I’ve got Norton Antivirus and have always thought it was good, admittedly from a position of non-expertise on viruses. Each year I upgrade to the new version instead of just buying a year’s subscription to virus updates.
So I check the cost for doing this for 2004 at Amazon. And then Whoa! It gets a lousy 2.5 Star rating from reviewers. That’s odd. Then I read some of the reviews esp the really low ones, with comments like:
I always install the latest versions of Norton products and have always been happy with them.
This time is different – this product is not ready for release. Since I installed it my PC is running very very slowly. I intend to remove Internet Security 2004 and reinstall Internet Security 2003 – it really is that bad.
and
Like most people who like to surf and bank on line I wanted to ensure good internet anti-viral protection etc
I already had installed the 2003 version and checked all was OK via Symantec web site and all seemed fine
Like other reviews mentioned, on installing the 2004 version I now appear to be at risk from hackers with 3 ports open, oh dear, not exactly a leap forward in technology.
The 2003 version is back in the computer, the 2004 version is a new coaster for my coffee!!
And these are previously loyal customers. Then there’s a guy who discovered that it’s very difficult to uninstall Norton automatically (his PC wouldn’t restart and he was lucky to get it working again, with a lot of effort).
Also interesting… the really negative reviews tend to be rated way more useful by Amazon users (eg 23 out of 23 for a couple of “don’t buy this” comments).
Just a workaday example of the network phenomenon. How bad news travels fast – and how valuable it is to get the downside on products, a perfectly understandable response given marketing’s love of only giving us the hype. And I’m passing on the bad ones too, cos they are more interesting. Now there are also some very positive reviews, but before I stick something in my PC I need a lot more convincing.
