- Complete antispyware solution bundled with Norton — treating the discovery of spyware just like it does viruses and adware
- Quarantines keystroke loggers and other intrusive code
- Network Detector automatically switches security setups when you move your laptop from network to network
- Privacy Control blocks personal sites from receiving personal Data
- Parental Controls for blocking access to Web sites and newsgroups that may be unsuitable for children
Product Description
Symantec’s Norton Internet Security 2005 AntiSpyware Edition provides essential protection from viruses, hackers, and privacy threats. This easy-to-use, integrated product includes virus protection, spyware removal, a firewall, intrusion prevention, privacy protection, spam detection, and content filtering. This edition includes powerful new Norton Spyware Protection (available for Windows 2000 and Windows XP only), which automatically detects and removes both spyware and adware. Norton Spyware Protection even helps you identify adware that’s needed to run programs you want. Norton AntiVirus is the world’s most trusted antivirus solution. Its Norton Internet Worm Protection blocks worms from entering your computer through direct Internet connections. And QuickScan allows you to run a fast, efficient virus and spyware check at any time. Norton Personal Firewall keeps personal data in and hackers out. Norton Privacy Control prevents personal information from being sent out without your knowledge. Norton AntiSpam filters out unwanted email. To defend against email fraud, it even finds deceptive Web site addresses within messages. And Norton Parental Control helps you safeguard children from inappropriate content by blocking access to specified Web sites and newsgroups. Defend yourself, your family, and your PC online with the all-in-one protection of Norton Internet Security AntiSpyware Edition.
I’ve used Norton for many, many years and have always sworn by it as the best anti-virus protection available on the market. With the 2003 version, I switched to Norton Internet Security and loved it. It’s always worked perfectly, and I’ve bought a new year of definitions each year. I planned to update my NIS 2003 version again this year when it expired, but about a month before the expiration, I got an offer from Symantec to buy the NIS 2005 Antispam version for a low price. I decided to go ahead and upgrade from 2003 to 2005 at the low price.
Last weekend my subscription to NIS 2003 expired, so instead of re-subscribing, I instead downloaded and installed the NIS 2005 version. That’s when the problems started. After downloading and installing, I updated the virus definitions. This went fine, and I thought I was through with it. A while later I went into the NIS program and when I opened it up, only part of the screen appeared–the border, without the middle with all the buttons to click. It did this everytime I opened the program, so I decided to reinstall the program. After restalling and updating the definitions, again I thought I was through.
Little did I know my troubles were just starting. After installing the NIS 2005, I could no longer go onto the internet. My computer also started freezing up. I had to restart it numerous times and as I tried to troubleshoot it. After about an hour, I just said to myself let my computer work long enough before freezing up so I could uninstall NIS 2005. After a while, I was able to do that.
Once I uninstalled NIS 2005, I again assumed I was back to business. I would just look for another anti-virus and firewall program. But no, I could not go on the internet. I checked my wireless connections and found the IP addresses for my network were all screwed up. I worked on it for hours, checking and rechecking my network connections. I reinstalled my wireless card. I tried another wireless card. Nothing worked, after a whole day of working on it. Finally I had to admit that NIS 2005 had completely hosed my computer and my network connection.
So after many wasted hours, and many more curses at Symantec for its product, I had to use Windows XP System Restore to roll my computer back to how it existed prior to the NIS fiasco. I decided to use the free McAfee anti-virus and firewall available to me from AOL. However, McAfee couldn’t install because it detected an existing anti-virus program on my computer, even though I had deleted Norton NIS 2005. I had to go to the Symantec website and download 3 different programs, and run them, along with deleting various files and registry entries, in order to finally get rid of all the various pieces of NIS 2005 and my prior NIS 2003.
So after being a good Norton customer for many years, I’ve now gone to the other side of another good customer who has now been hosed by Norton software that screwed up my computer and internet connection! I hate to say it, but now I’ll never be a Norton customer again, and cannot recommend the program to anybody. The risks aren’t worth it.
Raleigh1208
Rating: 1 / 5
Norton Internet Security 2005 will completely take over your system processing time bringing your computer to its knees!!. NIS will protect your PC, but it will also convert a P4 2.66 GHz with 768MB RAM in to a lethargic computer. For NIS to run it uses more than 21 processes that take almost 40MB of your valuable system RAM, it is absurd.
Worst of all, try to access their inexistent support… you don’t have the right for even one call. They only take calls from corporate customers/products.
Go for some other product, RUN AWAY! don’t use this one!. I did not followed others reviews, what a big mistake!!
Rating: 1 / 5
(.,..)
I have used Norton AntiVirus for many years, and thought I would dutifully upgrade. After many hours of struggling, hitting about 1/2 of the first two depth levels of installation problems for WinXP in their online installation help pages, I gave up. I read the little installation guide, I did what it asked, and I got nothing for my money. And my operating system had to be re-installed in the end.
NIS 2004 was installed, but had to be removed… manually after the “removal of [co-branded product]” failed. I did NOT appreciate having to manually hack my registry as they recommend at one point, nor to download and run an MS windows installation repair tool to clean up all the Norton install failure garbage, nor to have to install a Verisign cert into my Internet Explorer (required for downloaded ActiveX automated installation assistant, netscape not allowed) so that another piece of their software can start running on my computer. Get real! They should be paying us to debug their installation software! NIS 2005-ase did not install for me, and my OS was left trashed.
Thanks to Amazon, though, for a prompt friendly refund of my unopened second NIS package.
Addendum: The only way TIKO to reliably remove the old product (2004, which you must do before installing 2005) without seriously compromising your WinXP operating system is to use the NIS CD Install menu to uninstall it. Seriously. Forget the Symantec help site methods or Add/Remove programs. Even the CD Install/Uninstall leaves some processes about, but they are harmless and can be turned off in services control. Traditional methods may leave your OS in a state where it will slowly begin to fail until COMPLETELY unusable. That’s my experience… YMMV.
Rating: 1 / 5
I’ve recently been reading a ton of complaints around the web about the Symantec Norton Antivirus and Internet Security Suite of software. The following little review has been written in response to those complaints:
One of the biggest complaints that I read about Norton Antivirus and Norton Internet Security is the cost. For me, however, the annual upgrade on Norton Products always ends up free–at least it has since the turn of the millenium. Inevitably if you wait long enough their rebates come out that make the upgrade to the new product absolutely cost free. This holds true even with their full suite which may retail at $70, but I’ve managed to get 5 copies for various computers I manage at a final cost to me of $0. Actually, with Amazon.com because I get a discount because of the A9 search engine, I think I’ve managed to earn a couple of bucks by installing Norton Internet Security. Next year, I’ll use the rebates to do the same.
With Internet Security, the concerns of many people who are against Norton and Symantec (especially firewall) with the exception of the resource hog issue (Symantec really needs to address this issue) are handled.
Symantec needs to fix their technical service side of things by offering free help of at least some sort. They need to tone down the issues of resource hogging. But as long as they offer me free upgrades every year and consistently maintain virus-free computers (6 years virus free on all on the computers I’ve managed: usually 5-7 at one time) I’ll stick with Symantec. Nevertheless, despite these pitfalls, as long as I can keep upgrading for free and my systems remain virus-free, Norton is my source for internet security.
(…)
Rating: 5 / 5
I have uninstalled this software, which came on my new Dell Computer. The problem with the firewall is that it is heavy handed and blocks many things that it shouldn’t. For example, Musicmatch super-tagging can’t connect (and I certainly tried to configure NIS to allow Musicmatch to connect); blogger.com’s click-to-edit function vanished; Diskeeper 9 could not install; and so on. Once I went back to Windows XP firewall, all these functions resumed working. I went to Webroot’s Spy Sweeper 4.0, and it immediately found 6 spyware cookies that NIS had allowed. I tried turning off the anti-spam function because I use the uncannily accurate Cloudmark (www.cloudmark.com), but the Norton anti-spam toolbar kept returning every time I restarted Outlook. I tried to get on-line help from Symantec, but it was useless. I would avoid this product totally.
Rating: 1 / 5