Norton SystemWorks 2008 Standard Edition 11.0

List Price: $69.99 Discount Price: $24.65

Features:

• Blocks viruses and spyware automatically with advanced protection and enhanced performance
• Lets you enjoy your computer at its best, making sure it's clean, repaired, and running at top speed with the click of a button.
• Diagnoses and fixes computer problems. Also quickly and permanently removes unwanted Internet clutter, temporary files, and other private information.
• Allows you to easily see what software processes are running on your system and which ones are affecting the overall performance.
• Puts you in charge of your PC by controlling access to the Windows settings. Performs a physical examination of the hardware to determine its stability and capability.

Customer Reviews:

BEWARE of Norton SystemWorks ! [Posted on 2008-03-11]
I have used Norton for the past 20 years, but no more. I took my CD out of the box, but it did not work.

I contacted Symantec live chat and got the technician 'Sreedevi' who said that he could take control of my computer and install the program, however, I need a custom install and need the CD. I was refused, I asked for a manager and was told he was out on 'emergency' so I am out the bucks with no program. I will never, ever buy a Norton product again, there is no customer service not even for faulty software.

Hours of Aggrevation! [Posted on 2008-03-11]
I followed all the rules, removed my prior versions, etc. The install was utter aggrevation... hours spent wasted to no avail and multiple reboots all to no avail. A technician finally "took over" my machine and installed it. Next day it needed activation again and the activation failed with a generic error message. Another call and another technician. It is finally working (I think). When these virus definitions expire, I will switch to something else. I will never buy Norton again.

Symantec a loser in my book [Posted on 2008-03-19]
For anyone considering buying the Symantec Norton SystemWorks product, I would advise them to consider these failures of the product and support.

In Feb. 2008, I contacted Symantec by chat because my Norton SystemWorks subscription had expired and a "subscription expired" alert was displaying every 30 seconds. When I chose Renew inside the product, as documented, the Live Update dialog was displayed instead of the Renewal Center panel. I waited for the chat through the 67 customers who were ahead of me. In the chat session, the technician could not make renewal work inside the product and eventually sent me a link to the Symantec site to renew, which I did. The product continued to display the subscription expired alert. The technician suggested a couple of options to stop the alert, which did not work. One of the options would have terminated the chat, which I told him when a message was displayed that indicated this. The technician was still in the process of trying to stop the alert messages when the chat connection was lost and the chat terminated. I was left with subscription alerts popping up every 30 seconds after I had resubscribed, and after rebooting.

When I resubscribed, I noticed that the "Subscription Service" date inside the product on the antivirus status screen was 5/9/2008 instead of one year later, 2/13/2009. From reading tech tips on the site, I determined that when I renewed, the system date was 5/9/2008. I corrected the system date, and the alert messages stopped.

But I still had this problem: How do I reset the Subscription Service date inside SystemWorks to the correct date (2/13/2009) so that it does not expire in May and I have to try to contact tech support again? After the chat which was disconnected, I submitted the question to tech support by e-mail. After several days had passed with no response, I confirmed that no Symantec mail had been blocked as spam, then resubmitted the question twice. Although e-mail response is committed to 96 hours, I have received no response 36 days after the original incident date.

I feel that this combination of failures of product, technical support by chat, and technical support by e-mail is noteworthy, even today when technical support routinely ranges from poor to abusive.

Great product - Can be a hassle to install [Posted on 2008-04-03]
2nd version I have used of this product. I like it and it works well. Can be a pain to install. I had to call customer service and they took control of my computer. Took them over an hour to install. Very efficient and friendly customer service.

Worse than Bad, Actually [Posted on 2008-04-14]
There are so many things wrong with Norton System Works that it's very
difficult to know where to begin. But here are three:

1) ACTIVATION: The most annoying. Companies resort to this because
otherwise people would be handing disks out to all their friends and
family. Norton's is particularly aggravating and chances are you'll end up talking to someone at Symantec. If you get the product, install it and don't think about upgrading your computer.

2) INSTABILITY: Decide you don't like it? Removing it requires a number of reboots and manual deletion of files and folders. You'll also have to go into the registry and remove the sloppy leftovers. Yuck.

3) RESOURCES: Taxes your system's resources. Instead of buying a suite, get a defragger, get a registry cleaner, and get them without the pesky activation. These things are designed by committee. My System Works didn't even recognize my Symantec anti-virus, and it's made by the same company. Imagine that!

If you MUST have a suite, System Mechanic is probably the best.

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