Comments on: The return of free-after-rebates Norton AntiVirus 2008

If you don't mind a little paperwork, you can scoop up the three-user edition of Norton AntiVirus 2008 for free after a pair of mail-in rebates.

[john55440]

I suspect that most Norton Haters are basing their opinion on old, bloated, versions of Norton software.

Symantec has made performance improvements . I run Norton Internet Security 2008 on and old 2002 computer with only 512MB of memory, and have no complaints.

[danxy]

It's FREE FOR 90 DAYS ONLY. The last time I bought Norton AntiVirus, out of the store a few years ago, it was free after rebates. I uninstalled the old NAV, installed the new NAV out-of-the-box, and after 90 days it wanted me to renew for a year for a subscription ($30-40/year or so). What a scam!

[rickbroida]

Not sure what happened there, but I'm 99.9% certain this software (like all new, boxed copies of NAV) comes with a 1-year subscription.

[clr36]

Norton sucks, I was a huge Norton fan way back in time of the 286-386's. You know back when Norton owned it. They had a good product. Now it's a rip off, it's a pig. I have had to uninstall it from multiple pc's over the last 2-3 years. It would upgrade then wipe out the setting on the firewall. Upgrade and not work any more. Just plain junk software, I wouldn't install it if it was free. Speaking of free try a good AV program AVG free. Just a simple program the gets the job done. I install on most of the pc I uninstall Norton from. Less the have kids and RR then I use the free CA AV from RR. AVG does have anti spyware to if you have kids and want the extra protection. No I have nothing to do with AVG I'm just a old pc tech who know the value of a buck.
If you don't mind me getting side tracked don't pay the "geek squid" or some other big pc repair hundreds ask around an fine a good tech for cheap. We are out there, cause we like it. Not just to make 65-100 a hour like some. That is just stupid to pay that much.

[tintinmilou]

I'm just about to uninstall Norton from my wife's computer because it brought it to its knees. She can no longer do anything with it. It's an old PC that she uses to read e-mail and only occasionally browse the internet, so it doesn't seem reasonable to spend hundreds on a new PC just because Norton has become bloat-ware.
Also, Norton is the worst when it comes to rebates. They refused two of my last rebates, one because the (Frys) store receipt didn't have the store name legible at the top, and the other on a meaningless technicality. So my "Free" software cost me $70. They've attempted to refuse others, but my photocopy of the UPS codes and coupon proved them wrong. However, they still stalled "6 to 8 weeks" after I had to argue with them until I was blue in the face. I'm going to try AVG instead. Too bad, I've been using Norton products since before Windows existed.

[firefoxluva95]

Norton is apparently still bloated. Slowed my Vista start up to a crawl and took too long to scan compared to other AVs I've tried. I'm running Vista on 2 GB of RAM and things still seem to be sluggish. So I scrapped Norton and went for Avast though I first tried McAfee also experiencing lag and sluggishness. I also have read about users that upgraded from version 2007 having problems with IE7 script error dialogs that popup despite the user having the script error alerts turned off. My rule with computers is if an application or a computer company burns you once, you should probably stay away unless there's really a reason to swing you back.

[rickbroida]

I must admit to having similar experiences, though with the full Norton Internet Security suite, not just NAV. It made Vista run like molasses on several notebooks I tested; removing the suite improved performance considerably.

[Riquez-001]

AV software is 2nd only to the malware it protects you from. A trade of extremely debilitating software for very debilitating software.
Imagine how smug I feel about owning a Mac & am still Virus & AV free after 10 years of comments like "just wait, you'll be next" from nay-sayers.
Seriously, if you're still using Windows, you are VERY late to the party.

Call me troll, call me zeolot - thats ok, but please check out why we try to tell you guys to switch. ffs, we are trying to help you out - I'm sick of hearing the same painful stories 10 years later.

[GadgetConsumer]

BEWARE of BUY.COM promos. They are currently taking $50 off on a $51 purchase when signing up for a RevolutionCard account. They don't mention that all sales are final when using a coupon. They gave me a return authorization for an unopened product. Buy.com confirmed that they received the product back, and promised a refund to my credit card within 7 business days. 3 weeks later, they said "no refunds" and won't even send the unopened product back to me.

If they aren't going to follow their own refund policy, they need to give the merchandise back to the buyer. BUY.com is obviously getting some kind of financial benefit from RevolutionCard. At the very least, they should send back the item to me, and not just keep it, re-sell it, and double their profit. As of this writing, there are over 600 consumer complaints logged with the Better Business Bureau regarding Buy.com?s handling of refunds. Buyers beware!

[immysha]

thanks

[immysha]

[axelotle]

It seems Norton is one of those AV providers that demands your email address. Would be nice if they made this clear before you buy; I wonder why they only tell you "after" you buy if it is something customers don't mind. I saw a forum where some Norton plant was trying to make a guy look like a lunatic for opposing this practice. Hmmm seems like other AV's don't need it and are getting higher ratings than Norton so what gives?
Norton haters indeed. There is a reason for this. How about a little respect? Was nice knowing you Norton, move over and get out of the way while other smaller, less bloated and less nosy programs get our $$$.