5 comments about Norton 360 5 User.

1. I was an avid user of Norton's System Works back in 2002. The program worked very well, even the AntiVirus program that was included with it was extremely efficient. In 2004 I bought Norton's Antivirus 2004. It quite literally crashed and burned! Now, after using Trend which didn't stop a bugger of a virus, I made th switch back to Norton's after the IT person where I work recommended them over Trend and just about all other programs. What did I learn? Don't listen to the IT people where I work!
   
   Norton's 360 does have some good features. Anti-Spyware, the Firewall, and the Identity protection functions are very nice. It also has a Firefox cleanup as a default setting. So if you're worried about someone snooping around your computer looking for your most frequented websites, this is nice to have. The program installed relatively easily. And the program will auto update on it's own. It also has a PC Tune Up function that includes a cleanup and disk defragmenter, and a Backup files system which can be annoying because it will keep asking you to buy more storage space. It also has "Auto Fill" form for your favorite websites and Phishing protection. All nice features.
   
   Unfortunately that's where the praise stops. Norton's 360 2.0 is so bloated and so resource hungry it will significantly slow down your system. Even if you have a fairly fast computer (I'm running a Dell 2.0 gig AMD Dual Core system with 1gig of RAM) it will still slow your computer down to a crawl at times. Your computer will also boot up more slowly, sometimes the startup sound coming over ten seconds after Windows XP loads. Windows shutdown can also be problematic. Your computer will hang for a bit and then you will occasionally get an error message saying "ccsrvchst.exe error" or something to that effect. Plain and simple, this is something that a software maker should ensure doesn't happen!! Symantec has been very slow to come up with a solution for this. People have come up with some registry edits on their own. However if you're not an experienced computer user I wouldn't recommend attempting them. Symantec's email support is also slow to non-responsive. I sent them an email about a week ago and I have yet to receive a reply. And probably the final insult, you have to download a special tool from Symantec's website to completely remove Norton 360 2.0. As it has a tendency to leave bits of itself behind on your computer.
   
   There used to be a time when I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a Norton or Symantec product. However, Norton 360 2.0 is evidence on just how far the company has fallen in terms of quality. The best way I can put it is that Norton's 360 2.0 is the SUV of security programs. It's big, obtrusive, and it's a power hungry beast who's hunger you can not satiate. Honestly, I can't recommend this product to anyone. I'm currently looking for an alternative that's more efficient.



2. Symantec (seller of Nortaon Anti-Virus products) is not a reputable company. I purchased an on-line anti-virus subscription, had difficulty installing it, got fed up and went to McAfee. Symantec refuses to give me a refund. Their customer service is terrible and very hard to reach. It's in India and if you aren't a "preferred" customer you will wait at least 30 minutes. I know because I've timed it.
   
   McAfee Anti-Virus software was easy to install. Their customer service personnel were very helpful. Go with McAfee and avoid Symantec.
   
   Kurt Helmig



3. I wish I could have given this steaming pile of bits no stars! I installed Norton 360 on two computers. It slowed down both of them. Not severely so, until the program started to nag me to renew my subscription. After I did so I lost the use of my laptop for about 4 days. It slowed down so much that it took 4-6 HOURS to boot up and about the same amount of time to shut down!!! After determining that Norton could be the problem it took me almost 18 hours to delete the program. Perhaps the problems have been corrected in Version 2. I AM NOT GOING TO TAKE THE CHANCE!!! I had already removed the program from my other machine because it blocked me from connecting to my ipod, pda and many online functions.



4. Recieved this item in original box. Works well with basic Vista platform. The price could not have been any cheaper. I mean this was a buy you can not refuse. ANYWHERE and I mean anywhere. I shopped untill I dropped.



5. Over all a great product. It does impact startup and shutdown speed. It more than tripled the time it takes for the computer to shut down once you click the shut down button (Windows XP). I do like the features better than other security systems I've tried, however.

1 comments about Pc-Cillin Internet Security 2007 3-User.

1. This product just "does the job", quietly in the background, without constant interruptions. In my opinion, Pc-Cillin is heads above McAfee and Norton anti-virus programs, and is much less expensive.

No comments about Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Standard Upsell.

5 comments about McAfee Internet Security Suite 2007 - 3 Users.

1. I am a Comcast customer like some others here and downloaded this product as an upgrade to the McAfee I already had through them. BIG Mistake. I just hung up after being on the phone with their tech support for 1/2 hour trying to uninstall it. My computer had been badly messed up for several days before I came here and saw that I was not the only one suffering these problems. I realized that it was the McAfee program after reading the other reviews here. Trying to get assistance from them was quite painful too. What a mess!



2. I purchased McAfee Internet Security Suite for 2 years in a row and had no problems. Hopefully I'll make it through the year so I can buy another brand when my subscription is up! It took me 2 hours to figure out that all 70 some items disappeared from my Outlook Express inbox because of bugs in McAfee. (It was a quick fix though.)



3. I am able to install and use the McAfee suite as a free download from my ISP Comcast. On two machines running XP, this new version installed fine and has not caused any issues. We recently bought 2 new identical Dell laptops running Vista Home Premium. I installed the McAfee suite on both. On my wife's machine, it has run fine although it does slow the machine down considerably when it is doing something. These machines are no slouches - 2GB RAM and Core Duo processors. On my machine, it constantly churns and reduces the PC to unusable it is so slow, CPU usage runs near 100%.
   I have put both machines side by side and verified the settings, programs, hardware etc. are IDENTICAL on both so I have no explanation for this behavior on one machine and not the other. I have uninstalled and reinstalled it 3 times now, and run the McAfee removal tool (available as a download from McAfee) to ensure a clean install. Using the Process Explorer program (similar to Task Manager), I watch as various parts of the McAfee suite kick in and gobble from 40-100% CPU time even when the machine is sitting idle.
   The bottom line is that if you are running Vista, you should probably look elsewhere for your security needs- as you can see many others have experienced slowdowns to the point of reducing the machine to an unusable paperweight with this product. Luckily I have no expense incurred!
   Update 12/28/07: I finally gave up on this product, uninstalled it and went to the AVG free antivirus. The McAfee suite would not hog the cpu if I would hibernate the machine and brought it back up, but if it was powered off or restarted the same old behavior returned. I tried to run the manual virus scan, it ran for nearly 4 hours! And this is on a new machine with relatively few files. Once I uninstalled it, I ran a full scan with AVG which took 39 minutes. Maybe the 2008 version of McAfee will be improved......??



4. Have been with either McAfee or Symantic/Norton for probably 15 years or more. Overall I have had more problems with McAfee, but have had most of them resolved via their IM support (Real person? Get real!!)- it can take a couple of hours as the response times can be incredibly s-l-o-w, but we did get there eventually.
   I bought a new PC a couple of months ago which came with a 90 day trial for Symantic, and it expired yesterday. I had an unused copy of McAfee which I had purchased just before my old PC expired, causing me to buy the new one, so I thought that I would install that and save me a trip down the shops and me spending more of my hard earned money.
   Once the install started it did warn me that there were known incompatibility issues with Vista, so part of it is my own fault I suppose, but I have seen that warning before with installing other software and had experienced no major problems.
   Anyway, once it had completed installation and I double clicked on the desktop icon, the system crashed and started to shut down - it stalled at this point and the hard drive was running continuously. After 5 minutes I got bored and turned the PC off, counted to 10 and then restarted it.
   All looked well, until I tried to sign in, when explorer.exe crashed and none of the buttons/icons on the user sign in screen did what they should. Could not get it to start, stop or restart and ended up having to turn the power off. Tried a couple of more times to see if the problems would resolve themselves, but they didn't and so resorted to a system restore - thank goodness for system restore is all I can say!!!
   The result is that i will be going back to Symantic as I know that works with my PC



5. McAfee Security Suite has computer-jacked my computer! I totally hate this product and I've used McAfee for years. Terrible, terrible. When it is scanning or checking my computer, it slows everything else down to a snail's pace. Opening other websites or writing email is extremely frustrating when McAfee is doing its thing. Quite frequently, it knocks me off the internet. It's like someone else has taken control of my computer. I am going to get this nightmare off of my computer. I want my money back!

No comments about SpyAnywhere - Web-Based Remote Administration.

2 comments about Internet Cleanup 5.0.

1. This software not only slowed down my computer across the board by at least 25%, it was almost impossible to uninstall. Took considerable time and effort to get rid of it. The next time I start to worry about the integrity of my Mac, I'll do more research.



2. This thing doesn't do much, but makes everything more complicated. I've been trying to uninstall it for a while now, I've deleted the program from my Mac, but everytime I plug in a USB drive, it still pops up, asking for my password. I can't find where it is in my computer...but it's there. Does anyone know how to get rid of it??

5 comments about Norton Personal Firewall 2005 - Single User.

1. After installing Firewall 2005 I could not access the internet. Punching through menu after menu on the tech. assistance line I came up with an option that directly addressed my problem, so I guess I'm not the only one. Two service calls later, trying to struggle through language difficulties with tech. reps. from India, I was sent an e-mail which assured me would cure all my problems. An hour and a half later the problem still wasn't cured.
   
   I object to Symantec making their problem mine, so I returned the software.



2. I don't recomend this product
   after installing you need to activate it
   this sounds easy enuff but is a hassle, after a few installs
   Norton makes you call their tech suport to get activation numbers
   and when I called, their server was down or something
   so after push this push that wait on hold etc was told would have to call back again,
   if you don't activate it then will work for just 15 days,
   its a shame to pay for something that you can't use unless you have lots of time to waste



3. I'll try and stay fairly objective about this. It will be difficult. I installed this on a brand spanking new Win2K SP4 machine. Here is what I've experienced.
   
   1. Poor to no support documentation for this product, either included or on their web site.
   
   2. Default security policy is not adequate. I've installed server apps that the wizard interface said were reccomended safe, which I know darned well aren't. ( therefore requiring rule customization for the apps to work correctly)
   
   3. Adding even basic firewall rules crashes this product, HARD.
   
   4. Does not play well with others, when it does crash, it can 't be shut down or restarted with the task manager, causing a REQUIRED reboot.
   
   5. I have crashed IE and had this product crash queitly without any alert, leaving my box exposed on the network.
   
   6. No ability to configure perpetual logging. You are limited to 2 megs of their binary log format, so essentially all someone has to do to blast your logs off your box is DOS your for about a minute.
   
   (You can take snapshots of the logs, but that still positions you to loose data, particularly in a DOS situation.)
   
   7. Firewall rule base is not exportable, which means multiple hosts have to be indevidually configured. This fact alone makes it impractical in a small office environment.
   
   8. The interface is badly obfuscated. No less than six clicks just to get to the rule base.
   
   9. Their "Check my security" port scanner is bogus. Their port scanner only checks the lower 1024 ports, and depends on some sort of agent (which a good security policy would block anyway) to do the rest of the evaluation. So essentially you get a false "good" evaluation.
   
   I'm in the IT business, and I explicitly DO NOT recommend this product to my customers. I will check amazon.com before purchasing anything from these folks again.
   
   The only thing this product seems to do well is schill their 900 tech support phone number. But after all the time this product has wasted, I feel like they owe _me_ money.



4. My new Dell came with this pre-installed. It kept crashing until I removed Norton Personal Firewall, it hasn't crashed since. A client just called, they installed NPF on their computers and killed their entire office network. I'm off to fix that now.



5. Would not install (non-stop errors). Continually showed "disabled" (I'd enable it on the menu and the icon would only show "disabled"). Crashed my other software. Support is NONEXISTENT! (They have the nerve to charge $30.00 for technical support- per incident- for help with the garbage they've sold you. Perhaps the only way to actually get help but they weren't getting another dime out of me) I can't believe what's happened with this company. Three years ago it was all we used in our offices (and me at home). Honestly, this has been the worst experience I've ever had with any software. My other four computers have McAfee (no problems). One came with Norton AntiVirus preinstalled so I purchased the (same) firewall. Needless to say they BOTH went! Never again! Just hearing the word "Norton" gives me hives-

No comments about Mcafee Internet Security Suite 2006 Version 8.0.

5 comments about Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Professional 2003 English.

1. I used Visual Studio 6 / Visual Interdev a lot and found it very good. I'm a decent VB programmer so I created several apps and managed our corporate website /sub webs with it too. I could do all that my business group needed. VS.NET 2003 has just made all that a lot, lot harder for not much gain. Aside from learning the new languages VB.NET and C# which I don't really mind the new asp.net and web site development is horrendous for people who do it all themselves. It was a lot simpler before. First time you try to delete a test project you won't find a delete option or anything in the help about it. It turns out you need to use explorer to delete the files and IIS to remove the virtual site. Why would they do that? In short the gains are mainly for the big enterprise users with 2003 servers running IIS6. $$$. Very disappointing really and I really like Microsoft stuff. Microsoft SQL server is fantastic for instance. Good luck and be prepared to study...



2. Can someone please explain why I would buy .Net Pro when the MSDN Pro subscription is cheaper and comes with much more? Frankly, both of them see highly overpriced. They should pay me to develop for their platform.



3. To put simple, this product is good, but it's not great. The true biggest problem is the complexity and learning curve. If your migrating from DevStudio, then you'll have a heck of a time learning the new environment and set up. But once you learn how to use it (which will take a while), it's much better than DevStudio, and the new languages are definately worth it.



4. I've been working as a web develop for over 5 years, and I've tried hundreds of different editors and IDE. Visual Studio.NET is by far the most complete I have ever used. My boss' at first weren't too happy about forking out so much for one peice of software, but on the first project we used it for, we made the money back on a short development time and testing time.

   Because everything can be developed in more or less the same way as an ASP.NET app, we were able to offer clients more solutions for their buck. We now offer desktop and mobile solutions as well as what we offered before!

   The learning curve can be somewhat steep, but once you learn to do most things, everything will become a breeze.




5. We at hytechpro (www.hytechpro.com/services.html) have been providing robust solutions built on Microsoft solutions. We have found that this is a great programming environment and enable our team to deliver solutions in C# or other technologies to our client base worldwide.
   
   I would strongly recommend it to all the people.

5 comments about Microsoft Expression Web [OLD VERSION].

1. For the most part, there isn't much difference between Front Page 2003 and Expression Web. I created two websites in the last 6 months and I found Expression Web far easier to use.
   
   If you really want to make full use of this program, you'll use style sheets and some of the other advanced features that are not completely intuitive. FP 2003 had those same features, but I found ExWeb not only easier to use, but it rendered previews more accurately than FP2003.
   
   It's not a bad program. If you're serious about web design and standards, this might be the product for you. If you're just learning, you may want to find something cheaper or something downloadable for free. (caution, free downloads often contain spyware or other malicious code within the program).



2. Microsoft has made some real improvements over the horrible FrontPage series... but it's amazing how many bugs this thing has. I've been using it for a couple months now, and besides the fairly frequent hangs, it'll occasionally undo the changes you just made when you save, has difficulties pasting in from a Word document, and creates and absurd amount of junk CSS at the top of your page by default. I frankly don't need an entirely new CSS class if I want to bold and italicize one word on a page, yet it'll create one and throw it at the top, so if you do a lot of formatting, you'll have a mountain of junk CSS in your header. It does handle CSS a million times better than FrontPage which offered virtually no support, but it still has a LONG way to go and probably should've been subjected to a couple more months of Beta testing before this release.



3. I bought this because I had a website in frontpage that is being discontinued by Microsoft. I watched the tutorial which was just an overview...but when I have tried to watch it again to study it....it is frozen up. It is not my computer because it is new and top of the line. I called the company that produced it (a microsoft vendor) and they have yet to get back with me with the resolution.
   
   This program is extremely more complicated than frontpage and does not have a simple way to learn exactly how and when to use all of the many features. It seem like 3 programs in one overlayed on top of each other.



4. This is the first WYSIWYG editior i have used. Other reviwers say this program is not for beginners and does not have any help for them. I dissagre because if you use the online help you can find the subject you are looking for. I am a beginner to web design but I found this program easy to use and very good. I use the basic features but as I get more advanced I will probaly use them. I do not know CSS but i know how it works. On of my favorite feutures is that you can type in things on the design view and the program will generate all the code needed. The program itself looks sort of like Visual studo. Overall I recommend it. Great program! It lacks php and secure ftp though.



5. I bought this software to help me design several web sites including an e commerce site. Overall, this software is very user friendly. Having never used any major web design software, I found it easy to navigate and figure out although I must admit that I had to refer to a help book to decifer a few things - especially with the e commerce site. Once you understand the basics though, it is very straight forward. The tutorials are good. The help links are also good. No regrets in buying it!