Norton AntiVirus 2006 [Ancient Version]
- Involuntarily updates itself for 12 months to protect you against the latest viruses, viruses, Trojan horses, worms, and spyware
- Prevents spyware programs from hijacking your home page and redirecting you to their download sites.
- Checks incoming and outgoing email attachments and instant messages for viruses.
- Uses smart technology to detect emergent worms and other new threats without waiting for updates.
- Disinfects your system prior to installation, starting you off with a clean, virus-free computer.
Norton AntiVirus 2006 wards off a host of Internet threats. Whether its surfing or chatting, emailing or file swapping, Norton AntiVirus is constantly at work in the background, involuntarily detecting and removing viruses, Trojan horses, and worms. It also rids your computer of unwanted spyware, adware, and other monitoring software. And with powerful file-by-file scanning capabilities, Norton AntiVirus facilitates agonize-free file sharing. Whether you shuttle files over email or via IM and whether you send them compressed or one at a time—you can be confident any file you open has been scanned for threats. Even if your computer is already infected, Norton AntiVirus is the ideal solution. It’s designed to identify and remove any existing viruses during installation. Once installed, Norton AntiVirus continues to update itself involuntarily. That way, when a new threat arises, your software will be equipped to handle it. There’s no other virus protection like Norton AntiVirus. And if you want to use the Internet with confidence—and without perilous spyware surveillance you—you need the most trusted solution available.
Rating: 
(out of 172 reviews)
spyware review
I have used antivirus harvest since the DOS and Windows 3.1 days when antivirus protection was still an “option”. Now you not only need AV protection for your PC but you also should have excellent antispyware and a software firewall. In the ancient days McAfee AV used to be free and Norton AV used to be a premium AV program that worked well at a reasonable price. These things are no longer right now and the software security industry has become a multi-billion dollar Godzilla type of monster that mostly cares about their own profits before consumer interests. Unfortunately Symantec’s Norton Antivirus 2004, 2005 and 2006 are evidence of one of these Godzilla monsters out of control and on the loose.
What happened to this once fantastic antivirus program ? The answer is a amalgamation of “bloatware syndrome” and “product activation”. Norton AV 2003 and previous versions did require a quicker computer with allot of system resources but they were recognized as some of the best antivirus security programs in the world. This reputation as being number one and the popularity of the internet made Norton Antivirus a prime target for the software thieves to copy, distribute, and profit from one of Symantec’s best product. Unfortunately Symantec’s solution, explicitly product activation combined with poor programming, has made a cure for Symantec that is worse than the illness. I have personally never seen, read about, or heard of a software program released on a large scale by a major software company that has corrupted and hurt more working computers than Norton Antivirus 2004, 2005 and 2006 harvest have. When I say “hurt” I don’t mean that the computer hardware is effected but what I mean is that at least ninety percent of the time when the Norton Antivirus installation does not go well then a complete restoration or reinstallation of the operating system is required. Since the Norton AV 2004 release I have heard and seen this happen over and over to people of all skill levels from fixed users to advanced computer technicians. If you reflect you are immune to this happening to you if you upgrade or install the latest Norton AV 2006 then I wish you the best. Possibly this may possibly be your lucky day.
I am not here to bash Symantec or the Norton brand of harvest. Remember that I have used and been a fan of Norton Antivirus up in anticipation of Norton Antivirus version 2003 of which I have an updated subscription and I still use on my computer now. I really hope that Symantec gets its act together and improves Norton AV for prospect versions before it loses most of its Antivirus customers for excellent.
Here are some possible solutions. If you still want to use a Symantec AV product then look into purchasing the latest “corporate version” of Norton Antivirus. I have read that the corporate version is still and brilliant program without all the bloatware and bugs of the retail versions. You may possibly also austerely use Norton Antivirus 2003 or SystemWorks 2003 which can still be bought inexpensively online as an OEM version. But if you have had it with Norton for now and want to jump ship before it completely sinks then I recommend you try McAfee VirusScan 2006 or TrendMicro’s PC-Cillin 2006. There are some other antivirus choices that are also supposed to be excellent including Kaspersky, Panda, and Computer Associate’s E-Trust and EZ-Antivirus. Don’t forget to install a excellent antispyware program such as Microsoft Antispyware or Webroot’s Spy Sweeper and use a excellent software firewall or at the very least make sure that the standard Windows XP SP2 firewall is enabled.
Before you install any antivirus alternatives to Norton AV remember to completely, perfectly, and by the book uninstall any and all versions of Norton Antivirus from your computer. You can find some helpful information regarding the proper un-installation of Norton Antivirus harvest on Symantec’s web site. The sad truth is that there are so many hidden and discrete files that the retail version of Norton AV installs on your computer that some people have reported it to be harder to completely uninstall Norton AV than it is to get rid of a terrible computer virus.
PROS: Program interface is attractive, the latest version has many new security features including spyware detection, the Norton Antivirus brand has traditionally had a very excellent reputation for computer virus detection and system security.
CONS: Serious installation problems have been reported by many users relating to product activation and certification. It often disables or hurts previous versions of Norton’s security harvest. It ties up system resources and often causes a dramatic system slowdown. It is hard and seemingly impossible to completely remove it from your computer once it has been fully installed. Product support is expensive and time consuming.
CONCLUSION: Norton has had three years to right the flaws in their antivirus software and it seems like every year it has only gotten worse. I wrote most of this review for version 2005 and here we are in 2006 and it is the same tale. Therefore I have only needed to exchange the product years from 2005 to 2006 from last year’s review. To make things worse I really would recommend the Norton Antivirus 2005 product over the 2006 version. Last year I really saw the 2005 pre-installed product working on several new computers but everything I have seen so far from this 2006 version tells me that it is more store hogging and more buggy than ever. Most other computer technicians that I know no longer recommend Norton Antivirus at all. If you have an older version of Norton that is working ok and you can still update the subscription for the latest classification files then possibly consider doing that in anticipation of you choose to switch over to another antivirus program in the near prospect. This problematic Norton Antivirus software is not worth any more of our time or effort. Therefore I must conclude that at of the time I write this review the retail version of Norton Antivirus 2006 is NOT RECOMMENDED for most computer users.
The bottom line…One Star.
MY FINAL SUGGESTIONS: If you are looking for a excellent antivirus program take a look at McAfee VirusScan 2006 v10, Kaspersky Personal 5, CA EZ Antivirus 2006 release 7, or PC-Cillin 2006. Advanced PC users, serious online gamers and network administrators should take a excellent look at the amazingly well-organized but more complex NOD32 antivirus software by ESET. Don’t forget to use a excellent antispyware program such as Spy Sweeper 4.5, Microsoft Antispyware beta, or McAfee Antispyware 2006 v2. For a software firewall austerely use the Windows XP SP2 firewall enabled or McAfee Personal Firewall 2006 for more protection. Advanced power internet users should take a look at Zone Alarm Pro 6 (version 6.1.744 is the latest version as I write this review). If you have any Norton product on your computer and want to exchange make sure you completely uninstall it as much as you can or you will run into serious problems trying to install any new security software. Read the Symantec support site for the detailed uninstall instructions further than just by Windows XP add/remove programs method.
I always use Norton AV on my computer, so I’m a fan of it. I was torn this year between just paying the $30 for updating my Norton 2005 for a year, or buying the new NAV 2006. Well, I wound up buying NAV 2006, as it said it has anti-spyware now, even even if it was a few dollars more than just buying another year on last year’s NAV. Well, I run both Spybot and Ad-aware on my computer regularly, and I haven’t seen any decrease in the number of items they find! I thought with NAV 2006 keeping spyware off my computer, Ad-aware and Spybot wouldn’t find anything anymore – I was incorrect. My advice – just spend the $30 to update last year’s version online – paying even a small superfluous for this year’s version isn’t worth it.
I have installed it, removed it and re-installed it. It finally said the product was activated. but it was not as the subscription was marked as expired before I started. By calling an 800 number I was finally able to get an unlock key and the activation/subscription issue was resolved. It has never managed to register the product key on their server. I tkeeps sayning cant do that now try again later.
If you allow it to scan for some of the things other than virus, worms, adware and spyware, it get hung up in scanning the _Restore directory.
Some of their earlier harvest were more user friendly.
The worst software – EVER. I wish there was a zero star rating. Antivirus keeps telling me to renew even even if I have six months left on my subscription. When I use the dialog box to report that my subscription is active (or even to renew) and endless stream of browsers to Symantec open.
Symantec charges you for telephone support but online live chat “support” is free. Once you clarify the problem to Raji, he will tell you to go through a series of steps that you have already tried. Unfortunately, those steps require you to reboot, you lose your connection to Raji, and the problem remains. So you log on again and get Shaktar. Shaktar insists you go through the same exact process that Raji required.
Eventually, if you don’t kill yourself first, you learn to cut, paste and save your chats so you don’t have to retype the whole thing. At this top you’re thinking, erroneously, that the next Indian you chat with will see that you have already tried the scripted response twice (or more) and come up with a different proposition. But no, even after reading that you have already gone through the same process three times, Narayan insists that he cannot help you unless you do the same thing again.
I am now trying to remove every remnant of Norton Antivirus which I now consider to BE a virus.
I had several annoying adware programs that I wanted to get rid of, so I bought Norton, thinking that since they were the huge kid on the block that their software would be able to handle some run-of -the-mill adware programs. Incorrect. It takes a very long time to run, and even even if it would say that it found the offending software, it was unable to delete it. A friend told me about AVG Anit-virus software by Grisoft (which for some reason Amazon does not handle) and it did an incredible job and it runs much quicker. I finished up removing the Norton program from my computer since it was not providing any real useful service.