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Re: Problems downloading Norton
Hi,
I was interested to read these comments, and thought you might like to hear about my experience.
I used Norton Internet Security 2003 (which includes Anti-Virus) without any problems on my Win 98SE computer and when it wanted to charge for the new subscription, I bought NIS 2004 from a shop, which wasn't much more expensive than the subscription.
The computer crashed repeatedly during installation (there were no viruses on my system, and it was in good condition), and then caused problems for Netscape 7 and Eudora 6 when it was finally installed. With the latter in particular, it kept telling me that "COM automation" wasn't on, but it never managed to turn it on, even if I asked it to. I also wanted to turn the Norton Anti-Spam function off, since it is not nearly as good as the one that comes with Eudora anyway - this was not possible, it just wouldn't turn off.
I began emailing Norton support - which is something I would only recommend to those with strong nerves - and eventually established that yes, there were faults in NIS 2004 and Symantec were aware of them and were working on them but in the meantime I would just have to put up with the problems caused. I decided I wasn't prepared to do this, and wanted a refund. Quite a few emails later, I was told how to do this, and applied for the refund on the same day. That was on 6.12.03 and almost two months later I still don't seem to have my money.
Having uninstalled NIS 2004 completely (there's a web page somewhere on the Symantec pages describing how to do it that claims that every last reference to the wretched thing is obliterated), I reinstalled 2003, thinking I'd rather pay the renewed subscription! However, whilst there was a nice little surprise regarding the subscription issue (guess!), it has repeatedly failed to update one element of the program completely, and I think I will need to start with the installation again. But it does, at least, seem to work properly, which can't be said for NIS 2004!
Concluding advice: if you've got NIS etc 2003, don't "upgrade" and if you are wanting to get AV or firewall protection, don't go for NIS 2004!
Michael