Is Norton taking over

[Martin]

I went to buy a new laptop today... all the ones in the store had Norton installed "on a 30 day trial" I asked if they had any without Norton (as it slows down the computer and is REAL hard to totally delete).

The salesman said "no" but I could go to a web site and blah blah blah...

Just looking for a notebook / laptop , light and compact computer that can take my music (120G) plus the rest.
Pref a 250G one

So is norton infecting the new computers out there?

Do Norton have a contract with HP and the rest to get thier software out there?

[Beowulf]

I remember whn Norton used to be good. Norton Utilities was the BEE'S KNEE's when it came to utility programs.

But nowadays Norton is pants.. not nice pants but smelly worn for a week by a big sweaty guy called Norman and been lying at the foot of the bed unwashed for a futher week Pants!

I got a 2nd hand PC from a collegue for my Dad a while back .. it had Norton installed on it. I threw the disks out the window and formatted the Hard drive (had other junk on it too)

Ripley: "I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. "

When you've done that install McAfee.. :respect:

[Dreadful Scathe]

I went to buy a new laptop today... all the ones in the store had Norton installed "on a 30 day trial" I asked if they had any without Norton (as it slows down the computer and is REAL hard to totally delete).

The salesman said "no" but I could go to a web site and blah blah blah...

Just looking for a notebook / laptop , light and compact computer that can take my music (120G) plus the rest.
Pref a 250G one

So is norton infecting the new computers out there?

Do Norton have a contract with HP and the rest to get thier software out there?
yup - i think they are in tight with a lot of PC manufacturers. Norton software is no better than a virus. Could always buy a Dell with ubuntu installed - or just erase the laptop you do have and install ubuntu yourself. Apart from games, which tend not to perform well on all but the most expensive laptops anyway - there is no big drawback with linux nowadays.

[drathzel]

you could get a Mac!

[Beowulf]

you could get a Mac!

I'll buy a mac when I want to infect an invading alien armada with a ship defence disrupting virus. Until then.. I'm good with a PC thanks !! :wink: :na:


(That Mac brainwashing is really potent isn't it?)

[Keefy]

So is norton infecting the new computers out there?Infecting is probably the right word! I've never been able to tell the difference between Norton Security and a sustained DoS attack :sick:

[Lynn]

Yeah, he's always on something or other on BBC 1.

Oh, not that Norton.

[Dreadful Scathe]

Yeah, he's always on something or other on BBC 1.

Oh, not that Norton.
no the software is actualy much LESS annoying :)

[Beowulf]

Yeah, he's always on something or other on BBC 1.

Oh, not that Norton.


no the software is actually much LESS annoying :)

:yeah: I'd like to use the same solution to THAT Norton as well as the other...


Ripley: "I say we take off and nuke the entire STUDIO from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. "

be a lot easier to get rid off than Norton Symantec .. after all all you need is a good quicklime solution to dissolve the flesh and a large hammer / grind stone to pulverise the bones...

.. sorry am thinking about those sods from BBC2 Scotland again !

[pmjd]

When you've done that install McAfee.. :respect:

Your kidding:what:

McAfee led me to have to spend 3 days trying to undo the effects it had on someone's email program and their ability to send and receive emails:tears: especially as a reformat was not an option to get rid of it.

Norton is exceptionally bad these days, just seems to sit there and consume resources.

Martin maybe your best option would be to wipe the HDD and start again with the recovery disks, as it seems to be impossible to avoid Norton.

Haven't had to buy any antivirus software in a while (I'm saying nothing about being a mac user now:whistle:) but AVG's free antivirus (http://free.grisoft.com/) seems to be fine (think I'll switch my parents to that after their McAfee licence runs out, this time I'll stop McAfee charging my Dad's credit card without warning:angry:), or if you want to buy something that's good and doesn't hog any resources try NOD32 (http://www.eset.com/)

[Beowulf]

Your kidding:what:

That's You're.. ooops wrong thread :wink:

No I like McAfee. I recommend all my friends, family and colleagues to use it.

It's easy to understand, makes sense and works well. It doesn't hog resources like Norton or some others and I never get false positives.

I have McAfee Internet Security Suite at home, AV, Firewall, Spam blocking , secure file delete, and identity management. and I've NEVER had a problem with it.

[Lynn]

Question - I have Norton on my laptop at home. I have McAfee to install - how do I take Norton off and put McAfee on? Is it straightforward enough?

[Beowulf]

Question - I have Norton on my laptop at home. I have McAfee to install - how do I take Norton off and put McAfee on? Is it straightforward enough?

Quite straightforward.

1. you must wait for the moons of Jupter to Align
2. With a thrice blessed silver sickle you must cut the power from the laptop with one stroke.
3. at all times let the light of the full moon shine upon the screen , should a shadow be cast upon it then a gateway to hell will open and demons will infest your hard drive.

Actually. It depends. You "SHOULD" be able to do add/remove programs and uninstall. But you'll find you may get "left overs" Personally when I did it I booted into safe mode, uninstalled it then deleted the folder and did a search through the registry to remove any stragglers ..

That SHOULDN'T be necessary for a well written program.

[pmjd]

Do Norton have a contract with HP and the rest to get thier software out there?

Well here's a list of Norton's OEM partners. (http://www.symantec.com/partners/programs/oem_systembuilder/partnerlist.jsp) It does seem to cover all the major system builders, except Acer. Maybe your best hope of getting a Norton free laptop would be to look at an Acer or a laptop from a smaller Australian company?


That's You're.. ooops wrong thread :wink:
:blush: one of those mornings.

However, are you sure you want to play this game:whistle:


I remember whn Norton used to be good. Norton Utilities was the BEE'S KNEE's when it came to utility programs.

But nowadays Norton is pants.. not nice pants but smelly worn for a week by a big sweaty guy called Norman and been lying at the foot of the bed unwashed for a futher week Pants!

I got a 2nd hand PC from a collegue for my Dad a while back .. it had Norton installed on it. I threw the disks out the window and formatted the Hard drive (had other junk on it too)
3-0 on spelling or 1-1 draw on punctuation :na:

[Martin]

Question - I have Norton on my laptop at home. I have McAfee to install - how do I take Norton off and put McAfee on? Is it straightforward enough?

Well I paid for Norton 360 on my current computer (the one I have had for a few years), knowing that many years ago Norton was the best, but it was a disaster, hence my dislike of it...

I did an unistal, through windows, but have since been told it does not wipe it all clean, the guy in the shop said to go to the Norton website and download an uninstal program and then run it...
It just defies logic to download software from Norton to get rid of Norton :sick:


Hence I do not want to buy a new laptop with Norton on it! I did like one of the HP computers, and said to the shop guy I will buy it if you can ship me one without Norton on it. He said he could not do it... and I don't want to play around.... So I am investigating Dell...


I run AVG on my current computer and I am happy with that.

[Martin]

Well here's a list of Norton's OEM partners. (http://www.symantec.com/partners/programs/oem_systembuilder/partnerlist.jsp) It does seem to cover all the major system builders, except Acer. Maybe your best hope of getting a Norton free laptop would be to look at an Acer or a laptop from a smaller Australian company?



Wow, thanks for the link. Norton have done well, shame their product does not suit me.
I did look at Acer, but the HP was a nice black and the Acer was white :blush: I wanted a cool black one :grin:

[Beowulf]

3-0 on spelling or 1-1 draw on punctuation :na:

:rofl: Curses... foiled again ;) :respect:

[Lynn]

Actually. It depends. You "SHOULD" be able to do add/remove programs and uninstall. But you'll find you may get "left overs" Personally when I did it I booted into safe mode, uninstalled it then deleted the folder and did a search through the registry to remove any stragglers ..

That SHOULDN'T be necessary for a well written program.So what happens if I have 'left overs'? Will it affect how McAfee runs? Or any other software?

Ie, if I just do an uninstall, can I then just install McAfee?

[Martin]

Had a result from Dell.

They are happy to supply without Norton, and it is a cool black one!!

Only thing is it is only 160 GB, was hoping for more, so I await their next reply.

Thing is I want it all - small and light, 14" only screen as I travel with it a lot., plus big hard drive.

[pmjd]

Lynn the Norton leftovers shouldn't affect things but it's possible they might affect another program in the future, so it's best to get rid of them if you can. Here's a handy tool from Norton themselves (http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039)

[pmjd]

Thing is I want it all - small and light, 14" only screen as I travel with it a lot., plus big hard drive.
and I thought I was bad after just having to buy a 160GB HDD for my laptop as my 60GB HDD is just almost full:really:

If Dell won't do it and you don't mind installing a HDD yourself you could get a 250GB for $290 (http://www.i-tech.com.au/products/21305_Western_Digital_WD2500BEVE_SCORPIO.aspx).

[Martin]

and I thought I was bad after just having to buy a 160GB HDD for my laptop as my 60GB HDD is just almost full:really:

If Dell won't do it and you don't mind installing a HDD yourself you could get a 250GB for $290 (http://www.i-tech.com.au/products/21305_Western_Digital_WD2500BEVE_SCORPIO.aspx).

PMJD - you are a star :D

I went to the norton site, on the link you gave and did the clean-up... I feel happier now.

I will wait for what Dell comes back to me with, I replied with questions, and got out of office til, Monday, which is cool, I can wait (even though there was an option to contact her manager, happy to give commision to her if she can provide).

Thanks also for the Western digital link, will it fit the Dell?
If so, and if dell can only do 160 max, I will buy the 250G and wait for my technical mate to visit.... (unless you are planning to visit the Gold Coast of Australia soon) :cheers:

I have an external hard drive which is 80G which I use as a backup, unfortunatly it is now full of music, and not all of the music I have, and has not got my business files on it, so must sort it all out soon. Probably buy a bigger hard drive laptop and then also buy a bigger external hard drive to back up.

Thanks again pmjd... most helpful

[drathzel]

or you could buy a mac!

[Beowulf]

or you could buy a mac!

"Whoa. DéjÃ* vu."
"What did you just say?"
"Nothing. Just had a little déjÃ* vu."
"What did you see?"
"What happened?"
"A post from drathzel appeared then another that looked just like it."
"How much like it? Was it the same Post?"
"It might have been. I'm not sure."
"Beo! PMJD!"
"What is it?"
"A déjÃ* vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something."

:wink:

[drathzel]

"Whoa. DéjÃ* vu."
"What did you just say?"
"Nothing. Just had a little déjÃ* vu."
"What did you see?"
"What happened?"
"A post from drathzel appeared then another that looked just like it."
"How much like it? Was it the same Post?"
"It might have been. I'm not sure."
"Beo! PMJD!"
"What is it?"
"A déjÃ* vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something."

:wink:

:yum:

[pmjd]

Thanks also for the Western digital link, will it fit the Dell?
If so, and if dell can only do 160 max, I will buy the 250G and wait for my technical mate to visit.... (unless you are planning to visit the Gold Coast of Australia soon) :cheers:
Not going to be out your way again anytime soon:sad:so you'll have to wait for you technical mate to visit.

All laptops use a 2.5" HDD. However newer laptops need a connection called serial ATA (SATA), as opposed to the older IDE (ATA) type. I think all the 250GB drives only come in SATA format but will check later. Changing a HDD is usually pretty easy, it's more often the setting the new one up that can be tricky. You can either use a USB HDD caddy and software like Acronis (http://www.acronis.com.au/) to clone the contents of your old HDD to your new one or you can just use the recovery disks and install Windows from scratch.

I'll look around and see what are the best 250GB HDDs to get, performance, reliablilty etc.



"A post from drathzel appeared then another that looked just like it."
"How much like it? Was it the same Post?"

Beo you should know better, it's the power of the Apple reality distortion field, it can bend time as well as space:wink:

[DavidY]

Well here's a list of Norton's OEM partners. (http://www.symantec.com/partners/programs/oem_systembuilder/partnerlist.jsp) It does seem to cover all the major system builders, except Acer.I have an Acer laptop, only a few months old, which came with Norton pre-installed. So unless they've changed their policy recently, an Acer may not be a Norton-free-option.

[DavidY]

When you've done that install McAfee.Maybe they've got better recently but I was unimpressed by McAfee a couple of years back. Can't remember exactly what it did, but Norton 2006 was a big step forward from it.

Unlike Norton 2007 which would randomly block sites (I think because it slowed the process up so much that IE and Firefox gave up waiting).

[Dreadful Scathe]

I have the, not often shared opinion, that an Operating System should be able to protect itself. So while I disagree that browsers, music and video players/editors and other such applications should be included with an operating system as it stifles competition and skews the market something terrible - I do think that virus killers should be an integral part of the OS - its basic security, plain and simple. Same with a basic firewall - as soon as a TCP/IP stack became part of the OS some security should have been accompanying it. Of course in those days the only traffic directed at your connection would be traffic requested by you. Now theres a constant stream of nonsense out there. My cable modem activity light is ALWAYS on even if none of my computers are.

[straycat]

or you could buy a mac!

SSSSHHHHHH! Why the evangelical zeal?
If everyone buys Macs, the virus writers will start targetting us too, and then we won't be able to gloat about being virus-free anymore.

If we keep Macs exclusive, then we should stay safe. Let everyone else take the heat.

To all you PC-devotees out there, I say Thank You. Your selflessness and sacrifice is very much appreciated.

Oh - and on a more thread-relevant note, I agree with Martin - AVG is an excellent piece of software, and I vastly prefer it to yer Nortons and yer McAfees....
Or if you want to go the free route, there's always ClamAV, but that's probably not for the faint-hearted.

And a big :yeah: to DS's assertion that an OS should be able to protect itself - but, alas, apart from giving us firewalls, I don't think any of 'em do anything on the virus front.

[killingtime]

"A déjÃ* vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something."

Woah!

[Dreadful Scathe]

Woah!
:rofl: shut it :)

[straycat]

:rofl: shut it :)

Isn't Arlene Phillips starring in the next one?
"Modern Jivers are a disease. A cancer on this planet. You are a plague. And we.... are the cure."

(or am I getting that confused with the WCS Hotshot Creed? Where's Caro when I need her?) :devil:

[Caro]

Where's Caro when I need her?) :devil:

In California :waycool: :wink: