Topic: I am a drooling wreck and am sure it's Norton's fault!

[carosanto]

Hi

I resurrected a previous thread about Vista problems, but decided to make a new whinge about Norton specifically!  My computer is slowly driving me demented and I am sure it is down to Norton.  Just lately everything frequently slows to a stop and my computer becomes totally unresponsive.  My BBC I-player is malfunctioning and my Skype is now absolute rubbish and often refuses to connect or de-pixel-ates the picture of my Skype correspondent.

Each time this happens, I check my Norton to find that updating was performed in the last minute or so. I can find no controls in Norton  to regulate timing of updates except for complete switch-off which I don't want to do.  I am becoming a drooling wreck as every task takes so long due to the computer slowing then stopping dead for sometimes 2 mins at a time.

My Toshiba laptop, running Vista, now ALWAYS seems to be performing a background task (Norton AV?) and my CPU usage is seldom less than 100%.  Are my problems similar to those experienced by others, and is Norton to blame?  Also how difficult is it to de-install Norton?  I desperately need help on this as my computer is becoming unuseable.

Regards, Caro

Sunday, 10.20 a.m. crying in a corner, eating dust!

 
 
 
 

[goodlife]

Oh..I'm not happy with norton neither..It seems to ingnore my commands..and windows too...they downdoad when they want to. I have  changed the settings to 'ask before doing so' mode...but no... ::)
Norton back round checking is doing it when it wants to...so now every time I go to net I have to first turn off backround working and disable the utilitilities too...
otherwise nothing works...
I'm still not able to send emails trough different web sites own links to emails..I have to first connect to outlook...copy the link into new email box and then send it.. ::)..otherwise Norton blockes that email and sends warning about it... ::)
And I've spent hours skipping through options to try to sort it..now I've just given up and doing it the long way...can't cope with it..computer problems just cause me sudden rage..makes me feel like putting screen trough window.. ::)

[dtw]

It's a conspiracy between Norton and computer manufacturers to make us buy faster and faster machines.
Norton is always offered 'cheap' with new machines in PC World.

Even if you uninstall it, there are thousands of entries in the registry which stay.

[greenfists]

I hear this over and over again.
I use COMODO free firewall and AVIRA free anti virus.
I have never had any issues and we have , god help us, 7 computers in this house and there's only 5 of us.
COMODO is here
http://www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/firewall.php
AVIRA
http://www.free-av.com/en/products/1/avira_antivir_personal__free_antivirus.html

These are both legitimate well know companies and these programmes are proper free full functioning versions.
Obviously don't install if your are not confident but Norton is notorious for its use of CPU and memory.

Just a thought.

[BarriedaleNick]

I'm sorry to say that Norton has been know as a resource hog for years and no one I know in IT would even consider it as an option at home and certainly not at work..
Honestly my best advice - remove it and run ccleaner to clean up any reg entries left behind..  http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Also note however that Vista itself had a tendency to slowness and there is always the possibility that there are other issues but I would start by getting rid of the nasty Norton..

It's a shame - I remember the days when Norton was a respected name in the industry..

[Bugloss2009]

with my Dad's machine it was the Norton email scanner that hogged all the resources I think.

i'd decided to get rid and use AVG on his machine, but those nasty people at Norton automatically debited him for a new years subscription a month before the old one expired. Took a lot of effort to get the money back...

[carosanto]

Hi, thank you all for your helpful responses.  I now know it isn't me!!!!  I have taken the first step of disabling Norton's automatic payment instruction.  It's not due for a while but when the manual reminder comes, I will revisit my thread and take up another option based on your experience.

I have been persuaded out of my corner, and OH sent away the men in white coats!

Regards, and thanks again

Caro

[nilly71]

Back up any pictures/documents and favorites folder or anything else that's important to you on a memory card or cd/dvd and format your pc.

Once re-installed don't load on Norton, I use AVG (free) http://free.avg.com/gb-en/download-avg-anti-virus-free and not had any problems for years or use one of the suggested above.

Problem solved ;)

Neil

[goodlife]

Oh dear..now I'm stuck with Norton for another 11 months as suscription is all payed..I just cannot go through the agro for refunds and complains they customer service is utter nightmare... ::)
I'm so tempted now to do the switch and wipe out the hole lot out of my computer..but I just don't have any energy in me to spend hours of sorting my pc..I just hate messing about with it..
Now if I were to return my computer to  factory settings...would that get rid of Norton and it's suscription settings same time?
Of course I would save all personal stuff to removable..and then just re-load all other setting  back as and when needed...like internet connections etc..
..or is it easier to sort Norton only and leave rest of the computer as it is..?
Oh how I miss those days when this pc was new... ::)

[nilly71]

You could try ccleaner first as mentioned earlier to see if that works for you before resetting(1st scan approx 1h), getting rid of all the orphan files left over from uninstalling programmes will speed up the pc.

If you have the options to reset to factory settings then that should be ok(takes approx 1h), Norton can then be uninstalled straight away.
I would personaly reset/reinstall, that way it's a clean start without any crap on the pc.
Either way, back up first then nothing lost if it goes wrong.

Neil

[greenfists]

If it was me I would try to get rid of Norton first via uninstall.
It will leave stuff in your registry but as detailed you can always run software to try and get rid.
C Cleaner is a free utility that comes with a registry cleaner.
http://www.piriform.com/download
As long as you use an up to date firewall and anti virus you will be OK.
This always seems a good site for reviews of freeware
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-firewall.htm
Norton is also in many ways scareware I.E: it relies on scaring people that if they don't have it their PC is at risk. Then they pay the renewal for a product that slows your PC down and in my opinion isn't that much better, if at all, than free versions.
Give it a go making sure that you create a restore point first.

[lewic]

Agree with Nilly, wipe it and start again! You may have spyware on it in addition to a rubbish antivirus. Microsoft Security Essentials is good, it doesnt slow the PC down and found viruses that other programs didnt. Do make sure you get it from Microsoft though, as there is spyware with a very similar name!

If you have Vista I would upgrade to Windows 7 if your PC manufacturer supports it. It will be twice as fast.

[goodlife]

Thank you very much.. ;D...I'm going to wait now for rainy day (not able to work then) and then get grip of this bloody mess..but if I disappear from this "planet" for a while you 'll know that something has gone drastically wrong.. :-\
The weather forecast is sunshine until Sunday at least...so I'm not going no where yet.. ;)

[nilly71]

Do it now and you will be back on here in about an hour and happy ;D

Neil

[Larkshall]

There are alternatives. The alternatives require some learning on your part.

I have organised a Computer User Group for the last 21 years, I started it in October 1988 not to show how clever we are but to find answers to problems mutually. Most of our members use Windows, former members used Apple/Mac and Acorn. Those two members have moved on to work in the computer industry (one is a programmer and partner in a software company, whilst the other now lives in the USA and is involved in the industry).

If you are "well breeched" you could change to Apple/Mac, for those who are not then the Free Open Source Software route is open to them. I myself changed to a Linux system several years ago and don't suffer these problems now.

[goodlife]

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Do it now and you will be back on here in about an hour and happy
Ohh...I'm never that optimistic...with me something always goes wrong....and I have to be mentally fully prepared for the task.... ::)
For start with I have tie my hair back tighly so I can't rip it out when I get into the rage mode...I have clear all breakable objects away from nearby area...and I need to be ALONE and not be DISTURBED by football or somebody watching it.. ::)

Thorough preparation is job half done... ;) ;D ::)

[dirty fingers]

norton suck and is VERY hungry, i use kaspersky. also have you try ed uninstalling unwanted programs then disk clean up in start, all programs,  accessories, system tools, disk cleanup? also then do a disk defrag its in the same place! then go down load some thing like spybot search and destroy and look for ad-ware, malware etc there are allot of thinks that can cause your problem but i wouldn't format just yet also have you tryd system restore and put it back to a time you can remember it working good? is your start up slow? if so press start type msconfig in to the search and search go to the start up tab and stop all the ones you don't want BEWARE some are critical to the PC staring like system 32 files but if you know what the files you want to stop are and are happy then do it. if all else fails then back up and format