Norton and of course there is no contact number and if you want to chat with a representative you have to download chat software to talk to a rep. When I tried to download chat software I got a message that there was an error. I refuse to pay someone $9.95 to get assistance for a poor product. I am done with Norton.

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