A Couple of Norton Reviews

Nightwalker

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May 26, 2014
1,339
Norton is great for the average user, it is light, easy to use and yet powerful.

I think it has a exceptionally good automatic firewall and behavior blocker, the download insight is quite good too, but Norton isnt for everyone; the false positives and the auto quarantine bug (dont know if it was solved) can be too annoying for some users (it is for me).

Great compilation Burrito, I like this review too Norton Security Review 2017: Superb Malware Detection Rates, although it is a little old.
 

amico81

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Jan 10, 2017
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L0ckJaw

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Feb 17, 2018
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i can just repeat all the good things...norton has a solid and strong protection over the years.

but don't forget...the terrible bug after new- or re-installation with "unexpected error has occurred" :mad::X3::notworthy:(n)(n)(n)
Never ever experienced the Bug. Can deinstall and install as many times as i want ( and i did due to AV testing ).
 
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ForgottenSeer 58943


This bug is absolutely cancerous to Norton.. I've run into this bug so many times that I refuse to recommend Norton to Friends/Family because I ALWAYS end up having to try and fix this bug when it happens. I can duplicate it over and over here on test machines, nauseous.

Even more ridiculous, I duplicated this bug on a test machine, then contacted Norton and watched them for 3 hours trying to fix it. So then the guy said I might need to reinstall windows. I put him on hold, wiped the machine, got him back in, installed Norton, same issue. So then he passed it a second tier support person who dumped another hour into it. Eventually it worked, so I asked what he did and he said 'No idea, it just started working..'..

It's astounding Norton hasn't fix this and it's all over the search engines dating back nearly a decade.
 

amico81

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Jan 10, 2017
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I'm not sure but I just had only one successful re-installation. i had to change my main browser firefox to internet explorer and then i worked with a browser-pop-up ( the window shows the connection to the norton servers).
but i have deinstalled the microsoft bloatware browser and since then the day i got no chance to reactivate my norton deluxe version.


i tried hundreds of times the re-installation with firefox, chrome, edge......wasted life time (n):devil:
 
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ForgottenSeer 58943

I'm not sure but I just had only one successful re-installation. i had to change my main browser firefox to internet explorer and then i worked with a browser-pop-up ( the window shows the connection to the norton servers).
but i have deinstalled the microsoft bloatware browser and since then the day i got no chance to reactivate my norton deluxe version.


i tried hundreds of times the re-installation with firefox, chrome, edge......wasted life time (n):devil:

Same.. I actually went the extra step of duplicating it for their support team as noted above...

Total waste of time, and to the point I will never attempt to use it again as a result. It's mind blowing how little Symantec cares about their consumer offerings (zero really).. Since this issue doesn't appear with SEPC or any of the others. You'd think they could just import that portion of the code that works in SEPC over the Norton. But honestly, I feel they've given up on Norton (consumer) for the most part because if they hadn't, they'd care to fix this.. It's a very common issue.
 

TheErzengel

Level 2
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Dec 21, 2012
84
Install the Norton Premium software on 7 computers last week. In 1 of them the famous "connection error with the Norton server" was presented, it was resolved by changing the default browser to IE and restarting the PC, after activating it, the browser was changed again to chrome.

I was impressed that Norton practically does not sit on computers, runs very light and his protection is robust.
 
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ForgottenSeer 58943

Install the Norton Premium software on 7 computers last week. In 1 of them the famous "connection error with the Norton server" was presented, it was resolved by changing the default browser to IE and restarting the PC, after activating it, the browser was changed again to chrome.

I was impressed that Norton practically does not sit on computers, runs very light and his protection is robust.

It's sort of phenomenally stupid that IE being the default browser would be the fix, or even the fact that Norton would use iFrames and ActiveX to activate their product. Also, that fix while working for some, doesn't often work for others, sadly.. If you get support on the horn that's the first thing they try. So it begs to question - maybe not use IE API to activate your product when IE is really not good, secure, or around much longer?

Norton is sloppy.
 

TheErzengel

Level 2
Verified
Dec 21, 2012
84
It is very annoying to change from browser to IE to activate Norton. But do not probe if switching to Edge or Firefox would still solve the problem, I do not know.

What I found strange is the fact that only presented in 1 computer of 7 possible, computers had similar hardware components and with windows 10, in all were default chrome as main browser.
 
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ForgottenSeer 58943

What I found strange is the fact that only presented in 1 computer of 7 possible, computers had similar hardware components and with windows 10, in all were default chrome as main browser.

Even Norton doesn't seem to know why it happens. If they do they aren't sharing it with their support people. They've also seemingly been unable (or not care) to fix it for a long time.. (many years)

The answer they sometimes give is 'Make sure IE is installed and available'.. So when you activate, it appears to have some integration with IE perhaps, whether that is the API, or IE is anybodies guess. Their supposed fix is to make sure IE is available, IE has trust changes or whatever. (and I had a L2 support agent tell me Norton needs IE installed, he re-installed it on the machine I had him testing on as IE had been removed.)

Even worse, this error has spawned many tech support scam sites trying to get people plagued by it to call them and risk getting hacked but at the very least, ripped off. Maybe they just don't care about the consumer stuff? Either way, it doesn't instill confidence in a security product. Especially since it spawned tech support scams because of it's prevalence..

Message:"Cannot connect to the Norton server".
Cannot Connect To Norton Server | Norton Tech Support
Message Cannot connect Norton server - Norton Support
what is Message: "Cannot connect to the Norton server"
 

L0ckJaw

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Feb 17, 2018
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I installed Norton Security on a lot of machines, and never had the bug. All the machines had Chrome or Firefox as their default browser.
Norton installs and activates and runs smoothly.
 
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Burrito

Level 24
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May 16, 2018
1,363
I installed Norton Security on a lot of machines, and never had the bug. All the machines had Chrome or Firefox as their default browser.
Norton installs and activates and runs smoothly.

True.

If you look at the links that are posted that supposedly prove the problem, it's a tiny number compared to the total number of Norton installations.

All one has to do is look at the Norton forums to see that this is not a significant issue.
 
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ForgottenSeer 69673

I would think you could install a firewall with app control and the firewall should give an alert as to what is trying to connect to their server for the lic info. I have not used Norton in some years now.
 
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ForgottenSeer 58943

There are many 'deep' threads on the internet about this issue. While it isn't a huge percentage, even if it's 5% of the installed base with this problem given the number of Norton installs that's significant. Since a few people on the forum have run into it, it's not entirely uncommon.

Solved: Cannot Activate Norton - Xfinity Help and Support Forums - 2570282
Norton Security Suite Activation - Xfinity Help and Support Forums - 2577299

If you search the Norton forums you'll find what amounts to many thousands of posts about this issue;
Google: Cannot connect to the Norton server norton forums site:community.norton.com

That aside, and the cottage industry for tech scams it spawned, I wouldn't trust the product. Also the widespread use of it also means it's threat surface is pretty much through the roof. But to each his/her own I guess.
 
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