R
Rich
Before I try it, are XP and Norton System Works 2003 compatible?
Tks.
-Rich
Tks.
-Rich
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W
William B. Lurie
Oh, they are compatible, allright. When NSW works, that is.Rich said:Before I try it, are XP and Norton System Works 2003 compatible?
Tks.
-Rich
I can tell you from personal experience (sad personal
experience) that I have had no end of trouble with
NSW 2003 and 2004 as well. If it gives trouble, and
you try to uninstall and reinstall it, after maddening
go-arounds with their support site, they'll give you
document leading to document leading to document,
requiring maybe 25 pages to print out, read and follow,
and the actual uninstall requires you to find and delete
dozens of lines in Windows Registry. On the plus side,
it is excellent, efficient software, living up to its
reputation, but it reminds me of the old nursery
rhyme "When she was good, she was very very good,
but when she was bad, she was horrid!!".
If you'd like to see a message I received from them
last month, and would like to follow some of their
links and advice, see my website:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/b/i/billurie/nortmsg.txt
William B. Lurie
J
Jim Walker
I gave up! Thank God, after rebates, NSW 2004 was free.
Now it is shelfware. Believe me, Norton Systemworks, has
lots of compatibility problems with XP Professional and
they need to admit it. Unbelievable is the number of
hours I spent uninstalling and reinstalling only to have
the same problems. Buyer beware! How many hours do you
really have to spend on a product that should still be
back in R & D. I am now having to decide if I want to
even keep their Anti-virus. I may go with McAfee.
Now it is shelfware. Believe me, Norton Systemworks, has
lots of compatibility problems with XP Professional and
they need to admit it. Unbelievable is the number of
hours I spent uninstalling and reinstalling only to have
the same problems. Buyer beware! How many hours do you
really have to spend on a product that should still be
back in R & D. I am now having to decide if I want to
even keep their Anti-virus. I may go with McAfee.
D
D.Currie
William B. Lurie said:Oh, they are compatible, allright. When NSW works, that is.
I can tell you from personal experience (sad personal
experience) that I have had no end of trouble with
NSW 2003 and 2004 as well. If it gives trouble, and
you try to uninstall and reinstall it, after maddening
go-arounds with their support site, they'll give you
document leading to document leading to document,
requiring maybe 25 pages to print out, read and follow,
and the actual uninstall requires you to find and delete
dozens of lines in Windows Registry. On the plus side,
it is excellent, efficient software, living up to its
reputation, but it reminds me of the old nursery
rhyme "When she was good, she was very very good,
but when she was bad, she was horrid!!".
If you'd like to see a message I received from them
last month, and would like to follow some of their
links and advice, see my website:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/b/i/billurie/nortmsg.txt
William B. Lurie
I ran into the same problem on a customer's machine with systemworks, and
the same thing with a similar product by a different manufacturer. Both had
issues with the firewall portion of the program, and for both I had to go
line by line through the registry.
To Symantec's credit, at least they posted the complete removal
instructions; with the other it was a bit more of a hunting expedition.
I had to do three such uninstalls in a week, and haven't seen one since.
W
William B. Lurie
AMEN, Jim!!! See my posting with link to the hard evidence.
Bill Lurie
Bill Lurie
B
Big Mac
I ran into the same problem on a customer's machine with systemworks, and
the same thing with a similar product by a different manufacturer. Both had
issues with the firewall portion of the program, and for both I had to go
line by line through the registry.
To Symantec's credit, at least they posted the complete removal
instructions; with the other it was a bit more of a hunting expedition.
I had to do three such uninstalls in a week, and haven't seen one since.
After an XP reformat and a reinstall of everything, which included
Systemworks 2003, I couldn't update my anti-virus software anymore.
Web site info was useless to me.
Well, I just did a no-no 2 weeks ago - I bought Systemworks 2004,
after I swore off anything Symantec - hated them for wanting $30 "per
incident" just to talk to them voice. Or, maybe they still have their
1-900 pay per minute line (how much a minute??). I ONLY took a chance
on it because it had 2 rebates - one was for buying it at that certain
electronic superstore, and the other was for upgrading from 2003 to
2004. So for like $10 - $12 I took a chance.
And it seems to work just great - Online updates, checking the
computer for viruses, one button systems check, fixing registries,
etc.
But also coming with it was a bonus box - "Norton Personal Firewall
2004". Well, everything else seemed to work ok, except one major
problem - I could not get any web pages to display. I tired a few
different things, but still, no web pages. Email ok, usenet program
ok, but no web pages. I just gave up and deleted it - thankfully, the
CD comes with an "uninstall" command, and I didn't have to fool
around.
If anyone knows of why I cannot display web pages with Norton Personal
Firewall 2004, please let me know.
B
Big Mac
Before I try it, are XP and Norton System Works 2003 compatible?
Tks.
-Rich
Unless you already own 2003, you should be getting 2004. There are
rebates all of the time offered, which should bring the price down to
like $30 or 440 at most, I would think. (I got two rebates, one was
because I upgraded from 2003 to 2004, and the other was just for
buying it at that store - costing me after rebates about $12).
I don't even know if you'd get free updates with 2003 - with 2004,
it's good for a year, and then you have to pay yearly for updates (or
whatever the subscription is good for). But I suppose if you bought
2003 brand new, you'd get a year's worth of a subscription.
B
Big Mac
Oh, they are compatible, allright. When NSW works, that is.
I can tell you from personal experience (sad personal
experience) that I have had no end of trouble with
NSW 2003 and 2004 as well. If it gives trouble, and
you try to uninstall and reinstall it, after maddening
go-arounds with their support site, they'll give you
document leading to document leading to document,
requiring maybe 25 pages to print out, read and follow,
and the actual uninstall requires you to find and delete
dozens of lines in Windows Registry.
-Yes. Frustrating. Very frustrating. Been there, done that, with
2003. Never did find a solution. And for $30 "per incident", you can
talk to them voice. Or perhaps their 1-900 pay-per-minute line is
still available. Email support?? Couldn't find it either.. And they
do not support in newsgroups too.
Anyway, I upgraded to 2004, no problems now. Why I upgraded to 2004
after getting screwed with 2003 is mentioned in another post in this
thread).
W
William B. Lurie
You did better than I, Big Mac, but, like me, you figuredBig said:After an XP reformat and a reinstall of everything, which included
Systemworks 2003, I couldn't update my anti-virus software anymore.
Web site info was useless to me.
Well, I just did a no-no 2 weeks ago - I bought Systemworks 2004,
after I swore off anything Symantec - hated them for wanting $30 "per
incident" just to talk to them voice. Or, maybe they still have their
1-900 pay per minute line (how much a minute??). I ONLY took a chance
on it because it had 2 rebates - one was for buying it at that certain
electronic superstore, and the other was for upgrading from 2003 to
2004. So for like $10 - $12 I took a chance.
And it seems to work just great - Online updates, checking the
computer for viruses, one button systems check, fixing registries,
etc.
But also coming with it was a bonus box - "Norton Personal Firewall
2004". Well, everything else seemed to work ok, except one major
problem - I could not get any web pages to display. I tired a few
different things, but still, no web pages. Email ok, usenet program
ok, but no web pages. I just gave up and deleted it - thankfully, the
CD comes with an "uninstall" command, and I didn't have to fool
around.
If anyone knows of why I cannot display web pages with Norton Personal
Firewall 2004, please let me know.
a bargain is a bargain. You got bit differently than I.
I refused to reformat the whole HD just to get rid of
Norton System Works. One thing you can be sure of: the
next time I have to reformat and rebuild my main HD, I
will NOT put Norton System Works of any year on it. And I
won't waste the hours that it would take to completely
uninstall the Symantec software and start over with it.
By the way, from their website, you can, with a lot of hunting,
find a way to get your questions to a 'group' where they may
get answered. For free. See links in my previous posting for
what their typical answers will look like.
Bill L.
B
Big Mac
AMEN, Jim!!! See my posting with link to the hard evidence.
Bill Lurie
So, the consensus is, if you are going to buy an anti-virus program,
or a Systemworks type program, avoid Symantec/Norton completely.
Look into McAfee, or some other avenue.
If Symantec/Norton had free voice support, or even, say, a $4 or $5
support line, that's be a different story. Or email support, for
crying out loud. Or tech support in Usenet, ditto (all "support"
offered is only by readers of the newsgroups). Christ - there isn't
even a single "Windows XP" newsgroup under symantec's titles
(everything is pre-XP operating systems).
W
William B. Lurie
Mac, I think it's a case of their being so big, they've lostBig said:So, the consensus is, if you are going to buy an anti-virus program,
or a Systemworks type program, avoid Symantec/Norton completely.
Look into McAfee, or some other avenue.
If Symantec/Norton had free voice support, or even, say, a $4 or $5
support line, that's be a different story. Or email support, for
crying out loud. Or tech support in Usenet, ditto (all "support"
offered is only by readers of the newsgroups). Christ - there isn't
even a single "Windows XP" newsgroup under symantec's titles
(everything is pre-XP operating systems).
sight of the fact that their 'good name' will eventually
get tarnished. And maybe they think it's okay to inconvenience
people, as long as their profits continue to rise. After all,
we're obviously the minority, we few unfortunates who seem to
be having trouble.
All of the stuff I showed on my website posting, and all of my
correspondence with them, has been by ordinary, free e-mail and
no paid support. It's on their website, but you have to go
through several screens, and be lucky enough to find the right
combination. After they make you read their 'knowledge base', if
you can't find answers, they let you fill out a blank page,
describing the problem. What comes back is what I posted for you
folks to look at.
Bill L.
R
R. C. White
Hi, Rich.
After using Norton/Symantec utilities for a couple of decades, I quite agree
with the other posters' comments - both good and bad. I don't recall just
which version of SystemWorks was my last one; perhaps 2002 on Win2K. One
thing I do recall was: don't ignore the instruction to uninstall any prior
version before installing the current one. And that is especially critical
if you are "upgrading" from a Win9x/ME version of Windows to a Win2K/XP
version, because SystemWorks cannot handle the migration to the NT platform.
With WinXP, I don't need most of the trashware in SystemWorks, such as
WinDoctor and CleanSweep (or whatever the current names are). But I DO need
a firewall and antivirus - and a spam filter makes life online better, too.
So I now use Norton Internet Security. The package includes those three
functions. It takes a LOT of customizing to get the filters set right, but
it's worth it.
A couple of those settings are definitely not intuitive. For example, to
get Windows Update (and Office Update), I had to temporarily disable the
protections (which left me very nervous). Then I found the secret in
Privacy Control, of all places! Since I added the Update web addresses, and
configured those to allow cookies, the Updates have worked fine.
One aspect of NIS 2003 that I liked MUCH better than NIS 2004 is the
program's handling of "intrusions". In NIS 2003, there would be a mild beep
and a discreet flag on my screen that went away after a few seconds. In NIS
2004, an intrusion is announced by a beep and a warning screen that pops up
and won't go away until I click OK. I must choose whether to permit it, to
block it once, to always block it, or to manually configure for intrusions
from this specific intruder. If I choose to manually configure, then I'm in
for a dozen or so mouse-clicks to choose whether to monitor or block,
whether from just this single IP or ALL computers (why would I choose
that?), whether to log the intrusion, and so on, before I can get back to
work. Several times a day, there is a flurry of these intrusion warnings; I
may have to go through the entire routine several times in a row. Of
course, I only have to do this once for each of the 256*256*256*256 IPs in
the world; only about 4 billion more times to block them all. :>( There
MUST be a setting that I haven't found yet, but I've looked, both within the
program and help file here in my computer and on the Symantec website. The
answer is probably there in plain sight, but worded in jargon that makes no
sense, even to a 25-year veteran of personal computing. :>(
Enough of my rant, Rich - and all. Even with the frustrations, I'll keep
using NIS 2004. But not System Works any longer.
RC
After using Norton/Symantec utilities for a couple of decades, I quite agree
with the other posters' comments - both good and bad. I don't recall just
which version of SystemWorks was my last one; perhaps 2002 on Win2K. One
thing I do recall was: don't ignore the instruction to uninstall any prior
version before installing the current one. And that is especially critical
if you are "upgrading" from a Win9x/ME version of Windows to a Win2K/XP
version, because SystemWorks cannot handle the migration to the NT platform.
With WinXP, I don't need most of the trashware in SystemWorks, such as
WinDoctor and CleanSweep (or whatever the current names are). But I DO need
a firewall and antivirus - and a spam filter makes life online better, too.
So I now use Norton Internet Security. The package includes those three
functions. It takes a LOT of customizing to get the filters set right, but
it's worth it.
A couple of those settings are definitely not intuitive. For example, to
get Windows Update (and Office Update), I had to temporarily disable the
protections (which left me very nervous). Then I found the secret in
Privacy Control, of all places! Since I added the Update web addresses, and
configured those to allow cookies, the Updates have worked fine.
One aspect of NIS 2003 that I liked MUCH better than NIS 2004 is the
program's handling of "intrusions". In NIS 2003, there would be a mild beep
and a discreet flag on my screen that went away after a few seconds. In NIS
2004, an intrusion is announced by a beep and a warning screen that pops up
and won't go away until I click OK. I must choose whether to permit it, to
block it once, to always block it, or to manually configure for intrusions
from this specific intruder. If I choose to manually configure, then I'm in
for a dozen or so mouse-clicks to choose whether to monitor or block,
whether from just this single IP or ALL computers (why would I choose
that?), whether to log the intrusion, and so on, before I can get back to
work. Several times a day, there is a flurry of these intrusion warnings; I
may have to go through the entire routine several times in a row. Of
course, I only have to do this once for each of the 256*256*256*256 IPs in
the world; only about 4 billion more times to block them all. :>( There
MUST be a setting that I haven't found yet, but I've looked, both within the
program and help file here in my computer and on the Symantec website. The
answer is probably there in plain sight, but worded in jargon that makes no
sense, even to a 25-year veteran of personal computing. :>(
Enough of my rant, Rich - and all. Even with the frustrations, I'll keep
using NIS 2004. But not System Works any longer.
RC